Book review: "The Long Haul" by Finn Murphy

I'm a sucker for stories about working people.

While others may seek out novels about wizards, vampires, or war and peace, or deep-thinking treatises on politics or social issues, to me some of the best stories come from some of the most ordinary places.

I'm fascinated by the fact that we're surrounded every day by people who do different jobs that we do, but we rarely get a look at what their lives are really  like.

Finn Murphy, right, author and truck driver

That's one of the reasons I find books like "The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road" (2017) intriguing. In this book, author Finn Murphy takes us inside the world of a "bedbugger" -- a long-distance mover.

The other reason I like "The Long Haul"is that it's just plain fun to read.  The book is filled with so many good stories I have trouble picking my favorites.

There was his disastrous first day as mover -- so bad he offered to quit right there and then (his boss refused his offer). There's the story of moving a baby grand piano when things go awry. There's a tense story of driving his truck backwards up a muddy, narrow and winding mountain road in the rain -- the only way he could deliver his cargo.

There are stories of  various "shippers" -- those are the people who hire the movers, like you and me -- who are arrogant, rude, strange or friendly (included one attractive wife who was very friendly).

I love how Murphy finds joy in practical things. For instance, he rhapsodizes about the beauty of a well-packed truck constructed of carefully built "tiers" of household goods:

"A well-built tier is a beautiful thing to see and lots of fun to make. It's basically a real-life, giant Tetris game with profound physical exertion incorporated into the mix. When I'm loading I go into a sort of trance because I'm totally focused on visualizing everything in the house and mentally building tiers. This is one of the sweet spots where -- as anyone who has done repetitive manual labor understands -- the single-minded focus, concentration, and hard physical work combine to form a sort of temporary nirvana."

If you also like books about the working people, I would recommend "Rivethead" by Ben Hamper, the story of life at an auto assembly plant. Also, I liked this article about the life of a woman "cable guy."