What do you think?
Rate this book
The Games
Grim and intense, The Games explores the dark side of athletic pursuits. This fast-paced novel follows six Olympic hopefuls in various sports as they claw and bleed their way to a berth on their national teams. Against the backdrop of their physical and spiritual striving is the tale of Sam, the disaffected brother of an Olympic rower. Isolated and rudderless, he falls under the sway of a social activist and terrorist who has his own insidious plans for the Games. The six Olympic hopefuls are Jayna in basketball, Lexi in rowing, Andrea in kayaking, Vincent in swimming, Yasmine in the marathon, and JJ in rowing. To make it to the top, each must overcome their personal demons. In the process, their bodies, dreams, and relationships will falter and crumble as they fight for a spot at the Olympic Games. In an arena this cutthroat, few will make it, while the rest will have to justify a lifetime’s investment in attaining an athletic prowess that eventually failed to make the cut. Juxtaposed alongside the athletes’ stories is the sordid tale of Sam. As he knows all too well, there are many different kinds of losing, from losing the race to losing oneself. In his search for God and stability, what he encounters are their opposites. His own involvement with terrorism becomes a violent and pathetic attempt to redeem himself from personal failures. This stirring fictionalized account drips with authenticity from the author’s own experiences as an Olympic athlete. Ultimately, The Games is an absorbing tale of false gods, from the search for belonging and redemption to loneliness and personal suffering. In their quest for athletic glory, these ultra-competitive athletes will learn a lifetime’s knowledge of what it means to win and to fail.
237 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 28, 2013
Had I been holding a paperback version, I would have thrown it across the room in frustration. But I was reading from my Kindle, and old as it may be, I was still sane enough to not throw it. Really, it's that bad!
I love competitive sports stories, and so I thought I'd like this one....and so I plowed through all the drama, hoping there was something really good waiting at the end. Each chapter ends with some suspense, enticing the reader to go on and find out what will happen...though I found these chapter endings overly dramatic (especially those of Sam's).
Each chapter talks about one person, and they are titled after whoever is the subject. Except for one character, all the others are aspiring Canadian Olympians. The exception, Sam, is so eccentric I think one has to be kind of neurotic to be able to relate to him. There were 5 or 6 characters' stories alternating within the chapters...Except for all of them being Canadians, and Sam and Brent as brothers, their common denominator was the 2012 London Olympics.
So, the story goes relating the lives of these athletes - their struggles, sacrifices, and so on. Amidst all these, there was Sam who was so twisted that he blindly got himself involved in some terrorist's cause. He was supposed to trigger something by making a call from his cellphone during the opening ceremonies...but that something was not triggered after all....that's it, end of story. Nothing follows, everything precedes! There was a slow development of the characters throughout the book, but then the end just came very abruptly....What happened????
I love competitive sports stories, and so I thought I'd like this one....and so I plowed through all the drama, hoping there was something really good waiting at the end. Each chapter ends with some suspense, enticing the reader to go on and find out what will happen...though I found these chapter endings overly dramatic (especially those of Sam's).
Each chapter talks about one person, and they are titled after whoever is the subject. Except for one character, all the others are aspiring Canadian Olympians. The exception, Sam, is so eccentric I think one has to be kind of neurotic to be able to relate to him. There were 5 or 6 characters' stories alternating within the chapters...Except for all of them being Canadians, and Sam and Brent as brothers, their common denominator was the 2012 London Olympics.
So, the story goes relating the lives of these athletes - their struggles, sacrifices, and so on. Amidst all these, there was Sam who was so twisted that he blindly got himself involved in some terrorist's cause. He was supposed to trigger something by making a call from his cellphone during the opening ceremonies...but that something was not triggered after all....that's it, end of story. Nothing follows, everything precedes! There was a slow development of the characters throughout the book, but then the end just came very abruptly....What happened????
