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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Revisiting Critic Gail Caldwell’s Memoir Of Friendship

Former Boston Globe book critic Gail Caldwell and fellow writer Caroline Knapp had a deep friendship born out of not only a shared love of words, but also a love of dogs and the outdoors.

But that friendship was cut short when Knapp died of lung cancer in 2002.

Gail Caldwell wrote about their bond in the book “Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship,” recently released in paperback.

Gail Galdwell in 2010 told Here & Now‘s Robin Young that writing about her friendship with Knapp was like trying to “capture air” because their relationship was about the “blissful routine of ordinary life.”

“We walked, we talked, we talked about the dogs, we walked the dogs. We went home and called each other on the phone and walked some more,” she said.

This segment originally aired in 2010

Other stories from Wednesday's show

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Anne Shuman

    Thank you for this segment. I heard it today as I was sitting at my computer, writing some notes so that I could speak at a memorial service tommorrow  for my BFF (childhood friend) who passed away this week. I have always treasured my friendships with women as some of the most special of my life.

  • Rchaffee

    On the flip side of the special relationships that some women have, the last two minutes of today’s program “Revisiting Critic Gail Caldwell’s Memoir Of Friendship” reminded me of the last few years of first my Father’s and then my Brother’s lives.

    I was fortunate to have a chance to get to know both my Father and Brother as adults, and to begin to share our “real” feelings.  Deep friendships between men are rare, something I only begin to realize at the tender age of fifty-something.

    “Honored to have loved someone enough to have my heart broken” is an understatement. Thank you, these words broke open a floodgate.  Words that help men find a way to be and to have friends are rare indeed.

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