Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road Kindle Edition

I read Ghost Rider two years ago as I was a fan of Rush and Neil Peart. As I write this review I am not sure why I read it the first time. It's a journey about grief and at the time my world was perfect. While I read the book I marveled at how Neil survived and made it from one day to the next. A few months ago my 45 year old wife died suddenly. We had been married for 26 years and have 4 sons. She was my wife, mother of my children and best friend. I received numerous books from family and friends regarding grief. I read parts of those books and they all told me the same thing and each one confirmed what I was feeling. While flipping through my kindle I found Ghost Rider. I read Ghost Rider again and it's impact was meaningful to someone who was grieving. While it is impossible to compare yourgrief to someone else's grief Neil talked about many of things I felt and was thinking about. Neil's journey brought me a measure of comfort and the thought that I might be ok. The book was so inspirational that I bought a BMW F800GS and I am planning a trip up the Dawson Hwy!

Let me start off by saying that I'm big fan of RUSH, the band, and perhaps an even bigger fan of Neil, himself. With that being said, I have to report that I personally didn't care for this book too much...at all. It's not because Neil isn't a good writer. He's an exceptional writer, indeed. Any fan of RUSH will know that he writes all, or at least MOST of the band's lyrics. So, his penmanship isn't the issue here. It's the subject matter.I fully understand his reasoning and purpose for writing this book. The man went through a tremendous tragedy, with the almost back-to-back deaths of his only child and then, his wife. If the same were to happen to me, I'm not sure I'd have the strength or will-power to even consider taking on the task of writing a book. But, he did. And, kudos to him for that.However, this book plays out more like a travel guide to the North American continent more than anything else. Sure, the descriptions of the landscapes, weather and wildlife are all there in great, colorful detail. But I grew rather tired of hearing about mountains, valleys, rain, heat, etc., over and over again.To make things worse, there are NUMEROUS transcripts of letters that Neil wrote to various friends and family members during his travels. In these letters, he usually describes all of the things that you just read about in the previous couple of pages. So, you get to read it all over again, only in a slightly different context. To be honest, I literally "skimmed" through the last 10% of the book, just to get it over with.It truly pains me to write this rather harsh review of a book, written by a man that I really admire. But, this one took me a long time to get through. I'll definitely check out some of his other books, but not before I read some of the prior reviews FIRST!!

This book was almost impossible to put down. Parts are just hilarious, parts are just heart-breaking. Mr.Peart writes with a style that is very conversational and every time he pulls off a road or stops at a little inn you're there with him--you can visualize the people he sees, smell the scent of warm rubber motorcycle tires, hear the crunch of gravel under his boots and taste the food he eats.And you can feel the loss, the endless, soul-crushing loss of losing both his daughter and wife over a 10-month period--his 19-year-old daughter in a car accident, and the slow, agonizing death of his wife afterwards, dying of a broken heart. Reading how little hope Mr. Peart had, and wanting so desperately to help him find his north star again, the reader is immediately part of his story. It's his best book by far (although he's always a good writer, this one reveals his true humanity).Buy it, bookmark it all over the place, and read it again in a year, when your heart is ready for it.

As a core member of Canadian band Rush, Neil Peart ranks as one of the best rock drummers in recent decades but he is also a fine writer which comes through in his role as the band’s main lyricist. Peart is also a motorcycle enthusiast with a host of interests. He’s certainly not your stereotypical self-centered rock star and that is evident in “Ghost Rider.” Over the course of barely a year, Peart lost his 19 year old daughter in a car crash and his wife through cancer. Trying to make sense of it all and attempting to put his life back together, Peart hit the road on his motorcycle, traveling Canada and Alaska, even crossing the Artic Circle, and then touring the western United States before heading down to Mexico and Belize. It’s a fascinating account as Peart reflects on what he sees, the people he meets, his reading and his losses. It’s an inspiring as he grapples with it all and recovers from one of the worst blows a man can imagine. This is easily one of the most moving and inspiring books I have come across in some time, especially as Peart is a solid and engaging writer with a sharp sense of humor. Highest recommendation.

