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Who Needs Friends?
Is male friendship broken?
In Who Needs Friends, Andrew McCarthy crisscrosses the United States on a road-trip to visit four old-friends. Friends he values, even loves, but with whom he has largely lost touch. It’s a common enough story for most of us. Life and distance get in our way. Work, wives and children fill our time, and men are not much given to gabbing on the phone or burdening each other’s text channels with emoji-laden messages. Most of us have friends out there, floating in that strange mental space somewhere between loved and forgotten — people it would fill our heart with joy to see, but for whom no time exists.
I came to Who Needs Friends both straightforwardly and awkwardly. The straightforward part: I’d read (and wrote about) McCarthy’s last book — Walking with Sam. It’s the story of his time walking the Camino with his almost-adult son. It’s a book about fatherhood more than about spiritual quests, and McCarthy’s voice, interests and perspectives were all congenial. He’s good company — which is what you need on a long walk. Or, for that matter, on a road-trip.
The awkward part? I got Who Needs Friends at a book reading/signing at Book Passages not too far from my home in Marin. I’d never been to a book signing, and I was reluctant to go to this one. I love theatre. Films. Even classical concerts. I just don’t like mingling…
