That Hidden Road: A Memoir by Rocco Versaci

That Hidden Road: A Memoir Reviews

• 
  Christine

  An original and beautifully written memoir that is also a travelogue of sorts. This book is alive, full of lapidary sentences and observations of the complex and thorny human condition and our country's startling abundance--geographically, socially, experientially. Mr. Versaci is a very gifted writer.
• 
  Natasha

  I love this book. It's an easy book to love. First, the cover is a map of Southern Colorado, where I spent a summer working and falling in love. Second, everyone loves an underdog. Why would a man in his forties suddenly want to bike across the country? I'm not really sure, but I was thoroughly entertained reading about the struggle--and it is a struggle. If you want to know why the book is described as a page-turner, it's because the author teases the reader by withholding key information. I don't want to spoil it, but I will say it's worth the wait.
  One thing that is missing from the story is any romance. The reader learns early on that a marriage has ended and new relationship has formed, but that's all you get. I kept waiting for a love story, but I will save you the trouble and tell you that it never comes. I don't read romance novels, but leaving out a love story that I know is there is almost unforgivable. If it were up to me, I would have traded any of the chapters about the people he met along the way for just a few pages of that story, but this isn't my book, so it's fine. I'm over it.
  Last thing I want to say is that the last chapter is a bit clunky. Unlike the rest of the book, it seems like the last chapter was hastily written and tacked on at the last minute. But even that can be forgiven since the rest of the book is so beautifully written.
  
• 
  Sue Thornquist

  4.5
  "Those neat, precise lines [on the timeline] are an illusion; after all, how do we know the people and experiences in our lives were meant to be? Everything might be completely different if only we had stopped for lunch a little later, gone to the post office before the gas station instead of after or woken up ten minutes ealier. It's scary to think we're all subject to chaos, like puzzle pieces dumped on a folding table or like cells multiplying and dividing uncontrollably." If only I had started teaching a few years after 1981, or Rocco Versaci had had Bill Kolek for sophomore Honors English, I might never have read THAT HIDDEN ROAD, and certainly I wouldn't know the author personally, wouldn't have been able to invite him to participate in my book club that read his memoir after it was published in October 2016. But, thankfully, Rocco was my student in Honors II in 1982 and we have remained in contact after he became an English teacher, a film critic, and an author years after his life at Downers Grove South high school. So cool to read a book that a former student and now friend wrote! And it's good, really good. THR combines a number of sub stories (which initially I thought was a bit too ambitious) centering around a two-month west coast to east coast solo bike ride after Rocco beat testicular cancer in 2010. The memoir skillfully weaves the bike trip challenges and interesting characters along the way, with Rocco's cancer story, and interesting stories of his childhood, his parents' history, and his failed marriage and family life with his two sons. He plays with past and present, switches time periods, creates thoughtful juxtaposition and connections, and even includes comic strips that he illustrated called "Voices from the Road" which enables readers to meet more of the people he encountered on his journey in quick, humorous sketches. There were effective uses of metaphor, symbolism and descriptive detail and language in the book, and I liked that it was a combination survival story, adventure story, and travelogue. The women in the book club thoroughly enjoyed it and loved having Rocco as a guest participant. IF Rocco were still a student in my class, I would reward his hard work, terrific writing, and engrossing story with an "A."
• 
  Diane Marszalek Foernssler

  I loved this book! It is a quick read because you will get lost in the vivid description of the people, places, events and musings of the author. Many laugh out loud moments, as well as thought provoking.
• 
  Gman2526

  A cross country bike ride that ended up being so much more. Rocco Versaci's odyssey ended up revealing more than he could have ever realized....
• 
  Suzan Gonder

  I read this book the first time without stopping. I could not put it down. Read it a second time, and again, could not put it down. It reminds me of David Sedaris' work in a way - one minute I'm laughing, the next I'm crying. It's a journey across the country, but also across Rocco's life. And it's so beautifully written, I felt transported to all the places he describes, felt I knew the people he met along the way (ok, I do know some of them. Pat, Jan and Bill from the Springview Farm chapter are my brother and parents, respectively; they are exactly as depicted.) Thank you Rocco for sharing the ride!