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A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
"Clever, poignant and unexpectedly funny, Schneider's A Simple Machine, Like The Lever masterfully evokes the simple pleasures—and harsh realities—of keeping to one's ideals in a world where speed is revered and complexity is king." David Rozgonyi, author of Goat Trees: Tales from the Other Side of the World
"Schneider's literary cycling uplift is enough to counteract the weight of the world. He nails the essence of being a cyclist and of being young — the yearning, the detachment, the attempted grace, the uncertainty, the gray confusion." Jonny Waldman, founder of Zero Per Gallon
"All the fresh pleasures of taking a bike ride are to be found in A Simple Machine, Like the Lever. The novel is by turns innocent, lyrical, wistful, funny, and poignant. Necessity has made its observant narrator, Nick, hopelessly thrifty, but what has made him so bafflingly sweet?" Mary Rechner, author of Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women
"Evan Schneider's debut novel, A Simple Machine, Like a Lever, is exactly that: a deceptively simple, efficient, and potentially revolutionary machine. Like its co-protagonists — Nick and his bicycle — the novel cranks out quietly subversive, smart, and funny prose that crackles with insights on the current human condition; a book that, while never polemical, seduces you into fully re-examining the stuff of your life and somehow convinces you that the answer lies in reducing, reusing, and riding . . . just riding." Steven Church, author of The Day After The Day After: My Atomic Angst
Nicholas Allander, 31—carless and careerless—is trying to get his life on track while holding his head high. He's trying to pay off his debt, impress his girlfriend, keep his job, cast off his introversion, and accept the world's imperfections without abandoning his heart. Unsure of what moves to make, though, he considers growing his beard, taking up alcoholism, abandoning scrounging, and owning an automobile--before too much slips by. All the while he clings to his bicycle, a simple machine whose purpose and workings he grasps.
Nick's struggle to position his aesthetic within the world is the story of a perfectionist who is far from perfect, who is considerate but clumsy, and who may be invisible. Like Nick, A Simple Machine, Like the Lever is toned, observant, generous, purposeful, and brimming with bicycle wisdom.
"Schneider's literary cycling uplift is enough to counteract the weight of the world. He nails the essence of being a cyclist and of being young — the yearning, the detachment, the attempted grace, the uncertainty, the gray confusion." Jonny Waldman, founder of Zero Per Gallon
"All the fresh pleasures of taking a bike ride are to be found in A Simple Machine, Like the Lever. The novel is by turns innocent, lyrical, wistful, funny, and poignant. Necessity has made its observant narrator, Nick, hopelessly thrifty, but what has made him so bafflingly sweet?" Mary Rechner, author of Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women
"Evan Schneider's debut novel, A Simple Machine, Like a Lever, is exactly that: a deceptively simple, efficient, and potentially revolutionary machine. Like its co-protagonists — Nick and his bicycle — the novel cranks out quietly subversive, smart, and funny prose that crackles with insights on the current human condition; a book that, while never polemical, seduces you into fully re-examining the stuff of your life and somehow convinces you that the answer lies in reducing, reusing, and riding . . . just riding." Steven Church, author of The Day After The Day After: My Atomic Angst
Nicholas Allander, 31—carless and careerless—is trying to get his life on track while holding his head high. He's trying to pay off his debt, impress his girlfriend, keep his job, cast off his introversion, and accept the world's imperfections without abandoning his heart. Unsure of what moves to make, though, he considers growing his beard, taking up alcoholism, abandoning scrounging, and owning an automobile--before too much slips by. All the while he clings to his bicycle, a simple machine whose purpose and workings he grasps.
Nick's struggle to position his aesthetic within the world is the story of a perfectionist who is far from perfect, who is considerate but clumsy, and who may be invisible. Like Nick, A Simple Machine, Like the Lever is toned, observant, generous, purposeful, and brimming with bicycle wisdom.
