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What Goes Around
A beautiful new view of the city from a talented new writer and cycle courier..
At twenty-five, Emily Chappell took up cycle couriering while she searched for a ‘real job’. Eight years on, she is still riding. As she flies through the streets of London, dancing with the traffic, Chappell records the pains and pleasures of life on the dangerous missions; the moments of fear and freedom, and ultimately the simple joy of pedalling onward.
At twenty-five, Emily Chappell took up cycle couriering while she searched for a ‘real job’. Eight years on, she is still riding. As she flies through the streets of London, dancing with the traffic, Chappell records the pains and pleasures of life on the dangerous missions; the moments of fear and freedom, and ultimately the simple joy of pedalling onward.
320 pages, Paperback
Published February 2, 2017
31 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
Emily Chappell
10 books28 followersEmily Chappell is a freelance illustrator, artist and silkscreen printer based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
February 15, 2017
Emily Chappell paints a fabulous picture of the mythology of the life of a cycle courier in London. Starting the job herself in part because she was seduced by the idea of cool couriers flying around town, their freedom, the outdoor lifestyle, the camaraderie, the social life, the counter-culture community. Instead, she finds out that the reality is both nothing as she imagined, and everything she had imagined. The camaraderie, the outdoor lifestyle and the freedom are all there, but it's also frequently wet and cold, involves long periods of sitting around waiting for the next job, verbal assault, physical assault and even when there is work the pay is so small that couriers frequently have to decide if they can really afford that coffee between jobs.
Yet, none of this seems to extinguish her obvious — and infectious — love for the choice she has made: the lifestyle, her colleagues and most of all, her love of London itself. For while this is a tale of a cycle courier's life it is as much the tale of her love of cycling, her love of the city, the psychogeography of London itself. The quiet backstreets, the postcodes, the shortcuts, the glimpsed colleagues, the loading bays, the receptionists and security guards, the hidden parks and the pubs and cafés. This love manages to stay steady and unflinching throughout the whole tale, only at the very end in the last chapter is there a downturn — an unexpected undercurrent of negativity — has the courier life finally got too much for Emily?
So easily, cycling autobiographies can be too utilitarian — Victoria Pendleton's story is fascinating, but the prose is lacklustre, even a little whiny in places — but like The Rider draws you into its story of the unrelenting obsession of cycle racing, What Goes Around draws you into Emily Chappell's story of the unashamed joy of just cycling round London and while it would be the craziest idea in the world, reading Emily's story makes me wish I had been a cycle courier too...
Yet, none of this seems to extinguish her obvious — and infectious — love for the choice she has made: the lifestyle, her colleagues and most of all, her love of London itself. For while this is a tale of a cycle courier's life it is as much the tale of her love of cycling, her love of the city, the psychogeography of London itself. The quiet backstreets, the postcodes, the shortcuts, the glimpsed colleagues, the loading bays, the receptionists and security guards, the hidden parks and the pubs and cafés. This love manages to stay steady and unflinching throughout the whole tale, only at the very end in the last chapter is there a downturn — an unexpected undercurrent of negativity — has the courier life finally got too much for Emily?
So easily, cycling autobiographies can be too utilitarian — Victoria Pendleton's story is fascinating, but the prose is lacklustre, even a little whiny in places — but like The Rider draws you into its story of the unrelenting obsession of cycle racing, What Goes Around draws you into Emily Chappell's story of the unashamed joy of just cycling round London and while it would be the craziest idea in the world, reading Emily's story makes me wish I had been a cycle courier too...
