Stephanie Jane reviewed Horse Called Bicycle by Roxana Valea
Very readable
3 stars
A Horse Called Bicycle is the more enigmatically titled second volume of Roxana Valea's Polo Diaries memoirs, following on from Single In Buenos Aires which I read just over two years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't as enamoured with A Horse Called Bicycle because I didn't feel it had as much of the humour that I had previously appreciated so much in the first book. Buenos Aires was not so attractively portrayed either although I did like the time we spent out in the rural Campo.
A year on from being Single, Roxy now has an Argentine man to return to and the whirlwind of their rekindled romance makes up the first part of this book before Roxy returns to her self-destructive habits, soon landing herself back in hospital - and back in a plaster cast and back in despair. For me, a lot of A Horse Called Bicycle did feel …
A Horse Called Bicycle is the more enigmatically titled second volume of Roxana Valea's Polo Diaries memoirs, following on from Single In Buenos Aires which I read just over two years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't as enamoured with A Horse Called Bicycle because I didn't feel it had as much of the humour that I had previously appreciated so much in the first book. Buenos Aires was not so attractively portrayed either although I did like the time we spent out in the rural Campo.
A year on from being Single, Roxy now has an Argentine man to return to and the whirlwind of their rekindled romance makes up the first part of this book before Roxy returns to her self-destructive habits, soon landing herself back in hospital - and back in a plaster cast and back in despair. For me, a lot of A Horse Called Bicycle did feel like a repeat of Single In Buenos Aires with similar accidents, rehabilitation and the same generous people rallying around to bail Roxy out (figuratively speaking) again. I did occasionally wonder what they really felt about her shenanigans. She frequently ignores good advice in favour of following her own path, but without seeming to learn from her mistakes. I suppose this is the difference between reading actual fiction and reading a fictionalised memoir like A Horse called Bicycle. Real people don't follow the rules of a 'good story'! That said, this book is very readable and I did enjoy the time I spent with it, but I wanted Roxy to have grown and that not being the case made her quite a frustrating narrator.