Customer Reviews

Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Early on in reading this book I might have agreed with a couple other reviewers who thought it a little stuffy (some embellishments of scenes were a little over the top) or for whom constant references to "Lucy" (the motorcycle) got a little tedious, but those things are small compared to how well this author does everything else. I've done this all my adult life - set off to parts unknown on motorcycles - and Ms. Larsen gets so much of it just right. From the magnificence of the things you see, to the loneliness of being a thousand miles from anyone you know, to the magnificence of the loneliness and the unfettered ability to search your own soul, to the "grit-your-teeth-and-drive-no-matter-how-miserable-you-are" doggedness that you have to endure just to move forward some days. I like to describe long distance motorcycling as the greatest way I know to be miserable. In this book I felt all the emotional ups and downs that go along with it. I envy her ability to capture those extremes very much. The more I read, the more I looked forward to sitting down with this book again. I enjoyed it very much and hated to see this ride end.

P.S. I would really like to have seen a route map included on one of the inside covers or pages and a small section with pictures.

There is a mode you sometimes get into when a road trip is all but necessary. I haven't done one on two wheels in quite some years, since before she was born, my pickup with a matress in back is much more my style now. But every year or two I get the urge to go somewhere a few thousand miles away. Given three months between jobs, what better way could Karen Larsen have spent the time than to get on a bike and go 15,000 miles.

I agree with her completely that you need some time alone just letting the miles go by. At the same time you find yourself talking to people just as though they were there. And when you go find an interesting site, perhaps a National Park, parhaps just a pretty spot on the road you want to share it. I have never had an unknown father to look up, but stopping off to see friends from the far past is a truly excellent way to spend an evening.

Now I'm getting the urge to go somewhere: Death Valley, the coast of Nova Scotia. Hmmmmm!

This book is about life on and off a motorcycle - a book for everyone.

I just purchased by tenth copy to give to a friend. If you ride a bike you'll love it; if you dont't you'll still love it! I started the book about nine o'clock one evening and just kept on reading until I finished the story.

Karen Larsen uses a ride from New Jersey to Alaska and back to review her life and project her future; you can join her and live your own adventure as you pour through the pages. You can laugh with her, cry with her and come away in awe of the world in which we live - if you liked Pirsig you'll love Larsen.

Super book about a young, educated lady who rides a Harley 1200 motorcycle about 18,000 miles, all the way to Alaska and back to Massachusetts. She is one gutsy lady and tells it like it is. Good book.

I really enjoyed the travelog, the descriptions of places, weather concerns, campsites, etc. The inner turmoil described when the author was contemplating the meetings with her family was exceptional.

I do take offense, though, to the snobby attitude about other bikers she met on the road, especially what she calls the "day bikers". I am a woman motorcyclist also, and take cross-country as well as cross-town trips on my bike, and I think that anyone I meet who is adventurous enough to ride, whether just for the day or for a month is a pretty cool person. I thought the "brotherhood" of bikers extended to the whole group, not just to a select few.

I was very inspired by the book as a whole, and thoroughly ejoyed reading it.

I haven't devoured a book this quick in years. I found Karen's journey to be fascinating both in character and description. I've been a biker for a few years and envied her trip and courage. The book wasn't about finding one's self or searching for the ultimate answer to life but a story of what it feels like to journey on a motorcycle, the inherit dangers and her descriptions of what we feel when we are on our bikes. It was comforting for her to reinforce the idea that as you travel across the country on back roads that as a whole people are friendly and willing to lend a hand and that bikers share a certain friendship and connection that only we understand, irregardless of who you are or what you ride. There is no moral or hidden meaning in this book, just Karen out to discover the real USA and a few things about herself. I must say that the description of the high school she talks about is right on for I grew up in that town and graduated from the same high school.

I was excited about reading this book, but once into it, i found myself getting bored, but was committed to finish it. A lot of the description felt like a review of itinerary of her travels, naming off places on the map. The times she did go into internal dialogue were nice, but few between the pages. I wanted to know more about how she felt on the journey, more than yes, being a woman (I get it) on a journey. I agree with another reviewer, the constant reference to her motorcycle as Lucy gets irritating. Overall, there was a lot of potential for this book since there was a lot going on with meeting birth parents, breaking up a relationship, taking a solo trip cross country, but I felt disappointed with the overall lack of emotion throughout the book(...we are, after all, women.)

If you liked Robyn Davidson's book, Tracks, you will like this book. In my opinion this is a great adventure book, a great feminists book and a great travel book. It is about one woman's two-wheeled trip from New Jersey to California to Alaska and return on a motorcycle. One her journey she met fellow travelers (including bicyclists like me,) local folks and her birth family. Larsen is an excellent writer and her trip, like all good journeys, led her to a lot of self-revelations. If you can't make the journey yourself you should at least read the book. It is a great trip!

This book was first brought to my attention as an amazon reccommendation. Just from reading the excerpts I thought this might be a good read. I will say, (again,) this was exactly what I had hoped for. Karen's journey from New Jersey into Alaska and back, using almost all back roads, was a detailed account of what it might be like as a woman traveling throughout the united states. She stayed at, for the most part, campsites or hostels, only rarely staying in a hotel, thats over 14000 miles. An incredible review of the journey, and not so much the destination.
The first thing you might ask while reading this, as I did and do, is, how did she remember all these details? She must of taken notes every night before she camped. The roads she took, the people she met at gas stations or coffee houses, their names, what they were wearing, the expressions on their faces, all of it. She of course doesnt account everything, the book would be monsterous, but she gives you a good idea of the whole aspect of the journey. If your into adventure, motorcycles, and possibly getting an idea on your next summer road trip, I say read this book.

What an incredible read by an amazing woman. The book is intelligently written, including bits of history in her descriptions of areas traveled and her encounters with strangers. I also ride a "SPORTY" and men are amazed that I have ridden over 10,000 miles on it, much less a "short distance" trip of 450 miles in one day. I am in complete awe that this women did it on a model that was not rubber mounted as is mine. Have shared excerpts with my husband and he is interested in reading the book also. And being the man that he is, knowing I would enjoy a solo/soul searching journey of travel, encouraged me by stating he would "hold down the fort" so I could have a similar but shorter experience. Definitely recommend this to all women who ride.