Finn Murphy is not an ordinary long haul driver. He dropped out of college because he was bored of it at his junior year, he wanted to break free, he wanted to be independent … in fact his parents cut him off financially because of his decisions to dropout and to become a long haul driver.
To be a long haul driver was his choice. This showed in his approach to the work - he wanted to be the best he could in this profession, and he did. Of course life was not easy, he had a rough start, and had fiascos during his driving career.
The book was neatly written into 13 chapters, each depicting a different stage and aspect of his long haul experience. It was conversational , like telling a story in person, but concise and focused. He was very observant and insightful, on the shippers (families/people), and society at large. The writing and the observations he made showed that he is an intelligent person. It is not surprising that he read books at nights, listened to NPR (!) on the road.
Through this book I not only peeked into his world of long haul movers, but through his eyes, had a glimpse into the worlds of families he moved, a snobby corporate executive, an immigrant OB/GYN doctor, a misery military officer's family, an intriguing family of an anthropology professor and a few other more.
All books bring me into a different world or intellectual state outside my personal sphere - be it scientific or technological, biographical, historical, adventurous, or ideological. They are typically aligned with my education background and interests. What is unique of Long Haul is that it brought me to the world of manual labor, in depth.
I did have glimpses into manual labor's worlds, through the mowers of my lawn, technicians to repair my dish washer, garage door, or AC drainage, plumbers to fix leaking bathroom.
I saw more in Mr. Murphy's book of that world.
No comments:
Post a Comment