August 6, 2018
I remember reading Emily Chappell’s blog about being a bike courier in London and enjoying it, so was obviously inclined to read the book version too. She’s a visceral, evocative writer who conveys both the romantic appeal and serious practical drawbacks to the job. I’ve never been a bike courier and am far too lazy for such an active job, but her writing made me nostalgic for my cycle commute back in Cambridge. ‘What Goes Around’ was a fast, fun, diverting read that balances courier cultural history with personal memoir. I particularly liked her lucid analysis of pedestrian and driver rage against cyclists, which I observed plenty of times as a bike commuter, and the amusing anecdote about Julian Assange. The appeal of living and working in London remains a mystery to me, though. I did it part-time for a few months and that was more than enough. London traffic is terrifying and Chappell certainly does not play that down. I wonder how the courier experience has changed in the past few years with the sudden growth in bike delivery of takeaways by Uber Eats et al.
February 12, 2017
In no way did this book make me want to give up my job and become a cycle courier (as seems to happen for a number of people in Emily's story). But it did give me a new appreciation of what goes on in London day in day out, that you just don't notice unless you really look. I'm going to be trying to spot cycle couriers from now on. Entertaining book.
October 24, 2021
In manchen Bewertungen hier wird beklagt, dass das Buch ein bisschen zu lang und zu unstrukturiert ist. Mich hat das überhaupt nicht gestört, in diesem Stil bin ich bereit, beliebig viel über beliebige Themen zu lesen.
April 18, 2022
Could relate to so many things. Being in an abusive relationship with the city one's cycling in and not having on your mind where you're going but in your body. 💚
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March 19, 2016This review first appeared on our blog, where we also chat to the author: http://www.tripfiction.com/cycle-cour...
Memoir of a cycle courier set in London (“swerve, brake or die”)
Ever wondered what it is like to be a cycle courier in London? And a female one at that? Emily gives up her predetermined life in academia to work initially as one of two females in a courier company in the capital. As anyone can imagine, it is a hard job through all the seasons, from the biting winds and rain of the Winter months, through the irritations of plane tree pollen in Spring, to the heat of Summer. And of course the vagaries and at times vitriolic behaviour of other road users is undeniable. It is a profession that is ‘unseen’ by most of us and one whose companion is constant solitude. The life of a cycle courier is certainly not for the faint-hearted!
At first I wasn’t altogether sure that this was a memoir for me. The wheels seem to turn relatively slowly in the early part. It was a solid – well written – and at times a didactic read about the nature of bikes and cycling; who favours a freewheel as opposed to a fixed gear. A Salsa Cyclocross or Surly Steamroller didn’t mean anything to me.
But soon the speed picked up and I found myself rooting for this young woman, whose vulnerability and self effacing demeanour belied the steely exterior of a typical cycle courier, who might cover 1000 miles a week.
I really warmed to the writer when she chose novels to read in the periods when she had no packages to deliver. In terms of TripFiction I was delighted to find that she chose several London-set books, including Iris Murdoch’s “Under the Net“. Descriptions of the Holborn Viaduct contained in that book enabled her to look afresh at this area of London, where the city folds in half, with the River Fleet running far below. In addition Alan Hollinghurst’s The Swimming-Pool Library inspired her to search for Lord Nantwich’s house; and finally Sebastian Faulks gets short shrift in his novel A Week in December “.. [a] novel that attempts to represent London’s bustle and diversity by amassing a disparate and thinly drawn cast, just about their only uniting feature being that they are all, at one point or another, set upon by a speeding cyclist”. Indeed there are plenty of people in the city who rail against the cycle courier, for, well, no real reason,other than the cyclists are vulnerable targets (i.e. not encased in a car), ubiquitous, are perceived to get in the way, and thus easy prey to vent spleen?
Much of the writing is actually about the author’s inner self, someone who struggles with quite some self doubt. When she first meets one of her partner’s old friends and lovers (difficult of course) she worried herself into the ground that she would be judged and found wanting. And of course being in a male dominated community has its own difficulties.
It was good to see the anecdotes of life on two wheels start to build up, including a delivery to Downing Street and a missing package (luckily not one of Emily’s deliveries) worth £10 million. Driving past the Broadwick Street Pump she spots tour guides informing and misinforming the London visitor about how Dr John Snow traced cholera to this exact pump in 1854… And indeed there are the Cycle Messenger World Championships, who knew?
