A blend of travel and memoir, discovery and self-discovery ... Fascinating and absorbing. It takes many forms: study, travelogue, guidebook, and warts-and-all self-portrait. McCarthy’s fieldwork is laudable ... The book is particularly compelling when McCarthy charts his own progress.
Shines in its more unvarnished portraits of the author’s own friends ... An agreeable companion on the page, Mr. McCarthy prefers scenic parkways to multilane highways and amusingly relies on a Rand McNally road atlas instead of phone-enabled navigation. The book’s thoughtful, minor-key moments can be savored for their middle-aged sensibility ... The book quotes men who take this theory, which predates the current men’s crisis, very seriously. But it doesn’t supply much evidence it’s true. Nor does it reckon with data on straight men’s growing acceptance of homosexuality or the role of technology in connecting and disconnecting people, or evidence of declining associational activities in general ... Several times he praises women for their much greater capacity for friendmaking and friendkeeping, but there is something wanting in his examination of men.
McCarthy’s curiosity fuels organic conversation with other men, leading to discoveries about both himself and male friendship, making this revealing memoir that spans the highways and back roads of the U.S. inspiring, impactful, and revealing.
A hopeful story about the passage of time and friendship that, while unscientific, may inspire readers to pick up a phone and call someone. In doing so, McCarthy shows how to connect not only with others, but also with the fullest versions of ourselves.
