Book Review: Found

The book: Found: The Lives of Interesting Cars & How They Were Discovered

Author: Gregory Long

Pages: 238

Purchase: Click here

Everyone has some sort of car story. Found: The Lives of Interesting Cars & How They Were Discovered dishes out several of them in fictionalized form. Residing in Gregory Long’s self-published novel are short stories about barn finds, threaded together through a relationship between a young car enthusiast, Tanner Hamilton, and an older car collector, Mr. Brant. Their friendship starts when Tanner spots Brant’s 1970 BMW 2800CS in a parking lot, and a friendship borne of a mutual love of interesting old cars is born.

Anyone with a love of cars and literary bent should enjoy this book. It’s fairly easy reading, but Long doesn’t skimp on attention to details. His descriptions and dialogue bring a real sense of life to the situations, the characters, and their growing friendship. Some stories in Found end prematurely however and thus leave you hanging, which a reader might find frustrating. This stylistic foible employed by the author is in fact intentional. For those paying attention to Long’s note at the beginning of the book it’s apparent that it’s part of the plan–Long doesn’t forget about the loose ends he creates in these stories about cars that are lost, and then found again. The reader just has to wait until the last chapter for the payoff.

Do you enjoy “just one more” books? The books where you feel drawn to read just one more chapter or story before putting it down? Found is just that kind of book. Long incorporates many interesting cars from BMWs, Porsches, Ferraris, Hemi Cudas, as well as more off-beat iron like Citroëns, Tuckers, Tatras, and even a 2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen. There is something for everyone, and might very well inspire one to research some of the cars mentioned within, go out, and see what might be hidden away inside an old garage or warehouse, or strike up a conversation with an enthusiast with an interesting car.

Purchase Found.