London is brought to life in the author’s capable hands, and a potentially overwhelming city becomes manageable through familiarity – “Places and spaces change with knowledge. They shrink, and become habitable and negotiable“. Emily certainly conveys this in this memoir. “The strange and seductive satisfaction of courieuring” that Emily describes means that I will observe these streaking human dynamos in a new light…
Memoir of a cycle courier set in London (“swerve, brake or die”)
Ever wondered what it is like to be a cycle courier in London? And a female one at that? Emily gives up her predetermined life in academia to work initially as one of two females in a courier company in the capital. As anyone can imagine, it is a hard job through all the seasons, from the biting winds and rain of the Winter months, through the irritations of plane tree pollen in Spring, to the heat of Summer. And of course the vagaries and at times vitriolic behaviour of other road users is undeniable. It is a profession that is ‘unseen’ by most of us and one whose companion is constant solitude. The life of a cycle courier is certainly not for the faint-hearted!
At first I wasn’t altogether sure that this was a memoir for me. The wheels seem to turn relatively slowly in the early part. It was a solid – well written – and at times a didactic read about the nature of bikes and cycling; who favours a freewheel as opposed to a fixed gear. A Salsa Cyclocross or Surly Steamroller didn’t mean anything to me.
But soon the speed picked up and I found myself rooting for this young woman, whose vulnerability and self effacing demeanour belied the steely exterior of a typical cycle courier, who might cover 1000 miles a week.
I really warmed to the writer when she chose novels to read in the periods when she had no packages to deliver. In terms of TripFiction I was delighted to find that she chose several London-set books, including Iris Murdoch’s “Under the Net“. Descriptions of the Holborn Viaduct contained in that book enabled her to look afresh at this area of London, where the city folds in half, with the River Fleet running far below. In addition Alan Hollinghurst’s The Swimming-Pool Library inspired her to search for Lord Nantwich’s house; and finally Sebastian Faulks gets short shrift in his novel A Week in December “.. [a] novel that attempts to represent London’s bustle and diversity by amassing a disparate and thinly drawn cast, just about their only uniting feature being that they are all, at one point or another, set upon by a speeding cyclist”. Indeed there are plenty of people in the city who rail against the cycle courier, for, well, no real reason,other than the cyclists are vulnerable targets (i.e. not encased in a car), ubiquitous, are perceived to get in the way, and thus easy prey to vent spleen?
Much of the writing is actually about the author’s inner self, someone who struggles with quite some self doubt. When she first meets one of her partner’s old friends and lovers (difficult of course) she worried herself into the ground that she would be judged and found wanting. And of course being in a male dominated community has its own difficulties.
It was good to see the anecdotes of life on two wheels start to build up, including a delivery to Downing Street and a missing package (luckily not one of Emily’s deliveries) worth £10 million. Driving past the Broadwick Street Pump she spots tour guides informing and misinforming the London visitor about how Dr John Snow traced cholera to this exact pump in 1854… And indeed there are the Cycle Messenger World Championships, who knew?
London is brought to life in the author’s capable hands, and a potentially overwhelming city becomes manageable through familiarity – “Places and spaces change with knowledge. They shrink, and become habitable and negotiable“. Emily certainly conveys this in this memoir. “The strange and seductive satisfaction of courieuring” that Emily describes means that I will observe these streaking human dynamos in a new light…
January 9, 2016
Like all personal memoirs, this book is best approached with the fewest possible expectations, for it is primarily about the author's inner life, rather than its advertised subject of cycle couriering which, though skilfully depicted, often serves only as a backdrop. In that sense, What Goes Around is a resounding success. Hinting at the events that precede and succeed these years of cycle couriering in enough detail to frame her story, but without becoming laborious, this retrospective and pleasantly nostalgic account of what was clearly a defining chapter of the author's life is enjoyable and revelatory. Her acute self-awareness, perceptive eye and talented hand combine to give the reader not just an insight into the courier scene past and present and the daily battles fought against the various currents of London life, but also the way in which a self-confessed social misfit finds herself an unlikely sense of belonging in the transient yet tightly-knit community to which she generously provides her reader access. I'm sure I won't be the only one finishing this book in anticipation of a follow-up, perhaps telling the tale of that little ride to Tokyo...
January 11, 2016
If you have any kind of relationship with London, I think you'll enjoy this book. If you ride a bike, I think you'll enjoy this book. If you like books in which someone takes you into a world you don't normally inhabit, I think you'll enjoy this book. And, at the risk of cliché, if you're interested in a dyke's perspective on a world most commonly associated with men, I think you'll enjoy this book. Also, the writing is fantastic.
August 7, 2016
A good insight into the world of cycle couriers. I ride regularly in London and could relate to a lot of her descriptions on the city and its streets. Mostly a good 4 star read, which drops a star as for some reason I became a little disengaged with it about 3/4 of the way through.
August 9, 2021
The cool thing about this memoir is that it’s not the usual millennial moan about how anxious and depressed the writer was until they started X as a hobby and it changed their life. Emily Chapelle comes across as a funny, intelligent, thoughtful, observant, shy-but-determined person who’s written a book about being a courier. If you’re interested in that, you can read it, if not don’t bother. Chapelle (and the reader) *does* go on a journey - but it's to the City from Shoreditch to the west end to Southwark and back again, from her first day to her last on the courier circuit.
The book is not ordered into topics e.g. Bike Maintenance, Winter Clothing, Nutrition On The Go, but is instead a trip from A-Z, with anecdotes thrown in here and there (the day the office that was on the site of what became the Shard closed down, the day she discovers Inner Temple, the morning she delivers to Downing Street, the afternoon she tries to drop off a cease and desist letter to Dreawmworks from Julian Assange (who still owes her a tenner)), as well as more personal stuff such as splitting up with her girlfriend, two couriers falling out, closing down the flirtations of security guards, starting up the flirtations of a female firefighter, and gossipy titbits about various cycle courier companies, the couriers themselves, the controllers, the receptionists (including which one has the best sweets), the loading bays of London, and the best courier pubs and cafes - some still here, some gone the way of the Foundry (RIP).
The book is not ordered into topics e.g. Bike Maintenance, Winter Clothing, Nutrition On The Go, but is instead a trip from A-Z, with anecdotes thrown in here and there (the day the office that was on the site of what became the Shard closed down, the day she discovers Inner Temple, the morning she delivers to Downing Street, the afternoon she tries to drop off a cease and desist letter to Dreawmworks from Julian Assange (who still owes her a tenner)), as well as more personal stuff such as splitting up with her girlfriend, two couriers falling out, closing down the flirtations of security guards, starting up the flirtations of a female firefighter, and gossipy titbits about various cycle courier companies, the couriers themselves, the controllers, the receptionists (including which one has the best sweets), the loading bays of London, and the best courier pubs and cafes - some still here, some gone the way of the Foundry (RIP).
August 31, 2025
I loved this book. I enjoy and admire Emily Chappell’s writing and cycling prowess immensely. The feeling of moving around London was evocative and absorbing. I loved the streets she covered as a courier and the feeling of the physical and social dynamics of the road that she brought to the pages. I loved the references to the bikes. And that there was Surly bike in the story made me very happy.
The chapter near the end about the never ending defensive conversations we have to have as cyclists resonated deeply.
The chapter near the end about the never ending defensive conversations we have to have as cyclists resonated deeply.
September 28, 2023
I couldn't enjoy this book. I found it a chore to read due to the sheer verbosity as well as the general lack of something that grip me. I think Emily Chappell tried to go for a Herriot style 'a day in the life' kind of story but it fell flat.
That said, kudos to her for getting into a profession that is male dominated and making it her own.
That said, kudos to her for getting into a profession that is male dominated and making it her own.
