Against Gravity

by Edward McCabe

Overview

For all armchair adventurers, Against Gravity is the compelling story of a highly successful advertising executive who left Madison Avenue to race his car in the deadly 8,000-mile Paris-Dakar rally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446514545
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/1990
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Editorial Reviews

Readers would be well advised to skip the first 150 pages of this overstuffed tome in which retired ad executive McCabe details the seemingly interminable preparations he and his then-fiancee, Carolyn, a fashion photographer, made to participate in the Paris/Dakar Rallye, an 8000-mile car race. His account of the race itself, however, on a course that covers portions of Africa's most rugged terrain, is exciting. Most haunting are McCabe's observations of the confounding poverty of Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal; he notes, but does not stress, the irony of driving $90,000 automobiles through villages on the edge of starvation. Anticlimax ensues when McCabe is disqualified from the race for running out of gas. In all, his chronicle is probably best suited to the short span of a magazine article. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

New Year's Day in Paris marks the commencement of the Paris/Dakar Rallye, a grueling, dangerous motor race covering more than 8000 miles of African des ert. When burned-out ad executive McCabe's girlfriend Carolyn wistfully reveals her dream of someday competing in the Rallye, the two begin a long, tortuous journey of frenzied preparations and painful self-revelation. Calling upon his auto racing experience as a youngster and his extensive contacts in the ad world, McCabe methodically procures their astronomical budget while Carolyn embarks on a crash course in navigation. The pair become accepted as serious competitors by race officials, mechanics, fellow drivers, and--perhaps most importantly--by themselves. Recommended not only as an addition to sports collections but as a testament to human will and achievement.-- Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal''

Library Journal