If you want a handy read that’s accessible, witty, unpretentious and which focuses on Central America, then the 112 pages that feature in Motorcycle Therapy will probably satisfy.
Covering four months on the road from Alberta to Panama, this is about a trip undertaken with the pretext of getting over a romance, as so many journeys are, but for the reader it’s a great and honest insight into the reality of being on the road with what was a good friend. The author’s analysis of this interpersonal dynamic is what makes this such an interesting read; his observational and descriptive prose of everything else, is what makes it a lovely one.
Because he is Canadian, it almost goes without saying that he’s riding a KLR650, a machine which seems to be a catalyst for so many North Americans who want to ‘get away from it all’. For Jeremy, it does enable him to have an adventure, going beyond his physical and emotional comfort zone though it doesn’t help him acknowledge that ultimately his state of mind won’t differ with place.
It’s not a dull psychoanalysis and it’s not meant to be written as a joke a minute, but some of the wonderfully crafted turns of phrase really amuse and perhaps it’s achieving this balance of humour and fantastic honesty that give this book its edge.
Paddy Tyson
Motorcycle Therapy. A Canadian adventure in Central America.
ISBN: 978-141207-832-0
Paperback 112pp, £8.95
Published by Trafford Publishing (2006)