Occlith
Well-Known Member
“Within a ten-month period, Neil Peart suffered family losses so devastating that they left him a ghost – physically a man but with nothing.” -- Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road.
The morning after his visiting daughter had driven off to attend university, Neil and his wife Jackie received the news that she had died in a car accident. Months later, Jackie is diagnosed with terminal cancer. After her death Neil wonders “How does anyone survive something like this? And if they do, what kind of person comes out the other end?”
Neil, the drummer and lyricist of the Canadian rock band Rush had lost interest in writing lyrics and in drumming. Knowing that he couldn’t bear spending Christmas in his home by himself, he got on his motorcycle and rode away; his feelings of isolation from normal life create the persona that he named “Ghost Rider”.
As part of the healing process he keeps a journal of his travels throughout Canada, USA, Mexico and Belize while he communicates with family and friends through letters and postcards which we get to read. Neil returns to his Canadian home and that is the end of that particular adventure.
The second part of the book covers the next phase of his healing process. Hiking and snowshoeing make an acceptable substitute for motorcycling throughout the snowy winter and he’s engaged with various projects including a memorial to his wife and daughter while he resolves to become a “bachelor with a vengeance”. In springtime he travels again and after meeting a beautiful woman, he is thrown into a confusion of feelings.
Ghost Rider is a travelogue, a nature walk, suggested books reading list, and therapy session in-progress. His writing style is casually erudite whether he describes a particularly good meal at a roadside diner, the thrill of speeding along winding roads, or the anguish of accidently filling the cycle fuel tank with diesel. At times, Neil can be judgmental and disparaging of others but he balances that out with humor and self-deprecation regarding his own foibles.
The morning after his visiting daughter had driven off to attend university, Neil and his wife Jackie received the news that she had died in a car accident. Months later, Jackie is diagnosed with terminal cancer. After her death Neil wonders “How does anyone survive something like this? And if they do, what kind of person comes out the other end?”
Neil, the drummer and lyricist of the Canadian rock band Rush had lost interest in writing lyrics and in drumming. Knowing that he couldn’t bear spending Christmas in his home by himself, he got on his motorcycle and rode away; his feelings of isolation from normal life create the persona that he named “Ghost Rider”.
As part of the healing process he keeps a journal of his travels throughout Canada, USA, Mexico and Belize while he communicates with family and friends through letters and postcards which we get to read. Neil returns to his Canadian home and that is the end of that particular adventure.
The second part of the book covers the next phase of his healing process. Hiking and snowshoeing make an acceptable substitute for motorcycling throughout the snowy winter and he’s engaged with various projects including a memorial to his wife and daughter while he resolves to become a “bachelor with a vengeance”. In springtime he travels again and after meeting a beautiful woman, he is thrown into a confusion of feelings.
Ghost Rider is a travelogue, a nature walk, suggested books reading list, and therapy session in-progress. His writing style is casually erudite whether he describes a particularly good meal at a roadside diner, the thrill of speeding along winding roads, or the anguish of accidently filling the cycle fuel tank with diesel. At times, Neil can be judgmental and disparaging of others but he balances that out with humor and self-deprecation regarding his own foibles.