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Ten Points |  |
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Ten Points | |
In the process, he discovered that he was racing toward the loving home life he cherished and, at the same time, trying to get away from something far worse -- his legacy of horrific childhood abuse. Strickland?s memoir is filled with lyrical insights on training and dedication, racing scenes packed with nail-biting suspense, and powerful reflections on the meaning of family. Because for Strickland, it?s definitely not about the bike.
作者简介 Bill Strickland is the executive editor of Bicycling magazine and writes about cycling and fitness for publications including Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, and Parenting. He has commented about cycling on such television programs as Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show. Strickland lives in Pennsylvania.
媒体推荐 "As this memoir begins, the reader might feel he's chanced upon a charming, elegantly written sports book, certainly payoff enough. But soon there's a sense of something lurking, and ultimately the reader's reward is much richer. Who Bill Strickland is -- more importantly, who he was -- lends his quest a consequence beyond measure. Written with great style, wit and candor, this is, by turns, a fun or funny, dramatic or daring book. Above all, it is a triumphant book." -- Robert Sullivan, author of Our Red Sox
"Bill Strickland?s Ten Points is to cycling what The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is to running: a story of grit and determination that transcends mere sport and in the process exorcises the demons of the past and finds redemption in the simple act of going forward in life. Read Ten Points first for the inspiration. Read it again for the music of its language and for its heartbreakingly honest portrayal of human beings struggling to do the best they can. Strickland has written an unforgettable book here, one that discovers joy at the end of agony and that helps us understand the ticking of our imperfect hearts." -- Mike Magnuson, author of Heft on Wheels
"Brace yourself. Bill Strickland1s meticulously-written memoir travels very dark territory -- scenes that will wake you from a dead sleep. Strickland?s horrific father is no kind of role model for anyone who strives to be that most human of parents: a family man. Strickland achieves this in the end, but he has to do it the hard way, working his way through a punishing cycling obsession and memories he1d rather not disclose, all the way to an inspirational ending. It took balls to write this story; it took discipline and elegance to write it so well." -- Robin Chotzinoff, author of Holy Unexpected
"Every so often a book comes along that seizes the reader, like The Kite Runner and Tuesdays with Morrie. It happens again here. Magazine editor Bill Strickland places his own life -- traumatic roots and all -- in the context of a challenge and within the framework of an obsession . . . Often painful, this isn't an easy book to read -- or forget." -- GO, AirTran Airways Inflight Magazine
"In Ten Points Bill Strickland takes you farther into the bodies, the heads and hearts of serious cyclists than you?ve ever been before, where you hear the click of gears, the arrow of pain in your legs. But he does something far more important. You learn about nightmare encounters with fathers and drugs, the tenderness of fatherhood, and why in the end, the devil drives. A stunning debut." -- Paul Cody, author of So Far Gone and Shooting the Heart
"Note to bookstore staff: Do not shelve under Sports. Put this book next to Mary Karr or Dorothy Allison. Put it on the shelf marked: Wrenching, Unflinching, Utterly Compelling Memoir Written in Shining Prose and Jewel-like Detail (That Happens to Include Some Nice Bicycles)." -- Mary Roach, author of Spook
"Sports can teach a lot of lessons, and so can parenting, and Bill Strickland has been paying careful attention. If you're a father or an athlete or both, this is a book you need to read; it's not always easy, but every page is powerful and rewarding." -- Bill McKibben, author, Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously
"When Bill Strickland writes about cycling, he takes you on one of the most intense, most unforgettable rides of your life." -- Lance Armstrong
"You don?t need to care about bicycle racing to find yourself captivated by this book. The real drama here is not so much a man?s quest to win bicycle racing points but to outrun the buried demons of child abuse before they consume him and those who love him. Strickland knows how to tell a tale, and the story sings along like a racer on the way to the finish line." -- John Grogan, author of Marley and Me
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The executive editor of Bicycling magazine explores childhood, fatherhood and cycling in this moving memoir about the legacy of child abuse and the healing power of sport and family. In Emmaus, Pa., in 2004, 39-year-old Strickland decided to take up a near-impossible challenge proposed by his preschool-aged daughter Natalie, to score 10 points in a single season; to do so, he has to place among the top four-ten times-in a local weekly race populated by Olympians and cycling legends. Alternating between present-day life and dispatches from his horrific childhood, Strickland introduces his sadistic father, a man who put a loaded gun in his son's mouth, made him eat dog feces and encouraged him to have sex with his babysitter, among other outrages. Strickland juxtaposes these episodes with scenes of his own shortcomings: unbridled anger with his daughter and marital infidelity with a colleague. It's only through numerous races (and missed points) that he learns to tame the inner demons that threaten his new family. Strickland's lyrical prose and swift pacing lighten the material's weight, but it remains a necessarily brutal read that goes several shades darker than most sports memoirs; though non-cyclists may get bored during the race scenes (and there are plenty), anyone dealing with familial abuse will find Strickland's journey an inspiration.
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From Booklist
When the executive editor of Bicycling told his four-year-old daughter that he would win 10 points during a single amateur bike-racing season, he knew he had made a promise that was almost impossible to keep. To win a point, a competitor has to be among the first four finishers in a race, and Strickland, a writer not a racer, was going up against the elite, men and women who dedicate their lives to the sport. But, being a man who loved his little girl, he took on the challenge and discovered that it wasn't really about the racing at all: it was about being the best father he could be and about coming to terms with the memories of his own abusive childhood. The sports-as-spiritual-therapy theme has been explored plenty of times, and perhaps Strickland doesn't offer any blindingly new revelations, but his book is honest, and he doesn't waste our time with banal observations or facile psychologizing. He is also a very talented writer, and readers should brace themselves for some very moving—and also some rather unsettling—passages. Pitt, David
