Life Stories #35: Andrew McCarthy

Subscribe to Life Stories in iTunes

photo: Chris Sanders Photography

In this episode of Life Stories, the podcast series where I interview memoir writers about their lives and the art of writing memoir, Andrew McCarthy talks about The Longest Way Home, which recently came out in paperback. In addition to his acting (and directing) career, McCarthy has in recent years carved out a place for himself as a travel writer for magazines and newspapers and, between the time he and his longtime partner decided to get married and the actual ceremony, he had several assignments lined up that took him away from the Manhattan apartment they share… essentially, he writes about how he went up the Amazon, to the peaks of Kilimanjaro and the streets of Baltimore, to confront himself and his fears about commitment.

But it wasn’t exactly a therapeutic journey, as I found out during our conversation:

“Travel is really about the traveler and not the destination… Once I experienced that, I then actively pursued places that were going to help me, that I thought would help me further explore myself, as opposed to just sightseeing. I was never interested in sightseeing. It became my laboratory, or my university, I suppose… It depends on what ‘therapeutic’ means. Therapeutic also means a sense of relief, and it was more challenging myself, forcing myself into uncomfortable scenarios and situations—throwing yourself into a crucible and coming out changed by it. That’s what I was looking for in travel, and whenever I did that, I came back a better version of myself.”

We also talk about—among other things—his Paul Theroux and Anthony Bourdain fandoms, the degree to which he gets recognized around the world, and the challenges he faced early in his writing career with editors who were skeptical about whether “the guy from Pretty in Pink” could write travel features. (He still runs into editors like that, he confides, but these days, with a solid portfolio in hand, he just walks away; it’s their problem, not his.) As The Longest Way Home proves, though, McCarthy knows how to tell a story about something that matters—and that, rather than the mere fact of an exotic location, is what all great travel writing is really about.

Listen to Life Stories #35: Andrew McCarthy (MP3 file); or download this file directly by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click). You can also subscribe to Life Stories in iTunes, where you can catch up with earlier episodes and be alerted whenever a new one is released.

17 June 2013 | life stories |