The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver's Seat (with the Help of a Good and Mysterious Man) [Hardcover]

Amy Fine Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2004

As chief style journalist for Vanity Fair, Amy Fine Collins has a whirlwind schedule, packed with glittery parties, swanky shows, and high-profile assignments that keep her busy twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week - and as if that's not enough, she's a wife and mother too. In Manhattan where taxis and limousines reign, she never had the time - or need - to learn how to drive. But when the brilliant and determined Amy decided it was time to get behind the wheel and ultimately overcome her lifelong phobia of driving, nothing (except a red light) could stop her. Amy's first driving instructor was efficient, but not very effective, so she dropped her lessons and went back to her glamorous life. But then, as only a true compulsive would, she decided to call the school again and give driving lessons another whirl. This time she was paired with an outrageously handsome, exotic, and mysterious Turkish man named Attila, a.k.a.The God of Driving. Both a character study and a brisk-paced inspirational tale, THE GOD OF DRIVING follows Collins as she becomes captivated by her wise, charismatic instructor and his secret past and obsessed with all things automotive - from motorcycles and sports cars to speedways. And while Attila is totally changing her life, she is also completely transforming his. Lively, humorous, and always entertaining, THE GOD OF DRIVING is a fascinating journalistic odyssey centred on the unlikely bond between a fashionable Manhattan socialite and her magnetic, elusive, guru-like driving instructor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Collins, a style journalist, society page regular and phobic nondriver, charts her road to automotive freedom in an entertaining look at a skill many people take for granted. But this is less the story of a fashion diva transforming herself into a gear head, trading limos and taxis for Ducatis and Vipers (or even for the driving school's '92 Acura, which she eventually purchases), than the tale of the awkward, tender, complicated friendship that blossoms between Collins and her instructor, Attila, a Turkish-born enigma with a preternatural talent for teaching driving. Their bond forms quickly, as Attila, a former inventor, textile designer, masseur and night club owner, impresses Collins with his calm confidence and soothes her fears about being behind the wheel. Soon she's correcting his English and he's doling out pieces of his unique worldview. As Collins becomes more confident, she and Attila are given incredible vehicles to drive and race tracks on which to practice (a lesson in what being a special correspondent to Vanity Fair will get you). In between jaunts and lessons, they happily psychoanalyze each other. Though it's sometimes a bit stiff, this is a sweet story of an education in both driving and life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Collins, a socialite and writer for Vanity Fair, decided it was time to overcome her driving phobia. She enrolled in a driving school and got more than she bargained for. Her teacher, a Turkish expatriate named Attila, not only got her out on the highway but he also changed her life. Collins chronicles what happens both on and off the road, as she finds herself drawn into the life of Attila, an enigmatic, charismatic, all-wise teacher who knows her better than she knows herself. With names of fashion designers and other glitterati dropped into the story as easily as the names of the luxury cars in which Collins hones her skills, this quirky tale is about much more than overcoming the fear of driving (after a year of lessons, Collins only manages to solo a couple of times). The star of the story is clearly Attila, who will be as intriguing to readers as he is to the author. The narrative is a bit precious but nonetheless endearing, and it definitely begs for a sequel, spelling out just where the final kiss on the cheek leads. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (August 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743244214
• ISBN-13: 978-0743244213
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Fast and the Spurious?, November 23, 2004

By 

Thomas Dineen (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver's Seat (with the Help of a Good and Mysterious Man) (Hardcover)

If this book were a vehicle, it would be a gangsta-customized SUV: flashy and big on frills, yet cumbersome and pompous. It would have a small engine, and its suspension would be stiff, as Amy Fine Collins remains throughout this overlong, underpowered memoir. Those familiar with her pieces in Vanity Fair may enjoy Collins as a competent if sometimes unintentionally amusing writer. But after fifty pages of this tale, I couldn't believe something so precious and narcissistic had been published by Simon & Schuster. Yet, as I plowed on, the many solecisms, misspellings, and other misuses of language that got past its editors began to make me lose confidence in Simon & Schuster itself.

