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A review by andrewspink
The trail to nowhere: Life and death along the Colorado trail by Quentin Septer
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.0
As a keen mountain biker, I was looking forward to reading this book. The book's main achievement was that the author did a good job of conveying why it is that most mountain bikers cycle. It is not for the thrill of the adrenaline rush (which is probably what you would believe from watching YouTube films on the subject) so much as the joy of being in nature, in the woods or the mountains, not shut off from the natural world like in a car and going faster than walking, so that you can see more.
The book is also very much about how the author started to come to terms with the death of his father during the ride. To be honest, I found that a little repetitive and not so helpful. He clearly worshipped his father, who is presented as a sort of perfect man, rather than a human being 'warts and all'. That meant that his father comes across as rather a two-dimensional and uninteresting character. It is understandable that a boy should see his father like that, especially at that stage in his bereavement, but it is not so helpful for the reader. The theme comes back very often; even when he sees a lake drying up, he was reminded of his father's death.
The book also contains a lot of factual information. Some of it is really interesting, like the scandalous treatment by the US government of the Ute people who were living in Colorado before the European colonists came. Time after time, treaties were made and broken and their lands stolen until there was not enough left to be viable. The author writes that he doesn't know if he should feel responsible for what his ancestors did. The point is that it is what his government did, and that government still bears responsibility for the actions of previous administrations of the same government.
He also writes a lot about the geology and natural history of the places he passes through. As an ecologist, I enjoyed reading about the plants and animals, but I must say that I found the geology dry and rather boring. I caught myself skipping bits. Perhaps he also assumes too much background knowledge of his readers in those sections as well.
There were some strange bits. He describes one of his friends as an obnoxious human being. Why would you do that? He tells the story of how a bunch of criminals shot a judge in 1875 and then a couple of sentences later says that town must have been a wonderful place to live. I guess that is humour or irony, but I wasn't amused, especially in the current political situation in the US. In the prologue he appears to mention that he mountain biked whilst high on cannabis, which is potentially dangerous, but it is presented as normal.
In summary, if you are a mountain biker, or just enjoy walking in the mountains, you will enjoy this book, but perhaps you will also think that it would have benefited from a severe edit to cut out some of the more boring and repetitive sections.
Acknowledgment: I received a free advance review copy of this book from BookSirens in return for an honest review.
The book is also very much about how the author started to come to terms with the death of his father during the ride. To be honest, I found that a little repetitive and not so helpful. He clearly worshipped his father, who is presented as a sort of perfect man, rather than a human being 'warts and all'. That meant that his father comes across as rather a two-dimensional and uninteresting character. It is understandable that a boy should see his father like that, especially at that stage in his bereavement, but it is not so helpful for the reader. The theme comes back very often; even when he sees a lake drying up, he was reminded of his father's death.
The book also contains a lot of factual information. Some of it is really interesting, like the scandalous treatment by the US government of the Ute people who were living in Colorado before the European colonists came. Time after time, treaties were made and broken and their lands stolen until there was not enough left to be viable. The author writes that he doesn't know if he should feel responsible for what his ancestors did. The point is that it is what his government did, and that government still bears responsibility for the actions of previous administrations of the same government.
He also writes a lot about the geology and natural history of the places he passes through. As an ecologist, I enjoyed reading about the plants and animals, but I must say that I found the geology dry and rather boring. I caught myself skipping bits. Perhaps he also assumes too much background knowledge of his readers in those sections as well.
There were some strange bits. He describes one of his friends as an obnoxious human being. Why would you do that? He tells the story of how a bunch of criminals shot a judge in 1875 and then a couple of sentences later says that town must have been a wonderful place to live. I guess that is humour or irony, but I wasn't amused, especially in the current political situation in the US. In the prologue he appears to mention that he mountain biked whilst high on cannabis, which is potentially dangerous, but it is presented as normal.
In summary, if you are a mountain biker, or just enjoy walking in the mountains, you will enjoy this book, but perhaps you will also think that it would have benefited from a severe edit to cut out some of the more boring and repetitive sections.
Acknowledgment: I received a free advance review copy of this book from BookSirens in return for an honest review.