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TdF Novel
 

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lrzipris
Joined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 532
Location: Doylestown, PA

9/12/17 8:56 AM

TdF Novel

Just got a novel from the library, The Invisible Mile, by David Coventry, about the 1928 Tour de France. Haven't read it yet, but here is the publisher's synopsis:

"Based on a true story The Invisible Mile tells the poignant story of five Australian and New Zealand cyclists who in 1928 formed the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. They were gallant, under-resourced and badly outnumbered but taken deep to the heart by the French nation. The novel describes in a wonderful poetic and visceral voice what it was like to ride in this race (the chaos, danger and rivalries), the extraordinary lengths to which the riders pushed themselves, suffering horrific injuries, riding through the night in pitch dark, and the ways they staved off the pain, through camaraderie, through sexual conquest, through drink, and through drugs (cocaine for energy, opium for pain).

"Added to the team is the fictional narrator who is cycling towards his demons in a northern France still scarred by the First World War. His brother was a fighter pilot damaged by his experiences in France, his sister has died, and this self-imposed test of endurance is slowly and painfully bringing him to his final, invisible mile where memory eventually comes to collide with the past."

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

9/12/17 10:02 AM

Keep us posted on how you are enjoying it of you'd be so kind...

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

9/15/17 10:49 PM

I think that book was the genesis of the documentary I saw a few months ago (Le Ride) where the filmmaker and a friend decided they were going to ride the route of the 1928 TdF on bikes of the period and in the same timeframe as the actual race (so mountain stages over 300km starting at 4am). The film interspersed coverage of them doing this with historical coverage of the 1928 race.

The best TdF book I have read is "The Great Bicycle Race" by Geoffrey Nicholson, about the 1976 Tour. I read it when it was first released, and I notice that it has just been reprinted: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1911162020

Well worth a read if you come across it.


Last edited by Nick Payne on 9/16/17 3:31 AM; edited 1 time in total

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Marc N.
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 457
Location: Israel

9/16/17 1:36 AM

Kindle

I downloaded a sample of The Invisible Mile to my kindle and not sure I want to take on the whole book. I found the authors writing style difficult to deal with but will wait to see what Irzipris has to say.
The Great Bike Race is also available on Kindle so will give that a go as well.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

9/16/17 10:05 AM

"found the authors writing style difficult"

Not the first time I have heard that sentiment.

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lrzipris
Joined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 532
Location: Doylestown, PA

9/17/17 3:24 PM

Nope

If I hadn’t started the thread and if Sparky had not asked for a report, I would not have finished the book. Although the story occupies the Tour, it could take place anywhere, any time, because the language is so distant from the experience. It is hyper-poetical, language in love with itself, rather than suited to the story. All words, nothing concrete, eloquent characters who speak in metaphors and similes, with everything evocative of something else.

Here is a passage about a crash: “Eventually we were involved in a crash. The five of us along with 20 others. Clothes fell off and blood and skin decorated the dirt.” “Decorated”? Hardly the right word for the aftermath of a disastrous crash of cyclists. It’s all about the words, the romanticized insights of the author speaking through an unbelievable character. In fact, none of the characters are "real" enough for me to care about.

The narrator did not come across as flesh and blood, soliloquizing in ways incongruent with who he was supposed to be, where he was from. To rely on the cliché, the experiences—the horrendous climbs, the drug use, the exhaustion—are told, not shown. Frankly, I’d rather read Jens Voigt’s columns.

By the way, the story is about the squad in “Le Ride,” the documentary that Nick mentions. Two better reads are by Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France and Gironimo! Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy. ---Roy

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