Always pleasing
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Tim Moore has produced a book that makes you laugh out loud yet again.
This one is slightly different as you suspect Moore had started to lose his mind before he even began his journey - the Tour de France route without even a modicum of serious training??? His stories of past tour riders demonstrates a genuine interest in his subject but his insane antics when attempting to emulate them suggests a man with very little reserves in the sanity store....
This book is, as always, a highly enjoyable (and individualistic) addition to the travel books of recent years. Forget Bryson, read Moore!
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A good read but not as funny as many claim
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I bought this book and started reading with anticipation. It is generally quite interesting, and does contain many amusing incidents, but I would certainly not describe the book as "laugh out loud funny". There is no doubting Moore's achievement in following much of the Tour route, and he does have a perceptive eye for the idiosyncracies of the French. I would class this as a holiday read, it doesn't overly tax the brain, it's funny in places, but could never be described as great literature. I would recommend it to read, and have no regrets about having bought it, but you will make your own mind up whether it deserves the hilarious plaudits it has been given.
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Great for Tour de France fans
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I have been lucky enough to follow a few Tours in my life usually on my own and on a motorbike with very little luggage and this book reminds me of the emotions I went through on those journeys. There was none of the pain obviously, but the scenery and constant weather watching brings it all back. The villages he describes come alive for one day in the year just because this amazing event is passing through. Until you've been up Ventoux, it's hard to imagine how anyone could cycle up it after being in the saddle all day but the author's references to the late Tom Simpson was also poignant reminding us of how he died 40 years ago on that mountain. This book is funny, descriptive and a great read for anyone who is in awe of cycling as I am and for someone who has never really ridden a bike before, I think he did rather well. Who cares if he cheated? All he did was face the stark realisation that the men who compete in the Tour de France are totally dedicated sportsmen with a passion most of us will never know.
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Amusing in places, but wordy writing style
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I'm afraid I didn't find this book particularly funny and came to dislike Moore's wordy, over-descriptive writing style; like one reviewer said, it tends to hide the meaning or intent of what he is trying to say. And were his experiences as really as entertaining as he makes out, or has he taken artistic license a bit too far?
I thought the most interesting bits were the anecdotes about past Tours, including Paul Kimmage's experiences, though these became less frequent in the latter half of the book.
Another star is lost because he didn't ride the whole route, as the book's title implies.
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Larry David on a bike
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Moore is a talented writer and in the space of 280 pages manages to give a pointed critique on the absurdities of the French; provide overwhelming proof that the word "exercise" for the over 30's is actually an abbreviation of the term "exercise in futility"; and, most impressive of all, comes perilously close to getting himself divorced.
My favourite bit in the book comes on the road to Evian. When Moore meets a couple who complain about how cold it is, he comments, with intentional vulgarity, that he's sure they can think of others ways of warming themselves up. Delighted with this, he cycles off only to become aghast when it finally dawns on him that they are not actually a couple but brother and sister. Initially repentant, Moore concludes that:
"my veiled accusation might indeed have forestalled an incestuous atrocity: they wore the same clothes, after all, and rode the same bikes - and, let's face it, there's no smoke without fire."
A witty and irreverent travelogue.
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