I came late to Neil Peart and Rush. They had no keyboard parts in the mid-1970s, when I was playing a Rhodes piano and a Farfisa organ through a Leslie and singing in horn bands loosely based on Chicago.Now that I've become a fan, I've gotten the outside story of Mr. Peart's loss. The Rush R40 documentary was a good yarn, but I wanted the inside dope. Mr. Peart opens his mind pretty completely. All the highs and lows, the stubbed-toe reminder memories, help from good friends, annoyance with most of humanity - it's all there.Coupled with a 1998 view of places in the American and Canadian West I know well and some I don't, plus suggestions of new authors and their books to read, and you have a real winner. Moab has been overrun by tourists, and the old-timers I knew there have mostly gotten disgusted and moved on. But Vancouver BC, Yosemite, New Mexico and Colorado are still pretty much as described. And that's just a thumbnail of Mr. Peart's travels.Read the book (or listen to it) - it's well worth the mind-pictures to other spaces.

So sadly we all learned of Neil's death on 10th January 2020. My history with Rush goes back to the Exit Stage Left album in the early 80s. Followed them over the next 39 years, most of the UK tours and every album until I got to see them one last time on the Snakes and Arrows tour. So with my birthday approaching I asked for Rush memorabilia items and my daughter bought me Ghost Rider.I rarely read books but this is an interesting insight into the world of a very private individual and that dark period in his life after the Test for Echo album and tour. Very descriptive and enjoyable in book 1 and quite emotional in sections but I couldn't help but come away from the book a little disappointed. A little self indulgent at times and towards the end felt a little rushed, almost drawing a line under events. From what I understand he comes across in the same manner in his other books with little love for touring and other people. With the subject matter of this book you could give him the benefit of doubt but I think I'll give the others a miss for fear of possibly "shattering the illusion"All said the guy was a genius and he and the band will be sorely missed. Rip Neil.

I looked at buying this years ago but didn't and only came back to it out of my current revived obsession with all things Rush following Neil's tragic death in January. He sure had a roller coaster life where the dips were massive. The first chapters are a very frank and honest account of the terrible things that happened to him which would shock anyone. So he then bundles onto this journey of epic proportions and he gives a strong feeling of his mental state through times that we would all hope to never have to endure. The book becomes heavy going as the mundane nature of the journey sets in, he has a few incidents along the way and friends to meet etc.. Discussion of Rush is done in a very detached way with memories of touring revolving around his families involvement. The book is a healing exercise for him and I will finish it out of loyalty for a man who created some of the songs and lyrics that shaped my life and a desire to know something of him, but I have just stopped to take a break (as he did)at the halfway point . Completion feels more like a duty than for the enjoyment of the book, you are definitely on his epic journey with him. - Follow up, OK I nearly didn't but I went back to it and I'm glad I did the slow process of Neil's healing continues but more light appears through the second half ultimately getting to a point where is life has changed direction and is as healed as he probably ever gets. Obviously knowing what we know now a shadow hangs over that, but if Neil's life was not as long as he might of hoped he piled a heck of a lot in there. If you want to understand the man better you will after this. He was a complex character.

As a fan of the bmw gs motorbike, motorbike travel literature and as a drummer the book appealed on multiple levels.Notwithstanding and with little prior knowledge of the premise of the book (and in all honesty not really as a fan of Rush other than on a technical level - sorry) I wasn’t prepared for what turned out to be a beautiful and intelligent book; a story of healing and hope in terrible adversity.An incredible journey both physically and mentally by an incredible person. I can not recommend this book highly enough and I am grateful that Neil found the strength to share such a personal journey.The book is beautiful well written and although the structure, as it is written in part by way of a series of letters, takes some interesting forms, it’s a story of hope when Hope seems lost.

Brilliant book and both an excellent travelogue and therapeutic read for those times in life when you feel you’ve been dealt a bad hand. Neil Peart’s writing is as smart as his lyrics and although many will be considering this as a Rush fan (especially given Neil’s passing), it really is a book for anyone who needs to travel on the healing road. Highly recommended.

As a cry from the heart of a man who has been through unimaginable pain this book works so well , you really feel his suffering and bewilderment at what has happened to him. On that level it makes an impact, unfortunately I was looking for more of a travel log which I didn’t get, having said all that I have been a fan of Mr Peart for many years and will definitely be buying his other books