Reviews for Tortington and the Black Canons

The average rating for Tortington and the Black Canons based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-08-01 00:00:00 Nicola Sicilia It's that time of year again when I read a book about the Tour de France. While this one covers a lot of ground from its origins to more modern day doping scandals, it wasn't as absorbing as I'd hoped. It rambled on and I felt myself often thinking of other things and then reminding myself "oh, yeah, I'm reading this book right now. Where was I?" On a good point, it doesn't just focus on the biggies that everyone knows. But, still the stories weren't really written in a compelling way. The main takeaways for me is there have always been - and still are - politics, positive acts, bad behaviour, some back door dealing, a delicate attempt balance between commercial sponsorship and something that seems more authentic, and a populous attitude towards the Tour de France. It also remains a boys club. The most interesting part, to me, was the discussion of the surveys of the French public and how they felt about the Tour and whether or not the attention brought to the towns through which it pass is worth the cost in fees, road and shop closures and cleaning up the resulting litter. I like getting into the Tour de France every year. But, i didn't grow up with it, so I still have a hard time sometimes getting my head around the strategy and stages. This should be the book I want and need to really ground me in Tour de France history and lore, but it just didn't feel like it delivered. I'm usually a fast reader, and considering it took me longer to read the entire book than it took them to complete the Tour (which is 3+ weeks) I think that says something about it.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-02-07 00:00:00 Khashayar Nemati Second read - A comprehensive look at the Tour de France over the years by an excellent author who seems to have swallowed a dictionary. I certainly needed one by my side when reading this book and I thank him for extensively extending my vocabulary. I like the fact that he links in his own cycling exploits on the TDF roads to the exploits of the riders on these same roads. The detail and research needed must have been phenomenal so chapeau for that. In the end I found finishing the book hard work but my interest kept me reading. It’s a well written book but you have to be deeply interested in the TDF to finish it. First Read - It a long read but enjoyable and very detailed. The first part was historical and mixed up with the authors own cycling journeys, later, it settled down to a year by year description of the race. The authors very literary background meant I had to keep a dictionary handy and, in the course, of reading I learned quite a few new words. The finish is a bit disappointing; I felt he should have talked about the future of the race vis a vis cheating and drug taking, instead we got a eulogy about how glorious the race is, an approach that is hard to understand in view of the sordid events of the last 20 years (or more). I have always said that the mixture of an amazing race, history, cheating, and drugs played out in the magnificent backdrop of France, especially in the mountains, gives us cycling anoraks something to talk about. La Gloire…maybe. Le Doping…..for sure.