Book Review: "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road" by Neil Peart (2002)

Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for Rush, lost his daughter and common-law wife of over twenty years within a ten-month span in 1997-98. To cope with his loss, he rode his BMW motorcycle all across North America. This is his memoir.

A couple of things stand out about this book. First, it's that no one should have to deal with such blows, and the agony that one faces afterwards (although seemingly insurmountable) can make a person better for it should it be dealt with in ahealthy way. Second, Neil Peart could care less about his fans and doesn't really like what he does.

I'll expand on that point.

He constantly goes on about how he hates "people", loathes staying in Best Westerns (and Super 8s in particular), and tries his best to avoid recognition wherever he goes. It's actually to the point where he runs into his tour bus from his drum kit immediately after his band finishes their encore. Contrast this with a guy like Gregg Allman, for example, who has faced numerous hurdles in his life yet still tours like crazy AND signs autographs from the lip of the stage after shows. I've seen this first-hand.

On top of that, Peart describes in mind-numbing detail how he eats like royalty on his journey and basically sneers at his situation when he finds his dining companions to be common folk like seniors on a tour bus or what have you. Only the best for this philosopher king, I suppose. He is extremely cavalier (and at times openly dismissive) of what he does for a living ("it's a job, I guess" is the attitude he takes), and totally fails to realize how his income gained from 9-to-5ers like me have allowed him to do things like take his wife from Toronto to London and then to Barbados to pass away, own more than one home, and decide to say "screw it" and just hop on a BMW bike to travel around the continent, complete with storage in Mexico for the summer months and a plane ticket back there in the fall to retrieve his motorcycle and continue his journey to wherever. Then, this stuck up anti-American has the audacity to complain about his tax bills and fret about his finances to boot in between letters to his hippie, vegetarian best buddy who's stuck in a Buffalo jail for getting caught trying to import a shitload of dope from overseas. Not a lot of real life going on here despite the twin tragedies.

I don't mean to take away from the guy's heartache, and I can be pretty damn impatient with the masses myself, but frig, he should show a little more respect for the regular Joes who allowed him the livelihood to be able to do this.

Through "Ghost Rider", I started to really, really dislike Neil Peart, but then about two-thirds of the way through the book, he met someone and I was kinda pulling for him to make it work. It didn't, and although that brought him down a level, the overall taste in my mouth left by the man was not a good one since he takes so much for granted.

You know what they say about meeting your heroes? It's not a good idea because they're bound to disappoint. Well, Neil Peart never was one of my heroes but I'm sure to those for whom he is, after meeting the man they probably went away wishing they had never met him at all.

Overall rating: 4/10