Drive: A Road Trip through our Complicated Affair with the Automobile by Tim Falconer (review)

In Drive, Falconer takes his readers on both a literal and figurative road trip through the human relationship with the automobile. Starting in the author’s hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the narrative approaches several aspects of our oft-conflicted relationship with the automobile, all while taking us on a nine week, 15,000 mile roundtrip journey across the US and Canada. The goal of the text is to help the reader find the middle ground, between loving and hating cars, that will allow us to develop sensible transit solutions for the future. The text is at times humorous, but, more often than not, trite and hard to follow. For those with little knowledge of car culture or the history of the automobile, it is an interesting read. For those with an extensive background in the automobile industry, there is nothing particularly earth-shattering in the book. It shines a slightly different light on the automobile industry by framing our relationship with the car as conflicted. Overall, however, Drive is largely a disappointment that misses its goal.

The notion of parsing out the complicated relationship that we have with our cars, while on a road trip, is, at first glance, a creative one. Then one starts to read the narrative and realizes that the text sounds exactly like it was written while driving around. The author jumps from topic to topic, sometimes with little connection between the two—almost as if he dictated ideas as they came to him, while he was on the road trip. For example, in Chapter 4 most of the discussion is connected to the history of selling the car through advertising, but at the end it wanders into a discussion of large animals and the hazards they present to motorists. It is almost as if a deer ran in front of his car and the author’s stream of consciousness shifted. The idea of dictating ideas while driving is fine, but perhaps the author should have considered editing to create a better flow once he was back home. Also chapter titles should be more closely tied to the content. Chapter 4, titled “Interstate 69” never once mentions that ongoing boon-doggle of a federal works project. Overall, the reader is left with the feeling of being trapped inside the author’s head with no road map to escape.

Not only does the narrative jump from topic to topic within a chapter, but it also jumps from one geographic region to the next. The author initially seems to be approaching the topic by focusing on Americans’ complicated relationship with the automobile. Within a few pages, however, Falconer starts to introduce other cultures, such as Canadians, Argentinians, and Europeans, into the discussion. In some cases the other research provides context for the book. In others, it seems to muddy the waters and only serve as a vehicle for the author to present other research he did outside the scope of this project. Throughout the course of the book, I found myself repeatedly asking if a Canadian, who did not get a driver’s license until age 30, can truly understand the relationship Americans have with the automobile. The author himself even admits his inability to relate to much of what he experiences on his road trip. In some cases, this honesty might be a strength, but to me, it weakens his credibility as a knowledgeable source on the subject matter.

All of the issues with organization aside, if you are unfamiliar with car culture and the automobile industry, Falconer provides a crash course in the basics within 300 pages of text. Drive covers topics such as the history of the automobile, the US interstate system and the sprawl it facilitated; a history of Detroit as the Motor City; a history of automobile advertising; automobile racing, muscle cars, and how they complicate our relationship with our own cars...