- GenresFiction
184 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
5 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Evan P. Schneider
13 books18 followersEvan P. Schneider is the author of A Simple Machine, Like the Lever and the founding editor of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac. He is a graduate of the English departments at Colorado State University and the University of Rhode Island and has received fellowships from KHN Center for the Arts and the Oregon Arts Commission. Born in New Mexico and raised in Colorado, Schneider now lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 18, 2013
Reads like a peaceful afternoon passes--moment to moment,calm,simple,but so satisfying and rich. Balanced cerebral moments and action,the two neatly intertwined. Most enjoyable fiction I've read in a long while.
January 29, 2016
Great book! Love letter to the bicycle. Also a realistic portrayal of the sad, penniless, Great Recession Portland hipster.
October 27, 2017
A great book to read as I rid myself of way too much stuff. A bicycle is indeed a machine, though it’s much more complicated than a lever, just as it’s less complicated than a pickup. This simple tome will really make you think.
July 8, 2013
Maybe not quite a four, but close enough. It's a nice little book--great voice, lots of insight into life and biking and love. There's not much of a plot, but the structure works well. An enjoyable read.
January 24, 2012
Simple but oh so insightful.
November 3, 2019
"On nights that I can't sleep I go outside and ride around the city."
- being a cyclist myself, and just a tiny bit emotionally attached to my road bike franc, this hit home :) when life gets a bit too much it's never really a question if i am going to go out for a ride or not. nights are the best for clearing the head. no traffic and no noise. [just me and my bike getting used to each other and me fine tuning the old fashioned gears, learning how to jump over hoops or lift both wheels at once.]
i also couldn't help laugh at all the relatable little things, like always carrying extra bolts in my bag (or allen key for that matter).
it's an easy-to-read pick because i think everyone has a bit of nick inside themselves (though i couldn't really relate to his life), and maybe that's why his way of thinking made me sad at times. but the author captured my attention with little bits and bobs, e.g. when he perfectly explained the impossibility of staying in the moment. it's rare that i feel like things aren't just slipping right past me, or like i'm not wasting the little things, even though i'm consciously trying not to.
bonus points: a couple of things made me think of seinfeld, though i doubt these were really references (eating "perfectly good stuff" out of the trash can / "zen champion. zen champion," equaling to "serenity now. serenity now." hehe)
also the covers are beautiful! really glad i have my own copy :)
- being a cyclist myself, and just a tiny bit emotionally attached to my road bike franc, this hit home :) when life gets a bit too much it's never really a question if i am going to go out for a ride or not. nights are the best for clearing the head. no traffic and no noise. [just me and my bike getting used to each other and me fine tuning the old fashioned gears, learning how to jump over hoops or lift both wheels at once.]
i also couldn't help laugh at all the relatable little things, like always carrying extra bolts in my bag (or allen key for that matter).
it's an easy-to-read pick because i think everyone has a bit of nick inside themselves (though i couldn't really relate to his life), and maybe that's why his way of thinking made me sad at times. but the author captured my attention with little bits and bobs, e.g. when he perfectly explained the impossibility of staying in the moment. it's rare that i feel like things aren't just slipping right past me, or like i'm not wasting the little things, even though i'm consciously trying not to.
bonus points: a couple of things made me think of seinfeld, though i doubt these were really references (eating "perfectly good stuff" out of the trash can / "zen champion. zen champion," equaling to "serenity now. serenity now." hehe)
also the covers are beautiful! really glad i have my own copy :)
November 19, 2018
Ah this is great. Complaining about other bike commuters and living a simple and recycling life. Virtually plotless, just driven along by his bike rides, and it's just "a dude trying to live his frugal bike life". That's it. Totally placid text, and full of humanity without being dramatic or fancy. Some pretty hilarious, absolutely correct lines:
hahaha
and a great example of the plain but evocative language:
I actually got hit by a car riding a couple weeks ago, and this is an uncannily accurate description of my feeling. I never felt angry, or scared, or shocked, or anything... I could try to describe the feeling by saying I felt disappointed, or sad, but those words are all, still, not quite it. Each of these words pales compared to Schneider's simple description above. I only wanted to hang out with my friends and eat indian food, and yet here I am on the ground.
