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2.69 AVERAGE
2.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a strange book. I bought it thinking it was the story of the first English speaking Tour de France team. But it isn't. It's set in that team in 1928. An unnamed rider, imagined by the author rides the tour like a fever dream, a drug haze. He is making amends. Amends for his brother's war, for their broken relationship, for his sister's death.
Celia is interesting. She turns out to be his cousin. Or his guilty conscience personified. Or is she just a representation of the drugs he increasingly relies on?
Ultimately, although the rider's life is revealed, nothing is ever clear. Even when the riders are talking, they never make sense. It's a struggle.
But oddly rewarding.
It also, very strangely, a century after WW1 repeats anti German tropes about war crimes.
Ultimately, although the rider's life is revealed, nothing is ever clear. Even when the riders are talking, they never make sense. It's a struggle.
But oddly rewarding.
It also, very strangely, a century after WW1 repeats anti German tropes about war crimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Violence, War
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I did not enjoy this book. The style was very "psychological," as another reader has described it. I found it annoying and it didn't help me to get into the story. There were some very long sentences.
The book was less about cycling and more about a fictional rider trying to come to terms with himself and his family's history. There was a lot of showing and not telling, which can be good, but sometimes I was confused. I was also taken aback by a very nasty description of a war crime that one of the characters suddenly described. I wouldn't recommend this one.
The book was less about cycling and more about a fictional rider trying to come to terms with himself and his family's history. There was a lot of showing and not telling, which can be good, but sometimes I was confused. I was also taken aback by a very nasty description of a war crime that one of the characters suddenly described. I wouldn't recommend this one.
I am something of a cycling enthusiast, although my interest in modern professional road racing has mostly collapsed, I guess from fatigue with doping scandals.
There are some topics that are, let's say, overworked. For U.S. history, topics such as the Civil War, for example, or something about Abraham Lincoln. For books about cycling, the Tour de France has somewhat the same place - it feels like every third or fourth book involves the Tour somehow. This is a work of fiction drawing on actual events at a particular Tour, the 1928 version. At that Tour there was a mostly Australian team; the main character of the book is a fictional participant from New Zealand. The rest of his team are historical figures from that race, as well as other named riders and a few race officials and others.
The structure of the Tour de France has evolved (and perhaps also devolved) over the years - I should have read the Wikpedia entry on the Tour de France for this period before reading the book for some basic context.
The book has several plot lines - one is certainly the main character's participation in the race, and much about the race itself with particular focus on its many grueling aspects. There is at least one other plot line, although perhaps it's more like several others, and I somehow never engaged will with any of that.
I didn't read the book properly, I guess. Oh well. I enjoyed the cycling parts.
There are some topics that are, let's say, overworked. For U.S. history, topics such as the Civil War, for example, or something about Abraham Lincoln. For books about cycling, the Tour de France has somewhat the same place - it feels like every third or fourth book involves the Tour somehow. This is a work of fiction drawing on actual events at a particular Tour, the 1928 version. At that Tour there was a mostly Australian team; the main character of the book is a fictional participant from New Zealand. The rest of his team are historical figures from that race, as well as other named riders and a few race officials and others.
The structure of the Tour de France has evolved (and perhaps also devolved) over the years - I should have read the Wikpedia entry on the Tour de France for this period before reading the book for some basic context.
The book has several plot lines - one is certainly the main character's participation in the race, and much about the race itself with particular focus on its many grueling aspects. There is at least one other plot line, although perhaps it's more like several others, and I somehow never engaged will with any of that.
I didn't read the book properly, I guess. Oh well. I enjoyed the cycling parts.