Tim Krabbé
Paperback | Pages: 152 pages Rating: 4.23 | 4099 Users | 357 Reviews
Itemize About Books The Rider
| Title | : | The Rider |
| Author | : | Tim Krabbé |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 152 pages |
| Published | : | June 12th 2003 by Bloomsbury USA (first published June 1978) |
| Categories | : | Sports. Cycling. Fiction |
Ilustration Conducive To Books The Rider
A literary sports classic, finally available in the U.S.Originally published in the Netherlands in 1978, The Rider became an instant cult classic, selling over 100,000 copies. Brilliantly conceived and written at a breakneck pace, it is a loving, imaginative, and, above all, passionate tribute to the art of bicycle road racing.
Not a dry history of the sport, The Rider is beloved as a bicycle odyssey, a literary masterpiece that describes in painstaking detail one 150-kilometer race in a mere 150 pages. We are, every inch of the way, inside amateur biker Tim Krabbé's head as his mind churns at top speed along with his furious peddling. Privy to his every thought-on the glory and vagaries of the sport itself, the weather, the characters and lineage of his rival cyclists, almost hallucinogenic anecdotes about great riders of the past-the book progresses kilometer by kilometer, thought by thought, and the reader is left breathless and exhilarated.
A thrillingly realistic look at what it is like to compete in a road race, The Rider is the ultimate book for bike lovers as well as the arm-chair sports enthusiast.
Author Biography: Tim Krabbé is one of Holland's leading writers, and his novels are published all over the world. His many books include The Vanishing, which was made into a successful film, and The Cave. He lives in Amsterdam.
Details Books To The Rider
| Original Title: | De renner |
| ISBN: | 1582342903 (ISBN13: 9781582342900) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Vondel Prize for Sam Garrett (2003) |
Rating About Books The Rider
Ratings: 4.23 From 4099 Users | 357 ReviewsJudge About Books The Rider
cycling and narcissism.james told me that this book would tell me more about racing. fair enough. i did learn a bit about the techniques and some of the history, anecdotal as it was. more though, this book reminded me why i dislike organized and competitive sports: the people who enjoy them are self-centered, probably mean, and almost certainly not people with whom i'd enjoy spending time:Road racing imitates life, the way it would be without the corruptive influence of civilization. When youJames's choice for book club this month, and I was a little dubious going in. Given how much cycling we watch on TV during the year, did I really want to spend precious reading time on it too? Particularly with the enormous pile of books on my to read list at the moment. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that I really enjoyed it, a fictional account of a climbers race with Tim Krabbe as a contender. Zipped through the 150 pages to reach the exciting finish line in time to discuss on
the kind of book you should definitely read if you race bikes but definitely not read if you don't
A masterpiece! Tim Krabbé turns a 137 kilometer cycling race in the South of France into a veritable odyssey. He thoroughly captures the bloody-seriousness of endurence athletes and the delirious, addictive, masochistic and purifying experience it can result in. Also, the story offers true insight in the nature of stamina, ambition and the continuum between loyalty and rivalry.I can imagine that for some the references to the history of cycling felt a bit stale (if you were already familiar with
This book was very short, and I feel that the ending came up short. This structure and syntax may have been because of its translation from Dutch, or perhaps it just followed Krabbe's style. As somewhat of a rider myself (not competitively, but recreationally) I felt very engaged in Krabbe's writng and vivid descriptions of the momentum of cycling, and this book would definitely speak similarly to anyone with biking who is looking for a fervent story.
Four stars, but really for MAMILs only ...
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