December 28, 2012
I feel a bit guilty saying how much I loved this book, because it was so completely within my wheelhouse. Carver-Dias is the first fiction writer (in my limited experience) who captures so much of the inner world of the athlete and explores so many different aspects well by using multiple POV to do so. And sure, it's all in her wheelhouse too as an Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming, but surprisingly her best narration of the athletic experience for me comes when she's describing rowing. Detailed descriptions of competition and training aside, every high performance athlete, former or current (or like me, former and now international official) has experienced the loneliness, the banality, the existential crises of "why am I really doing this?" and the soul-crushing experience of losing which always happens more often than the fleeting glory of victory. Carver-Dias grabs these experiences and throws them out on the page the way we wish journalists could when reporting on our real-life sports heroes.
There are some hiccups in the plot and the ending is jarring and has a sense of incompleteness as a few other reviewers have noticed; for me, it's nowhere near fatal. I can't help it; this books speaks to me so personally and my life as a competitive athlete and as an official now "competing" for a spot at the Rio Olympics in 2016, I truly and deeply loved it.
There are some hiccups in the plot and the ending is jarring and has a sense of incompleteness as a few other reviewers have noticed; for me, it's nowhere near fatal. I can't help it; this books speaks to me so personally and my life as a competitive athlete and as an official now "competing" for a spot at the Rio Olympics in 2016, I truly and deeply loved it.
October 31, 2012
The story follows six athletes at a crucial phase in their athletic journeys. Their struggles with love, pain, injury, sacrifice, victory and disappointment are interwoven as the athletes approach the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The artfully crafted ending alludes to how the public abandons our sport heroes, but also how the athletes’ lives will continue after the sporting event is over; a lesson the reader discovers through the story. Each athlete faces realities of life outside of their time consumed by sport. The detail and hope for each characters’ future direction is consistent with their story.
The Games is a fun, informative and entertaining read. I was drawn into the plotline by the author's meticulous use of detail. I learned of the great sacrifices made by high performance athletes; everyone has a story, famed athletes included. After reading her first novel, I eagerly await more work from Carver-Dias.
The artfully crafted ending alludes to how the public abandons our sport heroes, but also how the athletes’ lives will continue after the sporting event is over; a lesson the reader discovers through the story. Each athlete faces realities of life outside of their time consumed by sport. The detail and hope for each characters’ future direction is consistent with their story.
The Games is a fun, informative and entertaining read. I was drawn into the plotline by the author's meticulous use of detail. I learned of the great sacrifices made by high performance athletes; everyone has a story, famed athletes included. After reading her first novel, I eagerly await more work from Carver-Dias.
November 12, 2012
interesting topic with a take that is not what you expect. i realized what i thought about sport and athletes was pretty cliched. i liked the style. hoping for a second book.
November 18, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. A clever and unique mix of sports action and personal drama. Has this author written anything else?
December 17, 2012
Summary- Winning a medal at the Olympics is the priority for this motley cast of characters. You ride with them as they recover from injuries, drag themselves to practice day in and day out and make decisions that will either help them win or hurt their game. But they are not the only ones in training. Samuel is also on a mission that will require dedication, sacrifice and the ability to perform under immense pressure. Some will make it to the games, some will give it all trying and others will walk away from it all.
What I liked- In one word, everything! The characters were masterfully written so that you felt their aches, their doubts and their successes in each chapter. Author Carver-Dias, has given readers a deeply personal view of what these athletes put their bodies and soul through to reach their goals. She skillfully draws parallels between the athletes and her antagonist, Samuel. Your heart breaks, you cheer and you hold your breath until you turn blue as you race to finish reading this book.
Drawbacks-SPOILER ALERT- I’m about to give the whole thing away even though I plan to be as cryptic as possible. Feel free to stop reading before I ruin it for you. The one frustrating thing was that the end did not play out the way that Carver-Dias had set it up to. I was prepared to cry and be filled with anger when all of a sudden the big event didn’t happen. This made me question my humanity, what kind of person wants this big bad evil thing to happen and then is disappointed when it doesn’t?
(This book was provided to Compulsion Reads for review by the author.)
What I liked- In one word, everything! The characters were masterfully written so that you felt their aches, their doubts and their successes in each chapter. Author Carver-Dias, has given readers a deeply personal view of what these athletes put their bodies and soul through to reach their goals. She skillfully draws parallels between the athletes and her antagonist, Samuel. Your heart breaks, you cheer and you hold your breath until you turn blue as you race to finish reading this book.
