cover image CORVETTE ODYSSEY: The True Story of One Man's Path to Roadster Redemption

CORVETTE ODYSSEY: The True Story of One Man's Path to Roadster Redemption

Terry Berkson, . . Lyons, $21.95 (208pp) ISBN 978-1-59228-294-4

At what point does determination become obsession and then sheer insanity? Most people would agree that at some point Berkson crosses that line, but their opinion on whether that is a good or bad thing may depend on what they think about old cars. Berkson tells the story of what happened after his beloved 1963 Corvette roadster was stolen off a Brooklyn street. Unfortunately for his wife, who'd been urging him to sell the car to add to their income, Berkson launches what becomes a nine-month-long hunt. With a family to support on his paltry unemployment checks (he had worked as an electrician), Berkson spends his days roaming the streets, looking for clues. He offers a reward, scours dumping grounds, stakes out a chop shop and has nightmares in which the car is torn up for spare parts. He chases down vaporous leads and mulishly butts his way through the bureaucratic police and insurance quagmire. Meanwhile, his wife grows angrier, eventually banishing him to the attic. At first, it's hard to have much sympathy for Berkson's monomaniacal quest—it is, after all, just a car—but this slim, honest memoir transcends that story. In Berkson's hands, the hunt becomes an attempt to realign his life and even reconnect with his dead father, making this an improbably meaningful account. (July)