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The Kurdish Bike: A Book Club Favorite

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Book Club Favorite ~ Winner of 3 International Book Awards “For fans of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Five stars.” — San Francisco Book Review “A must- read for anyone interested in the Middle East. Five stars.” — Manhattan Book Review "Lightbourne writes in a cinematic prose and easily folds in background about the Kurdish people’s suffering under Saddam Hussein. This story of sisterhood, motherhood, and nationhood should have wide appeal." — BookLife Inspired by the incredible true story of an American teacher in northern Iraq, The Kurdish Bike is a gripping, compassionate and often wry tale of adventure set in one of the world’s least understood cultures. It is 2010, and Theresa Turner responds to an online ad for “courageous teachers to help rebuild a war-torn country.” Landing in a repressive school for Kurd elites, she yearns to experience the "real” Kurdistan, buys a bicycle, and explores the nearby villages and countryside. When she is befriended by a local widow, Theresa is embroiled in the joys and agonies of traditional Kurds, especially the women who survived Saddam’s genocide only to be crippled by age-old restrictions, female genital mutilation (FGM), brutality and honor killings. She experiences a female bonding that transcends cultures, and a generosity that staggers the imagination. Theresa’s greatest challenge will be balancing respect for local values while trying to introduce more enlightened attitudes toward women — at the same time seeking new spiritual dimensions within herself. The Kurdish Bike is a novel of love, betrayal and redemption. Well-developed characters face life-and-death decisions, and are not always who they seem. Unexpected changes back home have devastating impacts on the expatriates. And it is impossible to determine who is a genuine ally in such a foreign setting. Add to this the main character's desire for inner transformation, and you have a must-read page turner that haunts the reader for months. It is the winner of the Gold Medal for Best Regional eBook from Independent Publishers, First Prize in the North Street Book Awards, and Readers Favorite Best Cultural Fiction Bronze Medal. The Kurdish Bike is highly recommended for book clubs. The author gives frequent presentations on Kurdish culture to clubs, public libraries, universities, churches, community service groups, etc. and will speak to groups via Skype upon request. She is a passionate supporter of women's causes in rural Kurdistan, and is committed to helping the women described in the book create a better life for themselves. Visitfor book club discussion questions and recipes for a Kurdish- themed meal. Read more

Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 19, 2016


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 2.7 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • More than a good read, it’s a book you feel good about having read.
Format: Paperback
The Kurdish Bike works on many levels. Billed as a novel, it has the direct feeling and intensity of a memoir- which the afterword reveals it in some part is. This is a deeply personal story of connections between people from very different cultures, their deep affection and profound differences. In particular, the ways in which women in both American and Kurdish societies deal with the burdens placed on them by their societies are illustrated with subtlety and insight. Teresa, the narrator, is a fifty-something American teacher, recently divorced and nearly financially wiped out by her ex-husband. With her only child away at college, she seeks change by taking a position teaching in a for profit school in Kurdistan. This is a grim and rigid institution she comes to refer to as “The Fortress”. The Fortress is populated by a ragtag collection of expats and Middle Easterners who form minor narratives in themselves, but the main thrust of the story is driven by Teresa’s desire for freedom. The “Kurdish Bike” in the title is her means of escape from the confines of the Fortress, of making connections with the Kurdish people in the local village. In the process she discovers much about their devastating recent history, and the millenniums of struggle that have saturated this ancient countryside. Always, the human relationships are at the forefront, conveyed in clear and polished prose, with humor and warmth. To simply list the issues Teresa encounters in Kurdistan- abandoned women, female genital mutilation, honor killings, the total dominance of women’s lives and decisions by the men in their family, and potential jihadist recruits- would make The Kurdish Bike sound like a grim jeremiad. It is anything but. We are instead led through an engaging and sometimes dramatic story to see the world though new- and less judgmental- eyes. Teresa is continually confronted not just with the challenges women face in Kurdish society, but with the mirroring challenges she faces in her own. The result is a more complex, human, and far more powerful understanding- one that helps to erase the picture of the Kurds as an exotic “other” and lets us see through to our common humanity. And perhaps enables us to see our western culture as sometimes not so advanced as we would like to think. I am rarely moved to write reviews, and don’t do a lot of book recommending, but I’m passing copies of The Kurdish Bike out to friends and find myself talking and thinking about it a lot. It’s one of the most memorable books I have read in a long, long time. More than a good read, it’s a book you feel good about having read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2016 by Ronald Russell
