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Amazon.co.uk Review
In reviewing Matt Seaton's The Escape Artist, the irresistible temptation is to adopt the shorthand of a marketing pitch and call it the Fever Pitch of cycling. Seaton's book, like Nick Hornby's, is about male obsession and the ways it changes (or doesn't) in the face of growing responsibility and maturity. In Fever Pitch the obsession was Arsenal FC; in The Escape Artist) the obsession is cycle-racing, the sport of strange, lycra-clad lads with shaved legs and eyes permanently fixed on the back wheel of the bike ahead. Seaton is particularly good at evoking the rituals of the sport (the loving maintenance of both body and bike, the relentless monitoring of calories, pulse beats and heart rates) and at recreating the adrenaline thrills it provides. His descriptions of his own races--with the cyclists bunched together for mile after mile, each one testing and assessing the pace and stamina of the others, until the sudden, dramatic opportunity to "escape" the pack offers itself--go a long way towards explaining the otherwise inexplicable hold the sport has on its devotees. His accounts of his own developing responsibilities, and of the tragedy of his wife's illness and premature death, which force him to reassess the priorities in his life, seem more tentative. It is as if the experiences, unsurprisingly, are still too raw and painful to be approached in any less oblique and indirect way. Yet it is these passages that give the book an individuality that makes it much more than just another story of male obsession. The Escape Artist is a brief book, easily read, but it is a moving one and it manages to say much in a short space about subjects more important than cycle-racing.--Nick Rennison
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'As poignant an elegy as I have ever read. I finished the last chapters of this book just before I went to sleep, and in the morning, with a swoop of grief in my guts, it was the first thing I thought of.'
Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph
‘Thoroughly tragic and almost brilliant. The Escape Artist is an achingly sad account of what Seaton now refers to as 'my former life.'
Robert MacFarlane, Observer
'A heart-stopping examination of how, why and for what we push ourselves to the edge. I never thought I'd cry about bikes and cycling. It is one of those rare books you could give to absolutely anyone – and one you'll want to keep by you and read again and again.'
Julie Myerson
‘This book is, above all, about passion and loss. It's about the passion of life at the very edge of athletic and mechanical achievement that is eventually lost to love of a wife and children, which in turn gives way to the loss of the wise and mother herself. I read and relished this book.'
Jon Snow, Guardian
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The book captures the essence of the cycling experience, with wonderful descrptions of the relationships between riders. More than this, is asks some important questions about the relevance of this very consuming sport when "real life" knocks on the door and asks for a response.
I found myself unable to put the book down during the descriptions of Matt's improving results, and of his wife Ruth's
tolerance of his cycling, as they went through their trials.
The story of the pressure to give up a male obsession in order to satisfy the demands of a relationship with children were familiar territory, but left unexplored due to the tragic changes in the family's circumstances. I was left feeling quite sad and very moved by the account Matt gives.
One can't help but wonder if the cyling bug has really been extinguished in him; the passionate descriptions lead me to belive that he will find it hard to leaves cycling out of his life forever.
One for cylists and the people who tolerate them.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is beautifully written, and so elegantly ans subtely crafted in that it is controlled, measured, eloquent, yet unleashed on occasion when required, precisely reflecting the nature of the sport itself. For anyone that has competed in bike racing, and has given up for other reasons this is a jolting tug on your heartstrings. It's a shame that its not longer, dwelling more on those signpost life moments; but that would be to deny the impact of the book, written to be read as a race; and as such is as pertinent and as moving as any story about bike racing or indeed the vagaries and eccentricities of life itself.
If you buy no other sporting biography this year, then you should grace your bookcase and your mind with this.
If you buy no other sporting biography this year, then you should grace your bookcase and your mind with this.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Escape Artist is by far the best book I’ve ever read about cycling and it tells of Matt Seaton’s life as a cyclist racing for the well known South London club VC De Londres. He used to train on the same roads that I used and it was heart warming reading in my front room in Cornwall about familiar names from my past such as Keston, Westerham, Badgers Mount and Knockholt. Places that I’ve ridden through hundreds of times on training rides. Mr Seaton was a road racer while I chose to do the less taxing discipline of Time Trialling, but I could easily identify with the obsessive nature of what being a racing cyclist is.
The book ends on a sad note with the death of his wife (the journalist Ruth Picardie) and the realisation that theirs more to life than cycling.
But after reading the 'The Escape Artist' Mr Seaton has given me an appetite to start pounding the roads again and I'll dust down my old Look Carbon Fibre racer as soon as the chiropractor's finished with me.
The book ends on a sad note with the death of his wife (the journalist Ruth Picardie) and the realisation that theirs more to life than cycling.
But after reading the 'The Escape Artist' Mr Seaton has given me an appetite to start pounding the roads again and I'll dust down my old Look Carbon Fibre racer as soon as the chiropractor's finished with me.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A good book
A great book which all the thousands of club racing cat 2/3/4 riders or Nyone with a passion for bikes will relate to. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Kitersteve
Every amateur racer should read this
Having just started amateur bike racing, I've been reading all manner of books on racing, and this is the best so far for the weekend warrior. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Darren Edwards
A beautiful elegy
Matt Seaton's book is richly evocative of so much. For someone like me who knew and recognised many of the characters behind their pseudonyms, it brings back very fond memories of... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Graham Pierce
Pretty good
I'm "in process" with this book at this point. At this point, it's good, but not great.
Published 18 months ago by Michael W. Cleveland
Not first over the finish line..
I loved the photo of the author sitting, brooding, on the wall. I wanted so much to like him and his story too.... but somehow it never quite happened. Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2009 by stevieby
Yellow Jersey
An excellent dissection of what makes a cyclist tick and what makes a man come to terms with life's harsh kick.
Published on 13 May 2009 by Sid Boggle
Escaping from life?
This isn't a story about bike racing. It's the story of a bike racer (and not a very good one) and the conflict between wanting to work as hard as he can at this against the very... Read more
Published on 8 April 2009 by A. Johnston
A great book for cyclists
This was a fantastic book that really encapsulates what it means to be a cyclist. The descriptions of rides and how it feels to be out on the road and free brought a real smile to... Read more
Published on 8 April 2009 by Simon J. Lewis
For Cyclists of All Ages
This is a funny, and sometimes touching, account of one man's life as experienced through his love of cycling. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by Roy Croft
Not a patch on pro books
I found this book thoroughly depressing and not at all inspirational. Would prefer to read about pro cyclists who are actually good at what they do.
Published on 2 Jan 2009 by R. Marsh
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