"A propulsive reading experience" —The New York Times
"Wise, funny, eminently quotable" —Kirkus Reviews
"Wagendorp’s book manages to be funny, shrewd and moving, with a complex structure that never feels cumbersome, and a finale so intense that you want to read it very slowly, almost one word at a time" —The Guardian
"Mont Ventoux, the legendary 'Giant of Provence' stands alone and apart from the Alps to which it belongs geologically. It is a magnet for amateur cyclists, including a group of Dutch friends who are the protagonists of the novel Ventoux, a fictional account of how one ride changes lives forever." —PEZ Cycling News
"Bert Wagendorp keeps his readers firmly in tow in this glorious tragicomedy about friendship" —De Morgen
"Where the novel succeeds most is in its wonderful blend of humour, suspense and poignancy, which will appeal to non-cyclists as well as those of us who understand what it takes to scale a mountain as evocative, daunting and symbolic as Mont Ventoux" —Felix Lowe, author of Climbs & Punishment
"Hilarious, stirring, feel-good" —NRC Handelsblad
"Takes in the nature of friendship, musings on the nature of time, and the small choices we make that can change our lives; very funny, and often very touching" —Cyclo
"Twists, unforeseen developments, and heart-breaking truths; the plot is peppered with moments that urge you to read on" —Life in the Saddle
"Within the main story, there are plenty more relatable sub-plots woven in: of personal journeys, triumphs, of tragedies, humour, success and of disaster—and of course, of cycling. It’s a novel which grips you, it’s a novel which makes you think, and it’s a novel which makes you reflect on your own choices. And it is a novel well worth reading" —Road Cycling UK
"A touching and well-crafted novel about friendship and life, that’s also got some bikes in it" —Road.cc
"Ventoux is a stunningly accurate depiction of male friendship told in a subtle and sensitive style. This feel-good novel about old friends who find their way back to each other is a delightful and easy read. Especially recommended for cycling aficionados who will recognise Mont Ventoux as the scene of many classic races through the years" —Battle Books
"Instantly likable, the heady mix of angst in Wagendorp’s characters, and their love of cycling and music coupled with a desire to leave lasting, revered legacies instantly resonated" —Seven Day Cyclist
"A fictional cycling story with camaraderie, romance, love, intrigue and treachery. Quite brilliant!" —The Bike Lane
"Ventoux is so convincingly written that contrivance is a factor that never once rears its potentially ugly head. The story line is well conceived with an unsuspected twist as it draws to a close. The characters are thoroughly and naturally believable, as are their various interactions, while the book’s 285 pages provide compulsive reading from page one" —The Washing Machine Post
2019-02-04
Decades after losing a companion on Mont Ventoux, five friends reunite to make peace with the mountain—and each other—by cycling it once more.
In the summer of 1982, six teenagers travel from their home in Holland to Provence. Three of them—Peter, a rising star in the poetry world; Joost, a gregarious math genius; and Bart, the narrator—plan on biking up Mont Ventoux, a brutal climb steeped in cycling history. The other three—David, the steady homebody; André, the pothead; and Laura, the beautiful, brilliant woman with whom all five men are, in their own ways, enamored—tag along for the camaraderie. The ascent, though grueling, is a success, but Peter dies while descending, and his surviving friends, each carrying a new cargo of guilt and confusion, go their separate ways. Thirty years later, they remain estranged. Bart is a crime reporter, André is a forcibly retired (i.e. "acquitted due to lack of evidence") high-end drug dealer, Joost is an underhanded but prizewinning physicist, and David (who still dislikes travel) owns a successful travel agency. No one has heard from Laura. So when she makes contact, they're eager to reconvene (with bikes) in Southern France to analyze what they were and what they've become. Though debut novelist Wagendorp excels in his depiction of middle-age male friendships, Laura, the love object, is less convincing and at times seems more like a device than a person. The novel is further hamstrung by overly self-conscious literary elements (it is not enough, apparently, for a book to be concerned with past and present; one must add a string theorist's thoughts on timelessness to the mix) and excessive, blockbuster-style plotting. But for every flaw, the humorous rapport between the longtime friends offers serious counterweight: André: "Sorry…for all those years of silence. I should have responded, at least to the announcement of your daughter's birth." Bart: "I expect you were busy." André: "Pretty." Bart: "No excuse, bastard….She'll be 21 soon." André: "Yes, well anyway, congratulations on your daughter's birth."
A wise, funny, eminently quotable, but woefully overplotted feel-good novel about cycling, friendship, aging, and the remedial nature of athletics.