"I've seen similar scenes in small towns in Brazil and Cambodia and even the American West--lives being lived with unselfconscious deliberateness. There's no desire, or no energy, to pretend anything. I see desperate disappointment and loneliness in such scenes of domesticity and routine. I feel far removed and want no part of them. Yet I can't look away. What hunger of theirs is being fed, when they seem to me instead like scenarios of slow decay? What is it about these scenes that I don't understand?"
He is always interesting in his descriptions of the sights he sees, finding hidden treasures in unfamiliar and familiar places. A visit to Baltimore and the house where Babe Ruth was born is an opportunity for McCarthy to talk about one of his favorite things--the home as micro museum. He first visited such a museum with his first wife in Stockholm, Sweden--playwright and novelist August Strindberg's house.
"What I feared would be a dreary and dull hour proved be a fascinating look inside the writer's life. His desk and chair, his pens and notebooks and letters, his eyeglasses and walking stick, relics of his life, proved fascinating. I have sought out home museums ever since."
McCarthy will be previewing his new book with a live chat on Friday, 9/14 at 6pm EST. Readers can RSVP and tune-in via Shindig to get a sneak preview and hear the author read from The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down.
The more McCarthy travels, the more he finds himself being pulled towards people, and wanting to involve his family in this part of his life. As the book progresses, he's no longer quite the loner that he used to be. Readers will enjoy taking this journey with McCarthy, and may be tempted to plan some soul-searching travel of their own.
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