REVIEW: Motorcycles I've Loved
PHOTO | GEM COOTE
A bildungsroman for those of us who found ourselves later in life, Motorcycles I’ve Loved grants the reader a vicarious sense of liberation communicated through the unapologetic prose of Lily Brooks-Dalton.
This memoir recounts the story of a woman who, jarred by the void of an ended relationship, is left to redesign herself in the image of who she truly wishes to be. When she gets the first taste of life on two-wheels, she is infected by the fascination of the dangerous road less-traveled. Throughout her chronicles, the complexities of a machine and its movement parallel to the complexities of life. Confident, collected, and road-worn, Brooks-Dalton illustrates the symbiotic bond between a machine and its operator that is unique and reminiscent of what every lost soul seeks.
When asked why Brooks-Dalton chose to document the story and towards whom she hoped to gear it, Brooks-Dalton stated,
I didn’t set out to write a book, especially not a memoir. In the beginning it was just essays that I was writing for fun mostly, and then I started to see how they could fit together. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking too much about who the book would resonate with when I was working on it. It was something I needed to create for myself, and so the fact that it resonates with anyone at all is a happy byproduct.
The “happy byproduct” Brooks-Dalton created in Motorcycles I’ve Loved is a raw, relatable tale, one that may inspire others to chase the sense adventure that they have lost or the emboldened persona that has eluded them all of their lives.
Giselle lives for motorcycling and is a true daughter of the road. She’s learnt first hand that you don’t want to be catching hornets in your sleeve at 75mph, and that adults can have as much fun playing in the dirt when flat tracking is involved. Her wicked sense of humour is right at home with IVV, and she brings this infectious vivaciousness to her writing.
