Damn, it sounded good, and the book review I read last week in The Wall Street Journal (which I must have read too quickly) made it sound like an interesting read. And the cover looked good, too. It had to be good: Five guys riding from Russia to France in the dead of winter, retracing Napolean’s retreat from a military disaster, on three Ural motorcycles. I love motorcycle adventure books. How could it not be great?
Well, let me tell you how. Berezina is the name of a river Napolean crossed on the way back from Moscow in 1812, and in colloquial French it’s become a term for anything that’s a disaster. It’s an entirely appropriate title for this book. I was hoping for stories about riding in the cold, riding from Russia to France, the challenges in riding motorcycles not known for reliability…in general, a good adventure read. What I found was a lot of intellectual drivel laden with three-dollar words talking almost exclusively about Napolean and his retreat. Somehow, for the most part, the author managed to do this without describing the areas he rode through, and without hardly mentioning the bikes or the ride. He spent a lot of time imagining the misery experienced by Napolean, his army, and bizarrely, his horses. I would estimate that less than 5% of the book was about the riding. Getting through this story was a slog, even though the book was mercifully short.
I realized all of the above in the first few pages, but I kept reading and hoping it would get better. It didn’t. Berezina reminded me of another motorcycle adventure that was mostly about things other than motorcycle riding (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I also found to be a slog when I read it 50 years ago). Zen, however, at least spent some time on the bike and the riding. In Berezina there was precious little of that, and what little there was wasn’t nearly enough. Save your money, folks. The best thing about Berezina was that it was only $15.
There’s an old saying: You can’t tell a book by its cover. In this book’s case, never were truer words spoken.
If you want a great read about a real motorcycle adventure, buy a copy of Riding the Edge, Dave Barr’s epic story about his ride around the world on a constantly-failing Harley. If it has to be about riding Russia in the winter, try Riding the Ice, Barr’s sequel about a trip across Siberia in a sidecar-equipped Sportster. Either of those books is a great read. Better yet, buy both books. You can thank me later.
More books? Hey, check out our Books page!
I worked my way thru Zen, as well. All the people that talk about how good it is, must not have read it. Pirsig documented the mental abuse of his son very well…
I think I was in junior high school the year that book was published. I tried to get through it again a few years ago, thinking maybe my mind was not mature enough to appreciate it 50+ years ago. I convinced myself that I had it right the first time.
same here. i mean as far as zen itself goes, it was ok. as a bike book? does not rise to the hype.
Pirsig was way to high falunting for me…I too was disappointed in the book as motorcyclist and thought it was aimed at deep thinkers with boring lives.
Thanks for reading and reviewing this book, as a past Ural owner myself, i would probably picked it up on Amazon…so now I have $15.00 to blow at Harbor Freight!
Thanks Dude!
De nada…
Thanks for the head’s up on Berezina. I might have been tempted so you saved me $15. plus shipping. For anyone that would like to read the original Zen but can’t, won’t etc, may I recommend Mark Richardson’s “Zen and Now”. It’s a very good tale and it gives a good insight into what the original story was about.
Thanks for posting, Ken, and thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to pick up a copy.
Joe — My rule is read the first hundred pages and if it’s no good, toss it. It doesn’t protect you from a poor buy, but it does save time.
Probably not a bad idea, Marty. This one wasn’t much longer than 100 pages, but every one of those pages was like trying to run in hip-deep 60 weight motor oil. It was painful.
Zen was a tough read. Towards the end it go kind of hazy. Some books you return to as an adult and they are better. I hated On The Road, by Keroak, the first time. I was 20-ish.
I re read it later in my 50’s and liked it. In general I’m getting more forgiving as I age.
In all this chat we have neglected to mention Motorcyclist Magazine’s Russian story that I did years ago. I forgot the name and can’t seem to find it anymore. Links are slowly fading away.
Joe, if you or anyone can find your Russia story, it would make for a great blog piece.