    • Kurdish Cycling Tour de Force
Format: Paperback
Just a charming tale! Less about mud on the chainring or the problem of headwinds, and more about the fascinating encounters that a bike makes possible. The bike in question, dubbed "The Blue Angel" by its rider, the author, is a means of escaping from the guarded compound of her international school in Iraqi Kurdistan to a nearby Kurd village . Here she meets and befriends an ordinary Kurdish family and the rest of the book is a fascinating account of the diverse ways of the Kurds, driven by a strong narrative. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to learn more about Kurdistan through the means of an engrossing and well-told tale. A fabulous and informative yarn. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2017 by Warwick
    • A pretty good book
Format: Paperback
THE KURDISH BIKE is a pretty good book, especially in light of recent news stories about the plight of our Kurdish allies in northern Syria. Alesa Lightbourne's autobiographical novel, based on her own year spent teaching in Iraq's "Kurdistan," focuses on a number of subjects - the narrator's failed marriage and financial problems, which brought her to Iraq, an ancient culture she tried to understand, friendships, with her fellow expats and some locals, and adventures and entanglements she got caught up in. There is also a subplot which touches tangentially on the ancient practice of female genital mutilation, and the narrator's horror at this locally accepted practice of "cutting" young girls. While the writing is quite good, the storyline seems a bit too scattered, causing the narrative to stutter along, to ebb and flow, so it was something of a struggle to stick with. I could not relate closely to any of the characters, so that was a problem. The narrator-protagonist, sixty-ish Theresa Turner, seemed at times a touch too gullible to be real, but I liked her sense of humor, so that kept me reading. But the ending seemed so anticlimactic that, well, it was hardly an ending at all. That said, it was still a "pretty good book" and yeah, I'd recommend it, especially to readers curious about Kurdish life and expat teachers in the mideast. (three and a half stars) - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2019 by Timothy J. Bazzett
    • I’m so happy to discover another author I completely enjoy
Format: Paperback
I’m so happy to discover another author I completely enjoy. This book gets 5 stars for multiple reasons. First, it’s a debut novel of literary fiction, and to create an excellent book the first time in this genre deserves big applause. Second, the story is based on experiences the author had while teaching English in Kurdistan. The characters are melds of people she knew at the time. The whole comes together as very real, so real that the reader feels s/he knows the characters too, and wants to find out what may be their lot today. The characters and the locations stay in the reader’s mind – only a fine writer can do that! Third, the “story” reveals important historical commentary and information about Iraq, Kurdistan, Turkey, and more. How village people, from lowly orphans to rich and powerful families cope and live, is shown. Also included are professionals from other countries who have come to work beside the Kurds. Higher-ranking Kurds were educated abroad in Western universities. The sense of local and international cultures cooperating or clashing is very interesting. Fourth, there is humor. Every-day giggles, laughter at the unexpected and strange, laughter to cope with fears, at the self, at challenges. There’s bemusement and irony. Fifth, the issues are large and real. There is tragedy and there is suffering, especially for females of all ages who have to endure second-class status in their traditional power structures. The increasing influence of Western ideas create knowledge and ideals for some, problems for others. Main characters include Teresa’s fellow teachers Pat and Jake, student Seema, friends Bezma, Ara, and Houda. Also important: Hevar, “family Hevar,” Binny, and school officials Madame, Zaki, and Mohammed. Most of all, I loved the inner monologue of the writer. The reader doesn’t need to be a teacher to understand the writer’s observations and problems, and how she talks to herself about it. But all the musings, from the first examination of the hills surrounding the school to the reflections on her life’s many directions (failures, loves, triumphs) are appealing to me. Her thoughts are funny, sensitive, and caring. She communicates her love for the local people and fellow teachers beautifully. Her observations become the reader’s. Ultimately, I saluted the wisdom in the book. I highly recommend this book! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2016 by Wyepacket
