KAREN LEE STREET
TATTOOS AND MOTORCYCLES
Victor Gollancz (hardback) & Indigo (Orion mass market paperback)
Tinicum, Pennsylvania, started out as an inn on a lonely crossroads and spread like poison ivy though the decades of the century; a dot on a map, yet crowded with lives of great singularity...
“The real hero uniting this collection of linked short stories is neither a man nor a woman, but a place called Tinicum, which is basically the little paradise that never was. Characters include suicidal nurses, a topless waitress, romantic tattoo artists, and hot-rodders who are going nowhere fast. They all manage to be simultaneously exotic, ordinary and endearing. Tattoos and Motorcycles is a must for anyone who enjoyed Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. It gives the same sort of pleasure.”
(Maureen Freely, Options Magazine)
“This story is not quite as violent as Thelma and Louise, but the heroine has the same cornered feistiness and the book pulsates with the excitement of burning rubber. Karen Lee Street develops the story with skill and flair.”
(The Daily Telegraph)
“In a voice not dissimilar to the easy flowing wit of Bobbie Ann Mason, Street describes the lives of neighbours, friends and ancestors in the small town of Tinicum with sparkling, humorous poignancy. Chapters zig-zag through time with a myriad of bizarre but entirely human characters. It works as a style which intrigues; the plot whirls loosely around Lucy, its axis, as she involves us in the lives of Tinicum’s inhabitants, past and present.”
(The List, Edinburgh)
“It’s a dreamscape of a book which flashes up vastly different characters, all bound by their weakening faith in the space age, all doomed to see their aspirations blown up on live TV. Combining the crazy feel of a road movie with a deep feeling for the disillusioned age, Karen Lee Street leaves us with a sense of urgency. Told with the power of a classic Harley.”
(Evening Express, Aberdeen)
“Jaunty and endearing on the surface, there's an aura of malaise hanging over Tattoos and Motorcycles, as if David Lynch had re-made Thelma and Louise. Lucy takes to the road with her kids, with her Jekyll and Hyde boyfriend Vince in hot pursuit. And we discover that Lucy’s home town Tinicum, Pennsylvania, casts its dark compulsive net over anyone who lingers there.”
(Liverpool Echo)
“Thorton Wilder meets David Lynch. Deadpan delivery adds to the slightly surreal effect.”
(Hyper Magazine)
“Rusty and Lucy zoom off on a motorbike to a 24-hour justice of the peace, the wedding takes just seven minutes and in the honeymoon suite there’s a poster of Elvis on the wall opposite the bed. This is Lucy’s story as she hits the road with her children. Small-town America with all its attitudes and prejudices. Written in a deadpan style, there is still plenty of emotion.”
(Hartlepool Mail)
“A road story and small-town story combined, with a strong narrative voice. A strong start.”
(Lancashire Evening Post)
“Street’s rich narrative and eagle-eyed attention to detail could easily transfer on to the screen as a sort of one-woman Thelma And Louise with slightly dark and fetid undertones. A good earthy read.”
(Maxim Magazine)
“The voice is original -- deadpan yet sensitive to the nuances of human emotion. You’re totally involved from beginning to end.”
(Detour Magazine)
“These five first-rate books from the United States have much in common besides fine writing. Each is at pains to explore the underbelly of the American Dream and track the pursuit of happiness down the dark alleys of disappointment. Tattoos and Motorcycles begins amid the lowlife of Tinicum, Pennsylvania and follows the story of Lucy as she rebels against the impoverished choices of her life, wrenching herself out of a standard small-town script as she takes to the open road with her children, pursued by her vengeful husband. Written with tenderness and feeling.”
(Pete Whittaker, Tribune Arts)
“Tattoos and Motorcycles is an entrancing road story with a difference - like a collaboration between Mona Simpson and Jane Smiley, presided over by David Lynch.”
(The Bookseller)
