![]() ![]() After reading this book, you'll know why. ![]() ![]() The author has stared death in the face more than once, and she understands why medical professionals call her preferred means of transportation a ""donorcycle."" But-like so many of America's seven million or so riders -she just can't seem to permanently park that mystical machine. Pierson, a longtime Moto Guzzi rider, weaves autobiography, travelogue, motorcycling history and social commentary with delicious descriptions of the pre-ride ritual, cruising in the rain, the camaraderie of female riders (her husband, the writer Luc Sante, does not ride) and the significance of a wrong turn that leads to a cemetery at the end of a deserted cul-de-sac. Pierson's cultured yet personable and honest style will hook both enthusiasts and readers who've never even sat on a motorcycle-let alone know the difference between a Honda CBR and a Honda CRX. But that's what makes it a precious piece of literature, an ode to a way of life dismissed by most worthwhile writers. It's odd as hell."" Odd, too, is this book. She shares with us how the outsider may view the female motorcycle rider. ![]() Along the way, we experience her first motorcycle purchase, personal relationship problems, and ride with her to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Canada, and a difficult riding trip through Germany. ""On a bike,"" Pierson writes in her first book, ""I am hurtling toward what I imagine is a fearful future, but I am using a fearless means to do so. Melissa Pierson shares the intimacy she has uncovered for Riding in this book. People who ride motorcycles live in another world, where the line between life and death often is as blurred as the center line whizzing by beneath the foot pegs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |