Leonardo's Bicycle [Paperback]

Paco Ignacio, II Taibo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

A brilliantly crafted collage of noir adventure and political psychodrama, Leonardo's Bicycle chronicles the effects of a century of violence on the nature of imagination. While a cast of revolutionaries, radicals, criminals, and dreamers chase a wild goose into a hail of gunfire, Leonardo da Vinci hovers overhead on a bicycle.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mexican novelist Taibo (No Happy Ending, Life Itself) has already secured a name with his inventive, slangy books, the last of which introduced his investigator-novelist Jose Daniel Ferro. This is a much bigger, more ambitious book than his previous outings, however, and though it is ingenious in many ways, it demands considerable patience. For a start, it is that tricky literary looking-glass, a novel about a writer trying to write a novel: Ferro is stuck, with a deadline for a new book staring him in the face, and becomes obsessed with a young Texan basketball player, Karen Turner, he sees on stateside TV in his slummy Mexico City apartment. When Turner disappears after a teammate is murdered, he learns she has been found in Ciudad Juarez, near death after having had one kidney removed; and he imagines finding her and tracking down her abductors. Other elements in the book, which zigzags wildly in time and space, include the saga of a CIA man who escapes from Saigon and searches for the Bulgarian with whom he left a trunkload of heroin; a hectic picture of 1920 Barcelona, with anarchists and cops shooting it out on every street corner; and, giving the book its title, occasional visits to the remarkable papers left by Leonardo in the course of his strange life, including his apparent invention of the bicycle. It is all violent, surrealistic, told at a headlong pace and with a brilliant range of contemporary reference, from porn video to the music of Santana. There's hardly a dull moment, but the lack of narrative coherence-things only ever so slightly come together into recognizable shape-works against reader involvement beyond grudging admiration. The translation is superb.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

While crime novelist Jose Daniel Fierro sits in Mexico City nursing a broken ankle and a case of writer's block, he becomes obsessed with the televised image of Karen Turner, a blond University of Texas basketball player. At the height of his obsession, Fierro learns that Turner has been kidnapped in an attempt to steal one of her kidneys. He travels to Turner's hospital room in Ciudad Ju rez, determined to meet his obsession and solve the crime. If that sounds to your liking in a bizarre sort of way, you ain't heard nothin' yet. Chapter by chapter, Taibo alternates Fierro's quest with a tale of revolution in Barcelona in the 1920s, the fall of Saigon, and a series of essays about Leonardo da Vinci's inventions--especially the bicycle. Each tale has its own fascination, but after 275 pages or so, even Taibo's fans and students of magic realism may wonder if the author has any intention of linking the various plot strands. Not to worry. Leonardo's Bicycle offers readers one of this year's wildest literary rides. Thomas Gaughan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Pr (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446404918
• ISBN-13: 978-0446404914
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,617,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paul, April 6, 2010

By 

Paul Johnson "Paul" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leonardo's Bicycle (Paperback)

Paco Ignacio Taibo the second IS NOT EVERYONE'S CUP OF TEA (or cerveza as the case may be) but what a ride, what a joy. It's a translation that comes across as authentic. It's a moving story with some aspects of a mystery novel but more an examination of power and how it is exercised and why and by whom.

What a joy! This is the kind of book I've always wanted to read. Polyprotagonist, but virtually two novels in one. Antonio "The Flea" Amador and a half lame Mexican writer hobbling around looking for those who hurt a female basketball player whom keeps a piece of his heart and soul. (This was written before Mia Hamm, Venus and Serena and various other female pro athletes did just this; I found out Anna Kornikova played tennis professionally two years into her fame as a model.)

BE ADVISED: the ending is not a John MacClane-style leap from an exploding building. It is quiet, a coda to all the points made perfectly well prior. But don't sell Taibo short, or yourself.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific book, November 25, 1999

By 

rick nelson (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leonardo's Bicycle (Hardcover)

Much of the content is covered in other reviews and synopses. I found the book mesmerizing, informative, dream like. Many things I knew a little about were fleshed out in this book, such as the tragedy of Barcelona, the actual bicycle and it's a far better than average mystery too.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wild Ride, June 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Leonardo's Bicycle (Hardcover)

The greatest detective cracks his last case a finds out more about his past than he bargained for. Fascinating historical detail tied into a modern detective novel - buy it if you can find it