Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

click here for more details, find new or used items	Neil Peart Our price £14.99 New from £7.47 Used from £7.10 Pages: 400 (Paperback) ISBN: 1550225480 Pub: ECW Press,Canada Pub date: 2002-11-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 109593

Editorial Review:

Reader Reviews:

a lot of grief and very little biking (0/4 people found this helpful)

Well I bought this book hoping to find something similar to Jupiter's travels, Mondo Enduro or Long Way Round, but to no avail.

Yes, Peart covers thousands of miles on his GS, but I didnt find in his book any sense of adventure. Only grief grief grief self-pity self-pity self-pity a little hope here and there and then "today I covered a lot of miles"

Too much sadness and too little motorcycling. All in all, depressing and boring, some people say it's a book that gives you hope, but all it did was helping me to get asleep very fast a lot of times.

Neil Peart outstanding as ever (3/5 people found this helpful)

As a Rush fan for many years, I was already aware of the emotional hell that Neil Peart had experienced back in '97 and '98, and I was also well aware of his meticulous skills behind the drum kit and crafting the lyrics for Rush's songs. He surely deserves a huge comendation for unearthing his most personal feelings connected with his personal tragedies (who else can claim to have experienced the loss of his daughter, wife, dog, and the arrest of his best friend within a 15 month period?), and also for writing a book as interesting as this.

You really can get into Neil's head as he drives around Canada and USA on his BMW, he holds nothing back and takes the reader through the same emotions as he went through, from the lowest of the low as he prepares to embark on his remarkable journey, right through to his marriage.

Cleverly he uses a selection of Rush lyrics to head each chapter as it begins, all strangely being connected in some way to his emotional rollercoaster.

Very well recommended to Rush fans and non-Rush fans!

Disappointingly dull - too long by half! (13/32 people found this helpful)

Having been both an avid Rush fan and passionate drummer for over two decades, this guy has constantly inspired me in my own playing and totally blown me away in admiration for his incredible technical skills and innovative musicianship at the kit. Moreover, as a keen motorcyclist I thought (despite the tragic setting to the tale), "What better than a big book about my favourite drummer biking endlessly all over the States?!"

However, this book is just too long. It goes on and on and on. Although an interesting insight into various aspects of Neil's life, the prose is fairly mundane - I mean, it's more on a par with a weblog than with real quality writing. You can just see him transcribing the notes in his journal. I couldn't help thinking, maybe it's only because of who he is that this particular Canadian trust (or whatever) agreed to publish it. I even found several of his comments vaguely annoying, like the claim that Christian 'fishy' stickers cause offence (!) and apparently contradictory - e.g. advance bookings and arrangements turned out to have been made on what we were given to believe was a random, i.e. unplanned, journey until redemption. I even began wondering just how close his marital relationship was if he was always off touring (with either band or biker friend) and then managed to get over the tragedy so quickly by remarrying.

So I'd say, fairly interesting if you're already interested (in bikes, Rush, Neil Peart etc), but deathly dull if not. Stick to the drumming, Neil - I would NEVER describe that as dull!

A rare insight into a private person (34/36 people found this helpful)

Neil Peart is a walking anomaly in that he is a very private person that exists in the high profile music industry . Reading the lyrics to the old Rush song " Limelight " makes you aware that here is a person who wants to put up a barrier against the intrusions of fame - a stranger is a long awaited friend indeed . So even more remarkable then that Neil bares his soul to the outside world through the pages of this book as he recounts the pain and anguish of his twin loss of only daughter and wife within months of each other and his epic motorcycle journey around North America to find some glimmer of inspiration to carry on living . There is a happy ending - indeed if there can be in these tragic circumstances - that he does find inspiration on his travels and eventually meets a new soul mate and gets married .
I bought the book for an insight to Neil Peart the man , and found that he is just an ordinary person who finds recognition and intrusion a very uncomfortable experience . He is obviously a naturally shy person and you can tell that he prefers reading and observing rather than participating . So from that point of view I found the book a marvellous testimony to the man and the incredible misfortune he had to endure . At times it was a difficult read when his early dark moods made it heavy going . But then he tells it like it really was - and life wasn't pretty at that stage .
I found the travelog style a bit unrewarding as it was written in a diary and letter writing prose ( to Brutus , one of his mates put to prison for " herbal " importing ) and to be honest was not all that exciting . It was on almost a " day by day " recounting of the journey and as he was travelling up to 500 miles in one day sometimes he was obviously not pausing to soak up the views and recount vivid detail to the reader . Most of it is recollections of encounters with small town Alaska , Canada and USA . Mexico was a better read but maybe it was just that his mood and spirits had lifted by then .
In conclusion , a rare insight into a private person who is very articulate , sometimes amusing , principled but also shy , introverted, and wary of unwanted company . However , to his friends and band mates he comes across to me as faithful , open , and generous ( his loyalty to his jailed friend , Brutus , seems typical of his nature ) . As a travel book, however , is was slightly disappointing as it was a little too detailed sometimes about not an awful lot quite frankly . But then again I suppose that was not really the intention of the book . Lets hope he has had enough tragedy for a life time .

brilliant - moving and uplifting (18/21 people found this helpful)

this is a marvellous book.

how peart found the strength to write about the wicked events that befell his family is beyond me.

but then, as he makes clear in the book, the writing was part of the healing process. something he went through to come to terms with what happened.

an essential read about the strength of the human spirit.

cheers,

parky

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