It's simple. And good.
If you ride your bike to work every week , Ride Your Bike To Work Week is one of the worst weeks of the year.
hahaha
and a great example of the plain but evocative language:
I only wanted to ride my bike and sell some books and maybe chat with Strong Arms and yet here I was on the ground surrounded by bruised parcels.
I actually got hit by a car riding a couple weeks ago, and this is an uncannily accurate description of my feeling. I never felt angry, or scared, or shocked, or anything... I could try to describe the feeling by saying I felt disappointed, or sad, but those words are all, still, not quite it. Each of these words pales compared to Schneider's simple description above. I only wanted to hang out with my friends and eat indian food, and yet here I am on the ground.
It's simple. And good.
March 18, 2014
I developed a fondness for Nick, the narrator of this story. And I saw myself in him in some sometimes unflattering ways. Yea, he's got some irritating OCD stuff going on. But as nick himself knows, the world would be a better place if more people thought and acted like him. Is there a right and wrong way to lock up your bike? Uh, yea. Half box of salt in a free pile on the curb? Can totally use that. And the bike does make everything better. I can see how this book would be un appealing to some; I think to appreciate nick the reader has to at least sympathize with his Luddite tendencies. But I enjoyed going along for the ride. Recommended.
July 20, 2013
This is easily one of the best books I have ever read. After reading it I immediately wanted more from this author, but alas, he has written no other novels. I would say this book is 'bicycle fiction'. Nick is so simple yet so smart. I know a lot of people that are frugal like him, although not usually for the reasons that he is. I never liked his girlfriend much, he was way too good for her. Anyways, best book award goes to this one.
April 12, 2012
I love this neurotic main character, Nick. I love how he is Portland encapsulated, without being cliched. And it's heartbreaking how he fails where he aims to be great yet succeeds where he believes he is a failure.
I love this simple, yet graceful writing style, too.
Best book of fiction out of Oregon that I've read in a long time.
I love this simple, yet graceful writing style, too.
Best book of fiction out of Oregon that I've read in a long time.
August 4, 2013
base books on covers and discover great things.
A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
Evan P. Schneider
A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
Evan P. Schneider
September 24, 2013
I rated this book five stars, but I am still not entirely sure that I enjoyed it. It made me think. I had never been confronted with the workings of the mind of someone quite so introverted before, and to see some of his qualities (only a couple!) reflected in myself was interesting. It was a book that made me think, and reflect on who I am. Thus, it commanded my interest.
October 12, 2015
Really such a sweet, beautiful, heartbreaking story. Of course I'm a bicycle nerd, but of all the books about bicycling I've read, this one comes close to catching the spirit of the beauty of the simplicity of the bicycling life. It's a love story, a work of philosophy, a portrait of the bicyclist as a young man.
March 11, 2012
I thought this would be a much better book than I experienced upon finishing. Just so pointless! My life has not been altered in even the slightest from reading this, feel like I lost twenty hours that I'll never get back!
September 2, 2014
Simple and lovely -- a reminder to focus on the little moments and the passing experiences that make up our days. And never have I read such spot on descriptions of the pure joys of riding a bike through the city! Happy to have read this tiny book with a big heart.
August 29, 2012
A really, really nice book showing the post-educational years plight of a young person grappling with how to fit the world into his life.
November 27, 2013
I related to SO much in this book.
April 12, 2015
"Doing things the right way is the hardest way to do them."
August 12, 2015
Feels really calm and sad and observant in a way I respect. Novel as meditation.
February 5, 2014
nice, quick read - definitely reminds me of portland.
March 5, 2016
With crisp and poignant language, this book allowed me to get inside the head and understand the thinking of a character very different from myself.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews