The Fun Beyond the Fear
Mark Demyanovich
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1418402117

At 52 years of age, Karen overcomes her fears to become a keen motorcycle driver.

Except, of course, Karen Demyanovich is a middle-aged mother of two nearly-adult sons & a happily married English teacher at Merrimack High School, with a wide streak of stubbornness, who has never driven a bike, although she's ridden behind her husband, & dozed off, often.

Mark Demyanovich, on the other hand, had been driving motorcycles since his college days. When their 16-year-old son begs for permission to buy a bike, Mark devises a seemingly foolproof plan to dampen John's interest. Instead, it hooks his wife!

The Fun Beyond the Fear is a husband's birthday gift: a charming, if largely unedited, record of the years during which Karen learns to not only overcome her fears & frustrations in getting her license & driving skill, she slowly gains confidence & an appreciation for the two-wheeling life.

I particularly enjoyed the comedy of errors as Karen attempts to pass the New Hampshire Motorcycle Safety Course, as well as Mark's husbandly insights into the ups & downs in a marriage.

Their adventures in purchasing a suitable machine & their drives around New England make amusing reading.

I've been on a motorcycle only twice in my life: as an art student in England I leapt at the invitation to ride pillion on one of my classmates' bikes when our group decided, one Friday morning, to go hear an unknown band play in a cellar in Liverpool. All I remember was the cold, the noise, the wind ... & the excitement, &, of course, The Beatles' music. The second time was a pillion ride on a friend's huge HOG (Harley-Davidson), through California's wine country on a cloudless, warm Autumn day, complete with helmet, goggles, leather jacket & gloves, & a frothy, flouncy skirt & petticoat. Both adventures endeared me to the two-wheeling way of travel, although by the time my grown son bought his first bike, I was the world's worst passenger!

The Fun Beyond the Fear is a good book to give any family, no matter the age of the would-be biker (& the parents!) so they gain confidence, understand the finer points of owning a bike, & enjoy the driving.

Two things Mark Demyanovich needed to have learnt in the production of his book is that paragraphs are always indented, as too dialogue, & justified text is so much easier to read.

The Fun Beyond the Fear is obviously a labor of love & pride, & I commend Mark Demyanovich for his efforts.

An oddly satisfying & entertaining read!
(11/07/04)

Rebecca