Drawbacks-SPOILER ALERT- I’m about to give the whole thing away even though I plan to be as cryptic as possible. Feel free to stop reading before I ruin it for you. The one frustrating thing was that the end did not play out the way that Carver-Dias had set it up to. I was prepared to cry and be filled with anger when all of a sudden the big event didn’t happen. This made me question my humanity, what kind of person wants this big bad evil thing to happen and then is disappointed when it doesn’t?
(This book was provided to Compulsion Reads for review by the author.)
August 31, 2013
Well written, but it sort of felt like we were left hanging... A lot.
I also feel there was WAY too much of Sam (every other chapter is him) and though I appreciate the insight into his madness, there's just so much of it when it could have been cut to half and give us more of the athletes instead. In the end, he's absolutely no more important than any of them, but he's given the most important role. Ultimately this is really a very minor character in the grand scheme of things. Had the ending been different, then maybe he would have deserved the spotlight, but it isn't different and he doesn't deserve so much attention - yes, I realize that the thriller part is about him, but I'd still have been afraid that things were going to go real bad real quick had there been fewer damned chapters about him.
I'm not real sure what I expected when I started reading this, and I'm not sure i got much out of it either. To my mind, this doesn't quite match up to the description, which seemed to promise something different, or something more.
Read it to the end to find out what happened, but really nothing DOES happen, except life I suppose and that's not really what I thought was going to happen. Not to say that a surprise is un-welcomed, but in this case I finished the book and just thought "oh, that's it?" and kind of felt like I'd been cheated out of something.
I also feel there was WAY too much of Sam (every other chapter is him) and though I appreciate the insight into his madness, there's just so much of it when it could have been cut to half and give us more of the athletes instead. In the end, he's absolutely no more important than any of them, but he's given the most important role. Ultimately this is really a very minor character in the grand scheme of things. Had the ending been different, then maybe he would have deserved the spotlight, but it isn't different and he doesn't deserve so much attention - yes, I realize that the thriller part is about him, but I'd still have been afraid that things were going to go real bad real quick had there been fewer damned chapters about him.
I'm not real sure what I expected when I started reading this, and I'm not sure i got much out of it either. To my mind, this doesn't quite match up to the description, which seemed to promise something different, or something more.
Read it to the end to find out what happened, but really nothing DOES happen, except life I suppose and that's not really what I thought was going to happen. Not to say that a surprise is un-welcomed, but in this case I finished the book and just thought "oh, that's it?" and kind of felt like I'd been cheated out of something.
November 6, 2012
If you're interested in the literary thriller genre, this book is for you. If you're hoping for a perfectly explained and neatly tied up narrative, you may want to sit this one out. But you'll be missing out! The images are crisp and haunt you long after you put the book down.
I also loved the ending. It had been hinted at throughout that Sam, like the athletes, would eventually get left behind...not make the cut, so to speak. I feel the end mirrored the truth of sport at that level (or life, for that matter, when you're pursuing a high stakes goal). These individuals toil and sweat and may get cut off or left behind.
I also loved the ending. It had been hinted at throughout that Sam, like the athletes, would eventually get left behind...not make the cut, so to speak. I feel the end mirrored the truth of sport at that level (or life, for that matter, when you're pursuing a high stakes goal). These individuals toil and sweat and may get cut off or left behind.
November 1, 2012
It took me a while to get into this book and I kept thinking it was going to take me somewhere else so I kept plugging along. And I absolutely did not like the ending. I felt like I was left hanging. I even went back and read pages to make sure I hadn't somehow skipped ahead on the Kindle and missed something.
February 4, 2013
One of my favourite books this year. The drive, dedication and singlemindedness behind an olympic athlete juxtaposed against those same elements in a terrorist as they all "train" for the 2012 Olympics makes for a fascinating read.
November 29, 2012
Great style. Surprising in so many ways. I never had thought of athletes in this way before. I wanted the book to keep going on, which I think is a good sign.
February 23, 2013
Mostly a skim read, skipping pretty much all 'Sam' sections
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews