She Rode A Harley

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A book review of She Rode A Harley: a Memoir of Love and Motorcycles by Mary Jane Black

A book review of She Rode A Harley: a Memoir of Love and Motorcycles by Mary Jane BlackStars: ***

She Writes Press (2019)
Memoir
232 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: A schoolteacher escapes an abusive marriage and finds love on a blind date. Mary Jane’s new man, sure that riding a Harley will restore her confidence, ends up following the white lines with her through fifteen years of marriage. Traveling together, they learn to be partners, both on and off the road, until Dwayne is diagnosed with cancer. After losing her husband, Mary Jane once again must learn to live on her own―but she’ll never be the same again.

She Rode A Harley

Reading this book reminded me of a few other books I’ve read in that a lot of the book is about a form of transportation, namely motorcycles. This reminds me of a book about a woman trucker and a book about boats.

While not what the book is all about, a good portion of the book talks about Dwayne’s past with Harleys and riding and Mary Jane’s introduction to the world of motorcycle riding from interest, to learning how they work, to riding one herself. This part was well written but might be a bit much if you aren’t interested in motorcycles. I just skimmed the parts that went on about motorcycles personally and read slower on the parts that were about relationships or life events.

Mary Jane went through a lot and we are only shown a little of what went on before she got away from her abusive husband. She could have written a whole other book on that but she chose to share the story of what happened AFTER she got away. This is definitely a memoir of one specific part of her life.

Although she is a schoolteacher, she doesn’t really share much of that part of her life other than to talk about changing schools or jobs or how tired she is because of her job. So if you are looking for the life of a schoolteacher, this isn’t it.

What it is, is a story of triumph over abuse and learning something new and developing a passion for it that helped her deal with hardships in her new life.

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About Kathleen

I've been a nonfiction lover for as long as I can remember. I love children's nonfiction as well and love to share my knowledge and the books I gained them from, with the world. I wish more people would give nonfiction a chance.