Chasing the Hawk: Looking for My Father, Finding Myself

This is a wonderful story, marvelously written. I didn't expect much when I first picked it up - - another child of the famous capitalizing on their parent's fame - - but after a few pages I simply couldn't put it down. The book is captivating, and I hope we hear more from its talented author in the future. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Andrew!

This book is a great read. As a runner, I was familiar with Dr. Sheehan's works, but unaware of his family life. Andrew has done a great job of telling the heart wrenching story of his relationship with his distant and unavailable father and his own evolution as a human being. The story is pertinent to all and will cause any father to re-evaluate his relationships.

Andrew Sheehan has written a magnificent love story. He has learned, through painful experience and wry memory, that his parents were not perfect, but decided---as an act of will--to love them anyway. With heartbreaking clarity and astonishing delicacy, he recounts his life as a loner in a large, Irish Catholic family. His description of his descent into alcoholism is searingly honest and harrowingly unflinching in its detail. His struggle for recovery, floating and cresting like Gregorian harmony to his father's struggle to find meaning in his life as he faces death, is magnificent. The courage that it must have taken to write this book, as well as the talent that made it possible, are grand. If you grew up in a family, if you had a mother or a father, whether they were Irish or not, this is a must-read. Give it to everyone you know. I know I will be.

Wow! What a powerful book. What emotional exposure. The writing has such compelling cadence and wonderful unhackneyed metaphors.The reconciliation in the final chapters between son and father is written with remarkable, nuanced grace.Anyone living with an Alcohol problem will find resonant insights here as the author describes his struggles.

This book is even better than Pulitzer Prize winning books I have read and enjoyed. Being a reader of his father's books, Sheehan has written a compelling, inspiring and courageous book his father would be proud of. This book goes far beyond anything his father wrote. I spent the last 50 pages reading the book in tears. This book describes real life from the heart. It's recommended for anyone who has been a father, son, mother or daughter. Congratulations on a beautifully written book and I hope it gets the broad readership it so richly deserves.