Fast Company: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Motorcycles in Italy
- ISBN-10
- 1429997540
- ISBN-13
- 9781429997546
- Series
- Fast Company
- Category
- Travel
- Pages
- 336
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007-05-15
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Author
- David M. Gross
Description
It's the thick of the mid-1990s boom, and David M. Gross is racking up billable hours for a Manhattan corporate law firm and thinking that there must be more to life. Out of the blue, a friend calls with a tantalizing and risky proposal: How would he feel about moving to Bologna to help turn around a legendary, down-on-its-luck Italian motorcycle company, known for its dominance on the track and its inability to turn a profit? After a brief soul-search and popping his first (unintentional) wheelie during his maiden ride on the company's monstrous superbike, he signs on. And so Gross heads to Bologna, fabled home of marbled meats, radical leftist politics, and bespoke shoes, diving into his new life as the "corporate image consultant" to gearheads and learning to navigate the giddy mores of Bolognese society. He meets the CEO, who can relax only on planes between meetings; the manic, bellicose bike designer, convinced that only his genius can save the company; and the director of the museum, obsessed by the factory's role in World War II. Gross sparks the business's "spectacularization" with sexy ad campaigns starring factory workers who, when not on strike, strut to the espresso machine clad in Versace. Above all, he falls in love with motorcycles, seduced by speed, and realizes that becoming a better rider means tapping into dormant parts of his self that, as it turns out, were just waiting to be unleashed. And when he picks up a handsome, young—and closeted—skinhead, things really get interesting . . . In sensuous, hilarious, and wildly entertaining prose, Gross pens a wry yet ecstatic love letter to an uproarious city and its style-obsessed denizens, and to the motorcycle that gave him the freedom to live life at its very fastest.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2007-05-15
- 338 pages
- Paperback
- Macmillan
Similar books
-
Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South
By William Bruce WheelerIn the early 1970s the Boeing Corporation had sent planners to the region for the purpose of building a new city , to be named Timberlake , near the Tellico ...
-
Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British
By Leslie Banker, William MullinsRobbie Williams Like Justin Timberlake, Robbie Williams got his start in a boy band then parlayed that success into something much bigger.
-
New England, 1999
By Wayne Curtis, Herbert B. Livesey, Marie MorrisFrost lived in a cabin on a farm across the road for 23 summers . ... but it's also open to the public at rates of about half what you'd pay at Killington .
-
Frommer's New England 2003
By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. ReckfordYou'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert...
-
Frommer's? New England 2002
By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. Reckford"Using the expertise of knowledgeable travel writers and editors, Frommer's New England is stuffed like a turkey, with slivers of information spilling out as soon as you open the cover.Even...
-
The Rough Guide to Peru
By Sara Humphreys, Steph Dyson, Todd ObolskyS/620 01 446 9414, HI Hostel Lima Casimiro Ulloa 328 hihostels.com; map. A great deal, this is the top-rated HI hostel in the capital.
-
Chicago - Frommer's Travel Guides
By Todd A. SavageThe most authoritative, easy-to-use guide a traveller can buy
-
French By Heart: An American Family's Adventures in La Belle France
By Rebecca S. RamseyIn a year or so, y'a.ll will move back home andTodd'll buy you some big house in Crawford Creek and you're ... But what is the deal with hotel rooms here?
-
Sons of Thunder
By James TimberlakeBook One: Sons of Thunder is the first of two books based on one summers 2000 mile trek across southern Europe.
-
Food Artisans of Alberta: Your Trail Guide to the Best Locally Crafted Fare
By Karen Anderson, Matilde Sanchez-TurriOwners J.P. Fortin and Danielle Black Fortin have a base camp and café in Capstone at Riverlands in Red Deer. Check them out at pursuitadventures.ca.