May 16, 2019
Had the good fortune to meet Emily Chappell at a talk about this book in Cardiff. Was blown away by her stories. Read the book and loved the way she told her life story and her cycling experiences. Truly inspirational. Very good read!
January 23, 2022
So readable
August 16, 2024
The writing was beautiful, but I would have preferred to read this as an article.
May 9, 2021
I enjoyed the passion for being a London Courier, and the pitfalls, from a distance. I could appreciate how this career can become a way of life that is all encapsulating. Would love the toned muscles and the feel of the wind through my air... if I was maybe 30 years younger!
October 10, 2021
Not my usual cup of tea, but this was a surprisingly fascinating and enlightening read. Who knew the cycle couriering was so interesting? Yes it's slightly wordy, self indulgent and cathartic, but always in a good way, as Emily Chappell's head is a lovely place to spend three hundred pages. She's positive, thoughtful and a role model. I particularly loved the extended sections on radio speak, body odour and plane tree allergies - far too much detail! - but again in a really positive way. Having never actually seen a cycle courier in real life, I now feel like I'm one of Britain's foremost authorities on the subject, which can only be a good thing.
February 24, 2016
Wonderful bildungsroman. (Well, so very nearly: Chappell just misses the bulls-eye.) She writes very well, and has that inspiring ability to make a life she wants rather than the one that she seemed destined for (academia or a post-academic conventional career). She comes across as a hugely sympathetic character and, like many readers, I suspect, I couldn’t help falling half in love with her (but I’m 61 and twice her age, and oh, she’s gay, of course).
It only felt like a stitched-together collection of blog posts in a few places (there’s a few repetitions you'd have thought a Guardian Faber editor would have picked up): it had a real narrative momentum. You want to know how it turns out, the career, the love-life, the whole coming-of-age.
For all her romanticism of the messenger’s life on the road, and the peculiarly antisocial camaraderie of its introverted adherents, it’s clear this Cambridge-educated posh girl is never going to spend her life doing this. But that’s what makes the narrative satisfying, there’s a sense of completion of a phase of her life, albeit tied to a sense of great promise. I can’t wait to read the next book.
It only felt like a stitched-together collection of blog posts in a few places (there’s a few repetitions you'd have thought a Guardian Faber editor would have picked up): it had a real narrative momentum. You want to know how it turns out, the career, the love-life, the whole coming-of-age.
For all her romanticism of the messenger’s life on the road, and the peculiarly antisocial camaraderie of its introverted adherents, it’s clear this Cambridge-educated posh girl is never going to spend her life doing this. But that’s what makes the narrative satisfying, there’s a sense of completion of a phase of her life, albeit tied to a sense of great promise. I can’t wait to read the next book.
March 17, 2017
The beginning of the book was great, but after about 20% it started to get repetitive, and I had less and less wish to read more. At about 60%, it lost me totally. As a cycle courrier life, it would have been better to keep 20% of the text, and add great street photographs to it. Because who would read it? I think only those who are interested to see the life of a messenger from inside. As a biography, there are way much better books out there to read.
October 5, 2017
I bought this book, mainly because of my interest in cycling, but it delivered so much more than excepted. Chappell is an excellent storyteller and has a real gift for writing. I see cycle couriers in a new light now!
September 28, 2024
Absolutely loved this remarkable inspiring book. Stayed up all night to read it. My full review
https://deaddeerblog.wordpress.com/20...
https://deaddeerblog.wordpress.com/20...
December 17, 2020
Don't normally write reviews, but this book was magic. It made me wish I'd been a cycle courier, the whole thing was just brilliant.
November 9, 2021
A beautifully written story where the quirky personality of the author and her honesty shines from the words. As a lifelong cyclist myself, her descriptions of riding in traffic, abuse from other road users and the solipsistic views of non-cyclists resonated with me. I loved the descriptions of the bikes, the controller (Andy) and the corduroy of her day to day riding, all set against a backdrop of shyness and a feeling of little self-worth. I'm glad to say that she does eventually begin to appreciate herself and her good qualities and become more confident with relationships. I was so pleased when she got rid of that no-good Condor bike!