    • A spiritual adventure into Kurdistan
Format: Kindle
The Kurdish Bike was picked for our monthly book club. I found it engaging and honest. The author's openness and ability to appreciate the local culture was truly a gift that helped her to succeed in her spiritual quest. I also appreciated that she was sincere in her desire to teach, not just English, but an understanding of one another partaking in an exchange of ideas and cultures. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to explore the tribal mindset and also the humanity and commonality of all beings willing to listen, communicate and share their experiences. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2022 by cal
    • If you appreciate well-told stories and would like time out from Trump agita
Format: Kindle
If you appreciate well-told stories and would like time out from Trump agita, I encourage you to read The Kurdish Bike, a novel in which I found every line taking me more vividly into a world about which most of us know very little: the life of Iraqi Kurds. If, like me, you tend to maintain a cognitive distance from the Middle East the way a lot of us try to steer clear of vexing problems that seem not to lend themselves to a solution, then this book can help you past that wall of resistance. Real people are not problems to be solved, they are neighbors seeking to be understood. This book offers terrific insight into real people who are, at once, very different from us, but alike in their wish to live and love freely. The author, Alesa Lightbourne, and I went to the same school, Cowell College at UC Santa Cruz, at about the same time. She majored in anthropology, I majored in philosophy. We both later studied creative writing. Her book does such an extraordinary job conjuring the feel and detail of a remote culture and its inhabitants that I find myself wishing that I had followed her lead in my choice of major. Like most good fiction, she bases her tale on her own experience. Arriving at mid-life having raised a son and rid herself of a lousy marriage, at her son’s urging Theresa Turner, a one-time college teacher, responds to an ad to teach in a school for the children of people near the top of the Kurdish ladder. She gets hired and finds, as luck would have it, that the pay is minimal, the living tough, and the teaching expectations unimaginative, rigid, and spiritless. In part to escape the oppressive environment of the school, where she lives in an apartment painted a disquieting orange and shares friendship with two other expat teachers, she buys the blue bike to which the title refers and lights out to experience life in the local village. What follows is a narration of characters with whom she comes, in the course of a year, to share friendship, an empathic, engaged witness to their struggles, dreams, hopes, fears and foibles. When I got to the end, I had a new experience: except for one character who died, I found myself wondering what happened to each of the others. These days it takes a really good book to leave me wondering. I’m glad I read this one. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2018 by Bill Dickinson
    • Excellent and informative read
Format: Kindle
The story follows a middle-aged American teacher who spends a year working at a Kurdish school in Northern Iraq in 2010. It’s based on a true story. She went through a bad divorce, and her son was older so she decided to teach overseas. She becomes enmeshed with the lives of some of her students and a Kurdish family in the little village. Not to divulge anything, but the situations she gets into are interesting. I found I couldn’t put the book down! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020 by Sandra F
    • Nothing like I’ve ever read before
Format: Kindle
I typically read books that draw you in and keep you in a strange suspense. This book was slightly different. Though I enjoyed every scenic paragraph and plot lines, I struggled to anticipate where the story was headed, which is my typical style of readership. This story took me several chapters to become engulfed but once in, I was all in. And realized that each short story tangent played a role that would help to identify the overall theme of the larger story. Well written with interesting dialogue and a great insight into a new culture (for me). The characters are all relatable in their own way and I think each reader could easily find themselves in one of the creatively developed persons of the novel. Definitely worth the time to get into the story. Not the type of book you will likely read in one binge setting, but rather one that you will enjoy in several undertakings. Much like a 10 course meal, with each course building onto the next one to develop into a surprisingly satisfying feast. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2019 by Nick Fliakos

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