Indeed, the writing quality of The God of Driving suggests that what Collins really needs is a Deity of Diction or a Saint of Syntax. There are misspellings and typos: "supercede"; "prize open" instead of "pry open" (a door), and misuses of such words as "comprise," "intriguing," and "ethnic." Just as annoying, given the choice of a simple, direct word or a genteelism, Collins generally goes for bloat: "diminutive" rather than "small"; "resided" instead of "lived"; "purchased" rather than "bought," etc.

It's also hard not to groan at her "art history lite" similes: a seat belt "snaked itself around my chest like one of Laocoön's attacking serpents"; "Like an Olympian arrow launched from Diana's bow, he shot onto Park Avenue"; a Maserati engine "rippled beneath our stunned gazes like the abdominal muscles of a Roman god." Then there are Collins's inaccurate classical references--Terence, not Seneca, wrote "Nothing human is alien to me"--and her dubious pronouncements on academic matters: art history is a "field that deals in ideas more than things," I was surprised to learn. Overall, the writing tone is effete and bloodless, the dialogue arch and unrealistic.

Some of these problems would be forgivable if Collins herself weren't so insufferable. Her conceitedness can be breathtaking...almost comic: "What were [Attila and I] doing together--and what would have happened to him if he had never met me?"; "Normally the kind of person who's invisible to me...[Attila] wanted to prove to me that he wasn't at the bottom of the food chain." (With her frequent name-dropping of celebrities, designers, and opulent car brands, it's clear that Collins herself is the one with something to prove.)

Coming as all this does from a middle-class Tennessean who married up to New York WASP money, one expects to hear a bit of self-deprecation when Collins touches on class-related matters. Yet she takes herself seriously. She's led what she calls a "cerebral" life, writing about divas, decorators, and glitterati for Vanity Fair. It's no surprise that Collins finds Bentleys--ride of choice of hip-hop moguls and Mafiosi--so alluring.

As her recitation of luxe goods reaches its apogee ("Into the secret compartments of the Vanson jacket I zipped my cell phone and a tube of MAC Viva Glam lipstick"), one wonders what Collins is trying to achieve...aside from evoking the envy of aspiring nouveaux riches.

As a quasi-romance, this book has little to offer. The Amy-Attila relationship never rises above infatuation, as the author's coy overtures are rebuffed by the smug, elusive Turk. Though there are a few moments of genuine, adult tenderness, Collins comes off as rather girlish for a woman pushing fifty...longing breathily for a dominant-yet-caring father-figure in Attila.

As a self-help text, will this inspire many auto-phobes to take driving lessons? It's unlikely. Like its author, the book is thin on substance and big on superficial externalities...mediocrity decked out in lavish accoutrements. Could a sequel be in the cards? Nisht fur dich gedacht!

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars God help us!, September 5, 2004

By 

Tenessee "jthunter24" (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver's Seat (with the Help of a Good and Mysterious Man) (Hardcover)

I can't believe so many people actually enjoyed this stiff and unbelievably abnoxious book. The book is centered around Amy's style and her and her driving instructor's so called knowledge. The two main characters (Atilla and Amy) spend the entire book philosophosizing and psychoanalyzing each other but instead of feeling uplifted and enlightened I felt more like I was in the middle of listening to the emotional ramblings of Brittany Spears. If you are interested in a book with zero style and no flare this is just the book for you!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More pretentious than dull, or vice versa?, July 9, 2005

By 

s9999r - See all my reviews

This review is from: The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver's Seat (with the Help of a Good and Mysterious Man) (Hardcover)

It's hard to decide what's worse about this book: the pretentiousness of the author or the dullness of the vignettes that reveal it.

You also have to wonder what Amy's husband made of her flirtations with Attila. The book comes off as a major indirect insult to that poor fellow! Or maybe he just didn't care.