Finn Murphy's "The Long Haul": A Trucker's Insightful Account of Life on the Road

JD: Just wanted to see what it says. The wife maybe read half and said I know that and gave me the book

United States on Sep 07, 2023

Jaime Villasana Dávila: Tenía un buen tiempo que no devoraba un libro a la "velocidad de la luz". La razón principal es porque el mundo del transporte y de los traileros me es familiar. Nunca pensé en leer un libro de este tipo y lo hice porque ví un reportaje del autor en PBS. Al inicio me pareció algo lento, pero conforme avanzas las historias se hacen más interesantes y me da la impresión de que así fue escrito el libro. Las mejores historias para el final. Al igual que "U-Turn" (apodo del autor en el mundo de los traileros) también quise ser trailero cuando estaba en la prepa, pero a diferencia de él yo no pude serlo, gracias al convencimiento de mis padres. Fue la mejor decisión y no porque tal profesión sea menor, sino porque de haberlo sido no hubiera conocido a mi hoy esposa y tener a mi hijo. Regresando a la historia, U-Turn se adentra no sólo a sus cuestionamientos propios de vida, pues también hace un cierto análisis socio-laboral de USA en profesiones operativas y como el entorno está cambiando. La historia de la familia del piano es fenomenal, pero la última lo es todavía más. Espero encontrar pronto otro libro así, pero creo que pasará un buen tiempo para ello. Muy...

Mexico on Feb 20, 2019

Karen F.: No no one really thinks much about the crew that moves their household possessions or those long-haul truckers they see everywhere on the road. They’re just part of the traffic.

But what a story this author tells about long-haul movers and the life they lead. After reading this fully engrossing, often hilarious, sometimes mind-boggling description of the life of people involved in this industry, I’ll never again see a moving van and be able to ignore it.

The author describes in the most picturesque language some of the memorable interactions he’s had with “shippers” (the industry term for customers). They range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Few people could tolerate the disrespect many clients show to movers to whom they then entrust all of their possessions. Yet, these movers are professionals and do their job well despite being denied bathroom privileges or a break to eat lunch or dinner.

The author is a well educated white male working in a business where he is more and more the rarity. Nowadays, he says, the moving industry is primarily manned by foreign nationals who come from a variety of backgrounds, not all of them commendable....

United States on Jan 02, 2019

Keith in Vancouver: Some great anecdotes. I would have liked to learn more about the author’s life before becoming a trucker to better understand his perspective. But overall a good read in an unusual topic.

Canada on Dec 19, 2017

Donald A. Collins: Finn Murphy offers us a striking example of a unique person cutting his own deal about how to live his life not patterned by his upbringing environment or his family’s economic or social status.

His story in his book published by WW Norton in 2017 called “The Long Haul” tells of his evolution as the child of an upper middle-class family in upscale Cos Cob Connecticut, into an over the road “mover” for several long distance household moving companies since about 1980.

Such work is often dangerous, back breaking and frustrating, but to Finn it offers a form of what he feels is personal freedom which seems to me to ironically restrict freedom.

His intimate knowledge of his craft and of the trucking industry is encyclopedic and written about with humor and terrific insights on human nature. We learn, for example, that there here are castes within the trucker community. Finn regards his financially rewarding caste (more elevated than mere over the road freight drivers) as the top rung of the business. I would call Murphy a Brahmin without racial prejudices or religious preferences—but with brains and erudition provided perhaps in part by his 3 years of...

United States on Nov 25, 2017

dawn gordon: Hard to say what makes this book such an engaging read- a plainly told story of life as a mover and interacting with all the best and worst of humanity

Canada on Sep 24, 2017

Angela M. Hey: I was in a bookshop in Ashland and heard a man upstairs talking about trucking. It was the author, Finn Murphy, answering questions on his book. I couldn't stay for long - the questions went beyond the book - so hopefully he can write a sequel - he was talking about longer loads, respect for logging truck drivers, finding places to turn and park and people were complaining that in Oregon they get more polluting trucks than in California. The author seemed lively so the next day I went back to buy the book - got the last one in the store.

I've hitch-hiked in trucks, had a CB radio in my car ages ago and stopped at truck stops. The book rings true and is an easy read. It tells you the slang words for different types of trucks, relates to you the pecking order and vividly describes shippers (customers) who want to move house. There's plenty of advice for anyone moving home - chuck out your junk before you pay for shipping it is the main message.

Finn tells you how he got into trucking, we don't hear much of what he did when he left it, but then he came back again as a more seasoned operator. He's not afraid to tell you about mistakes he made - so if you are a moving...

United Kingdom on Sep 06, 2017

Richard Gregson: I read this book after reading an extract elsewhere ... the extract was the chapter about how the author got into the business and was interesting and well written. Sadly, the rest of the book was a boring mish-mash of predicatability - only one story really ... we pack stuff, we haul it, we unpack it. He was off to a good start, pity he couldn't keep,it up.

Canada on Jul 18, 2017