I read the first few chapters and thought "How is she going to keep this up and fill a book with this stuff..." but she does so admirably and I wasn't bored at all, in fact I couldn't put it down. Among all the worsening hazards she describes, I wonder how couriers now cope with the iphone zombies who walk into your path as if in a trance.
Another aspect of the book which increased it's fascination for me was the homage to the famous couriers of yesterday, as Emily tries to connect the pieces of a history through one or two female riders known only to the courier cognoscenti.
Nothing in the book is overstated, all the words hear each other and the story is gently and unassumingly carried forward to the point where Emily abandons you and stops writing. I don't think there's room for another book about Cycle Couriers, but I would read anything by this most engaging writer.
I read the first few chapters and thought "How is she going to keep this up and fill a book with this stuff..." but she does so admirably and I wasn't bored at all, in fact I couldn't put it down. Among all the worsening hazards she describes, I wonder how couriers now cope with the iphone zombies who walk into your path as if in a trance.
Another aspect of the book which increased it's fascination for me was the homage to the famous couriers of yesterday, as Emily tries to connect the pieces of a history through one or two female riders known only to the courier cognoscenti.
Nothing in the book is overstated, all the words hear each other and the story is gently and unassumingly carried forward to the point where Emily abandons you and stops writing. I don't think there's room for another book about Cycle Couriers, but I would read anything by this most engaging writer.
September 27, 2023
Before reading this book, I barely even realised cycling couriers existed, and I certainly knew nothing about their life. I found the first part of Chappell's book gave a fascinating insight into the job, and also gave me a better understanding of why some people love London so much. (As a country girl, I loathe any big city, so it's a real compliment to the author that she almost got me liking London by the way she wrote about it!)
I also enjoyed the glimpses into various hidden parts of the city - the little alleyways that led to riverside spots or quiet churchyards where couriers could enjoy some peaceful green spaces in the midst of the traffic. And I loved the idea of how we build a memory map of the places we visit, linking specific events in our lives to the places they occur, so that we become part of the place and the place becomes part of us.
If this book had been a lot shorter, it would have rated 4*, but sadly it lost momentum around the halfway mark. I don't know if it is linked, but the book breaks down at about the same point where Chappell is dumped by her girlfriend of one year. From then on, the book becomes somewhat rambling with accounts of ordinary days couriering, road rage incidents and relationship breakups 'cycling' repetitively through the rest of the book. It's a shame Chappell's editor wasn't more strict, as this excess verbiage really drags the book down.
I also enjoyed the glimpses into various hidden parts of the city - the little alleyways that led to riverside spots or quiet churchyards where couriers could enjoy some peaceful green spaces in the midst of the traffic. And I loved the idea of how we build a memory map of the places we visit, linking specific events in our lives to the places they occur, so that we become part of the place and the place becomes part of us.
If this book had been a lot shorter, it would have rated 4*, but sadly it lost momentum around the halfway mark. I don't know if it is linked, but the book breaks down at about the same point where Chappell is dumped by her girlfriend of one year. From then on, the book becomes somewhat rambling with accounts of ordinary days couriering, road rage incidents and relationship breakups 'cycling' repetitively through the rest of the book. It's a shame Chappell's editor wasn't more strict, as this excess verbiage really drags the book down.
September 26, 2020
Only upon finishing the book did I notice that my local library had stuck it with a SPORT: Cycling categorisation. That does the book a disservice and certainly isn't where I'd shelve it.
It's a memoir, it's an homage to an amorphous golden age of the cycle courier, it's an examination of intersecting subcultures, and it's an affectionate view of London.
Chappell is a talented and insightful writer.
