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Bikeman

By: Thomas F. Flynn
Narrated by: Jim Dale
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Publisher's summary

"I live to talk about it, to relate the tale as it happens, not only its extremities and cruelty, but also the goodness that flourishes too."

Seasoned journalist Tom Flynn shares his experiences on that "forever September morning" from his perspective as a journalist and neutral observer who stands apart from the event, but also as a participant, a survivor, and now a defining chronicler of the morning that changed our nation forever: September 11, 2001.

It began with a bicycle ride to the World Trade Center to cover the first tower's attack and continued as the tower fell and Flynn found himself both bearing witness to, and participating in, the very event his well-trained journalistic senses intended to record and report.

From those whose deaths revealed the most private moments of their lives, to those who helped guide the way to safety (like the medic Avi who called him Bikeman), Flynn writes of the fellowship he felt toward others who shared his experience.

In Bikeman, you will experience the battle against the blackness of a "boiling brimstone avalanche" of chaos, silence, life, death, heat, ash, and the rising and falling of the gray-colored unknown.

"We did not live through it, we just did not die," Flynn writes. What sets his story apart from other 9/11 accounts is his visceral interpretation of the event through a journalist's eye and a poet's pen. He has composed a historical ballad that is part quest, part memoir, part eulogy, and part survivor's lament, conveying the events of that morning in harrowing, unforgettable detail.

©2008 Thomas F. Flynn (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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Critic reviews

"Both heartbreaking and haunting, his words will stay with you like that 'forever September morning'." (Meredith Vieira, Today)

What listeners say about Bikeman

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely wonderful

I purchased this story this morning to "honor" this day. I never expected to hear anything as wonderful as this. Mr. Flynn's way of expressing what he experienced on 11 September 2001 will stay in my mind and heart forever. Intermingled with the sadness and the unimaginable anguish of that day he was able to bring gentleness into so many places~the love for those that died~the thoughts they must have had...sentence after sentence...beautifully done.

Thank you so very much for sharing this priceless gift of your memory, Mr. Flynn. I will listen to this story every year on this day in honor of the people you wrote about and will never forget.

The narration by Mr. Jim Dale was absolutely perfect. No one could have ever expressed all the feelings, all the pain, all of it the way he did.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Historic

I Listen primarily to audiobooks and watched a video of how this one was done. Jim Dale read it in a single sitting as the author couldn’t get a break when it occurred.

Also once I listened to this on 9/11 near the Ground Zero until I was allowed into the location. I was stunned to find Jim’s reading cued with the bells chiming. I completed Bikeman before entering the museum for the first time. 2015.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

If you can get past the over the top language.....

I really wanted to like this book. I purchased it in early 2010. I tried to listen to it back then and the over the top, flowery language was just too much. I couldn't even concentrate on the story.
In April 2011 I decided that it deserved another try.
Unfortunately, the result was the same. This book just didn't work for me.

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1 person found this helpful