Abstract

In this novel, Shimano, a cycling enthusiast and mechanic, leaves his home in Vermont to seek his estranged Quebecois father in Montreal. He cannot find his father, or anything familiar, as he confronts a culture radically different from his own. Eventually, Shimano begins to form an identity and values independent of the father he craves to connect with. After passively enduring a series of adversities, he learns to become an active participant in his life, dedicating himself to environmental activism in response to the ice storm of 1998. The central metaphor of the novel is the bicycle wheel, how its cyclical structure propels us forward, and how its interlocking spokes combine to make something that can bear hundreds of pounds of weight and travel thousands of miles. This novel is part environmental manifesto, part bicycle manual, part coming of age story, and part love song for Montreal.