Need for the Bike (Paperback)

~ (Author), Allan Stoekl (Translator, Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Few sportswriters fancy themselves members of the literary avant-garde, but Frenchman Paul Fournel is the real deal. In his carefully cadenced prose poem Need for the Bike, translated by Allan Stoekl, he shares a passion for the sport matched only by his love of language."-Bicycling (Bicycling )

"A fascinating mix of bicycling memories, observations, and experiences the author has gathered during a lifetime of cycling. . . . This very personal book, doled in short, easily digestible doses, packs a meal that ultimately satisfies deeply."-ForeWord (ForeWord )

"To review this hugely rewarding book is to attempt the impossible. So I urge you to buy it and discover for yourself how French author Paul Fournel has expressed so beautifully and with such humour what many of us struggle to articulate when attempting to explain our love of cycling. The title, Need for the Bike, is so apt."-Cycling Weekly (Cycling Weekly ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

A book like no other, Paul Fournel’s Need for the Bike conducts readers into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle, and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling—from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist.

 

An extended meditation on cycling as a practice of life, the book recalls a country doctor who will not anesthetize the young Fournel after he impales himself on a downtube shifter, speculates about the difference between animals that would like to ride bikes (dogs, for instance) and those that would prefer to watch (cows, marmots), and reflects on the fundamental absurdity of turning over the pedals mile after excruciating mile. At the same time, Fournel captures the sound, smell, feel, and language of the reality and history of cycling, in the mountains, in the city, escaping the city, in groups, alone, suffering, exhausted, exhilarated.

 

In his attention to the pleasures of cycling, to the specific “grain” of different cycling experiences, and to the inscription of these experiences in the body’s cycling memory, Fournel portrays cycling as a descriptive universe, colorful, lyrical, inclusive, exclusive, complete.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803269099
• ISBN-13: 978-0803269095
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #274,925 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Prose Poem About Cycling, October 7, 2003

By	Matthew Morse (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

If you have an ear for poetry and a love for the bicycle, then this 150-page gem will earn your respect. Fournel is a writer's writer with a taste for going fast on a classic road bike (handmade steel frame and Campagnolo components). He "needs" his bike in order to overcome a mild tendency towards depression. (Sound familiar?)
Out of this endorphin rush comes a subtle taste for everything from the variety of hills that we need to climb to the texture of the roads that we ride to our childhood memories. Winds, companionship, competition, beauty, class, smells, sounds, food & drink and dope are all touched upon. If you're a cyclist it will deepen your ability to experience and express what you already love about the sport. If you're not a cyclist, then you can transfer his "need for the bike" to your own obsession. A true Pleasure.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Tour of France, March 5, 2004

By	Mark E. Conroy (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

Paul Fournel's book is a series of short vignettes, all of which are concerned with the inner life of bicyclists. And the evidence is in: They definitely have one. No matter how much or little you indulge in biking, his book will convey to you, in short and vivid strokes, the splendors and miseries of this sport (starting with the miseries; i.e., accidents). Along the route, fathers and sons, Paris and the provinces, labor and leisure--all the life tensions emerge, only to be inflected by the pastime's particular wisdom. Almost better than biking!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a bike thing, but maybe you'll understand, August 4, 2004

By	K. Bickel "Dying on the Hill" (Reno NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fournel takes Hemmingway, puts him on a bike, and implants a French sensibility. The words a spare, the pieces short, but each is a declarative taste of life on two wheels, including the times your mind wanders from the road and into the passing scenery. You'll drown in the tar, greet the car door, and meet the man with the hammer. If you love to ride, you have to have this book. If you could care less about bicycling, but like to read outstanding imagery in prose, you won't be dissapointed either.