"Perhaps this was one of the many reasons I loved being a courier so much - since couriers, like women, tend to exist in the margins of the world as it is generally seen. Mainstream history and the literary canon are dominated by men, but women are always there if you know where to look, not always hidden away in the margins - sometimes, in fact, electing to sit there quite happily and deliberately. For isn't it the business of marginalia to comment on, and expand, and contest, and subvert whatever is written in the main text? In some ways it's a privileged, though rarely a powerful position."
It's a memoir, it's an homage to an amorphous golden age of the cycle courier, it's an examination of intersecting subcultures, and it's an affectionate view of London.
Chappell is a talented and insightful writer.
"Perhaps this was one of the many reasons I loved being a courier so much - since couriers, like women, tend to exist in the margins of the world as it is generally seen. Mainstream history and the literary canon are dominated by men, but women are always there if you know where to look, not always hidden away in the margins - sometimes, in fact, electing to sit there quite happily and deliberately. For isn't it the business of marginalia to comment on, and expand, and contest, and subvert whatever is written in the main text? In some ways it's a privileged, though rarely a powerful position."
May 15, 2017
Similar to other 3 star reviews here, I enjoyed the book at the start - also being a London cyclist, however, despite being well written, I was unable to keep engaged - possibly more a fault of mine than Emily's but I think some more aggressive editing and could have made it punchier. It was much longer than I expected - I kept looking at my progress on my Kindle and was always surprised how far I still had to go. I usually find that a bad sign is if I'm wishing the book would accelerate, it usually means I'm losing interest. I stuck with it to the mid way point but after that found myself skipping forward as it was becoming a bit repetitive. As I say, it was probably my fault for not reading enough reviews and getting a clearer picture of what the book was actually like.
April 10, 2024
Emily Chappell's writing has a lot of what one could wish for: it's immersive, witty, very insightful. Reading this book felt like having a sneak peak into the secret underworld of London cycle couriers, with all its mystique, ups and downs and interesting characters. I enjoyed this read a lot, especially at the beginning but eventually I got a bit tired of veery loong sentences, confusing chapter structure, very detailed description of various London routes (which didn't make much sense even to me who's lived here for a decade) and the mixed timeline. It's Emily's first book so it's all fair enough and her second book ("Where there's a will") didn't suffer as much of these ailments. Still, it's a very interesting book and if you're into cycling you'll no doubt enjoy it.
September 3, 2019
Really unique and insightful- I had never given much thought to cycle couriers before, but the writing was so descriptive and evocative I feel much more aware! Particularly stands out in it's descriptions of London (really tugged at my heartstrings, as I prepared to move out of that beautiful wonderful city); the various parts talking about the place and experiences of sapphic women; and it's incredibly honest portrayal of a difficult break-up. Some problematic language at times, and would have benefited from a timeline or similar at the start, as I found it difficult to know where in Chappell's life some parts were situated.
October 21, 2018
Emily is a author with a great story, and this book was enjoyable for the most part.
My point of constructive criticism would be that the story jumps around a lot, and some areas that get a lot of coverage fizzle out with only a small mention.
I wonder if this is because the book was born from Emily’s online writing (maybe) or just how it was put together. Life doesn’t always flow the way a book should, and I feel the editors could have helped massage the story chronology and context a little better.
My point of constructive criticism would be that the story jumps around a lot, and some areas that get a lot of coverage fizzle out with only a small mention.
I wonder if this is because the book was born from Emily’s online writing (maybe) or just how it was put together. Life doesn’t always flow the way a book should, and I feel the editors could have helped massage the story chronology and context a little better.
July 28, 2025
Perhaps not quite as much substance to fill a book in here, but the world of bike couriering - before (often illegal) e-bikes took over - is an interesting one, and there were nice bits of relatable insight to me in regards to trying to navigate a city by bike, of the sixth sense you eventually develop to keep alive in hectic, consciously unpredictable yet somehow navigable traffic.
Minus one star for casually throwing cigarette butts into sewers!!
Minus one star for casually throwing cigarette butts into sewers!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews