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The Game
Nicholas Van Orton is about to receive the ultimate birthday gift--enrollment with a mysterious company called Consumer Recreation Services. Mysterious because no one seems to know just what services they provide. All Nicholas knows is that his "Game" will commence soon. But when people start trying to kill him--and when his vast fortune is stolen--Nicholas realizes that this "game" is very, very real. A new film from Polygram Filmed Entertainment starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.
- GenresFiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 28, 2023
Ladies and gentlemen, before retiring to my chambers, I wished to conclude the summary of my last reading. The Game that people will know for the famous film directed by David Fincher the director of the magnificent "Seven", https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... that together with the Godfather III https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... made possible the literature of suspicion (style "The Da Vinci Code" by the ineffable Dan Brown https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... (among others). Christopher Lambert starred in a film in which he had to stop someone, who killed to rebuild the body of Christ, and another example is "The Bone Collector" by Jeffery Deaver https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..., and the serial killer with pattern in the style of Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, or the murderers of the 60s like the Zodiac. The policeman of the movie "Seven" played by Morgan Freeman is inspired by the great English writer W. Somerset Maugham https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (and in much of his philosophical postulates) whom my father when he studied literature knew him as one of the three best English writers along with J.B. Priestley https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , and the ever-beloved Graham Greene https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... Fincher https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... also directed the aforementioned Zodiac, and the Social Network, although I am a supporter of "The King's Speech" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... .
I liked this novel, although it has three very fat flaws such as the bad sounding language. With great presence of swearing, and tacos (blasphemies no. Thank God), which is not the most appropriate to use in social events, or when they receive important visits. Do not do like the crazy "Misery" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... The narrative is not that it is anything of the other world, and it is not a book that will go down in history, and that would have needed more depth.
But it is very interesting, because I see that it is an influence of a book that I loved, or rather the first chapter of a book "The Rare Business Club" by G.K. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... In that book a series of entrepreneurs created as the title said strange businesses, which did not make them rich, but which were their passion. Extravagant initiatives, and the business of the first chapter is a business very similar to that of the company CSR (Higher Center for Recreational Activities) to which Nicholas Van Orton the protagonist of this novel resorts. A company, which allows you to live your own adventures, and thus raise your self-esteem. This idea occurred to G.K. Chesterton in the first decade of the twentieth century specifically in 1905. However, the story of G.K. Chesterton is more interesting, because the person who hired the service moved, and the new tenant is the one who receives the adventure he did not hire. In this novel, however, Nicholas van Orton knows that he has hired that service.
First of all 8 and this is seen in the magnificent start of the novel in which the protagonist contemplates in a camera projected on a screen memories of his childhood. The beginning, and the end are the best of this novel) we are facing a wounded man, traumatized by having lost his father (who committed suicide) so soon. That's why he contemplates so many family scenes from his birthday, and other moments because, he longs for his childhood. He admires his butler Robin McIver, because he participated in the World War. He is unsuspecting it wanting to live an adventure. The fate of Nicholas Van Orton This is what would have happened to Bilbo, if Gandalf had not https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... come to save him from his comfortable and consumerist world. Maybe Bilbo had a dragon almost as dangerous as Erebor in his own Hobbit hole that is the thesis of @jpearce_official https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and I subscribe to it (in fact Bilbo was very inspired by "Babbitt" the average American created by the pen of Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... , and that he sought only his own satisfaction, and comfort). Nicholas Van Orton has become a broker, and a ruthless businessman like the Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas on Wall Street money never sleeps the symbol of the hopes of the 80s "greed is good". He has become an arrogant person to whom they want to teach a lesson, and it is his brother the tarambana of Conrad van Orton (Connie), who is the opposite of Nicholas van Orton (living all kinds of emotions, and risks, such as going to a Cuban beach in the middle of the Castro dictatorship), who gives him the opportunity. You see a lot of the films from that era of America's financial struggle against Japan such as Michael Chrichton's "Rising Sun," Craig Bolotin'https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... Black Rain, Warren Lewis, and Ridley Scott https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . You see the relation of N. Van Orton with his secretary Maria, with his ex (Elizabeth), and with his partner Anson Bauer whom he fires for not producing what he has promised. His experience with the CSR will give him a lesson in humility, and teach him that he is not master of his destiny (something also very Chestertonian remember that story of the "Poet and the Lunatics" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... when a theology student went mad, and believed himself God, to prove his mistake Nicholas Gale made him suffer to prove him that he was not God). From the moment he signs the contract with Feingold, he will no longer be the master of his destiny (in fact, no one is master of his destiny, despite the Pelagian heresy defending otherwise). Before submitting to the CSR two millionaires Ted Thurston, and Jerry will give a hint to both Nicholas van Orton, and the reader of what is going to happen, and how they should prepare for such an experience.
They make him go through some tremendous tests, they put conditions on him, they practically assault his house (they manipulate what he sees, and his way of contacting using a clown's doll, which contains a key is very original), they make him believe that he has lost everything, and he has to dowry his best resources to survive. Even forming a couple with someone from a lower status than yours (with Christine. In his way of treating her you can see an evolution of the character goes from vexing her to being subjected to her, despite the fact that she deceives him), and realize that fortune is not everything. The best of this novel in addition to the postmodern tribute to G.K. Chesterton, who will not be the only one in the novel. There is also the nightmare so present in some stories of Father Brown https://www.goodreads.com/series/5560... and in "The Man Who Was Thursday" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... (which is a nightmare in itself) making us believe the reader, that the worst is true, and leads us to hell, even if it is not real, and responds to the fears of the characters. Here the same thing will make us believe, that the worst is possible (is CSR an entertainment industry that allows you to enjoy strong emotions, or is it a scam, which seeks to ruin you? This is the dilemma that will swarm throughout the novel), and then take a rather different course. It is the character of Christine or Christy their vitriolic (funny) dialogues with Van Orton (another of the novel's achievements). A woman with a red bra is always attractive, and who does not wear underwear the crush Christine-Nicholas is undeniable . Another good moment is the conversation between brothers when Conrad tells him that everything has escaped him, and tells him that the company wants to take everything from him, and even blames Nicholas himself, and tells him, that he hates him, because he lives on the edge, and his brother envies him. One of the most touching things about a novel that reminds you of the Innocent Innocent program, or a Hidden Camera program (although like my mother sometimes you feel like beating up the pranksters) is to see what your environment does, which truly loves you to save you from yourself. The evolution of the character is very interesting, as well as his metanoia, which leads him to be a kind of modern Ebenezer Scrooge https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... The operation was not without risks, because Van Orton ran the risk of ending up like his father, and more taking into account the situations of stress, and tension in which he is involved. Without a doubt what I liked the most is the ending, since the reader expects one thing, and in the end a very different one happens. Apart from the fact that, just as the Chestertonian hero also ends up with the possibility of rebuilding his life, as happened in "Queer Trade" I would have liked to reread the first chapter of this novel before writing this review). Of course it is a very interesting experience, and despite its literary shortcomings. The novel and the movie are very similar. In fact, it has been adapted with great fidelity, and precision. All in all, I think Deborah Kara Unger should be second in the cast, not Sean Penn. My grade is (3/5).
I liked this novel, although it has three very fat flaws such as the bad sounding language. With great presence of swearing, and tacos (blasphemies no. Thank God), which is not the most appropriate to use in social events, or when they receive important visits. Do not do like the crazy "Misery" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... The narrative is not that it is anything of the other world, and it is not a book that will go down in history, and that would have needed more depth.
But it is very interesting, because I see that it is an influence of a book that I loved, or rather the first chapter of a book "The Rare Business Club" by G.K. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... In that book a series of entrepreneurs created as the title said strange businesses, which did not make them rich, but which were their passion. Extravagant initiatives, and the business of the first chapter is a business very similar to that of the company CSR (Higher Center for Recreational Activities) to which Nicholas Van Orton the protagonist of this novel resorts. A company, which allows you to live your own adventures, and thus raise your self-esteem. This idea occurred to G.K. Chesterton in the first decade of the twentieth century specifically in 1905. However, the story of G.K. Chesterton is more interesting, because the person who hired the service moved, and the new tenant is the one who receives the adventure he did not hire. In this novel, however, Nicholas van Orton knows that he has hired that service.
First of all 8 and this is seen in the magnificent start of the novel in which the protagonist contemplates in a camera projected on a screen memories of his childhood. The beginning, and the end are the best of this novel) we are facing a wounded man, traumatized by having lost his father (who committed suicide) so soon. That's why he contemplates so many family scenes from his birthday, and other moments because, he longs for his childhood. He admires his butler Robin McIver, because he participated in the World War. He is unsuspecting it wanting to live an adventure. The fate of Nicholas Van Orton This is what would have happened to Bilbo, if Gandalf had not https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... come to save him from his comfortable and consumerist world. Maybe Bilbo had a dragon almost as dangerous as Erebor in his own Hobbit hole that is the thesis of @jpearce_official https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and I subscribe to it (in fact Bilbo was very inspired by "Babbitt" the average American created by the pen of Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... , and that he sought only his own satisfaction, and comfort). Nicholas Van Orton has become a broker, and a ruthless businessman like the Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas on Wall Street money never sleeps the symbol of the hopes of the 80s "greed is good". He has become an arrogant person to whom they want to teach a lesson, and it is his brother the tarambana of Conrad van Orton (Connie), who is the opposite of Nicholas van Orton (living all kinds of emotions, and risks, such as going to a Cuban beach in the middle of the Castro dictatorship), who gives him the opportunity. You see a lot of the films from that era of America's financial struggle against Japan such as Michael Chrichton's "Rising Sun," Craig Bolotin'https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... Black Rain, Warren Lewis, and Ridley Scott https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . You see the relation of N. Van Orton with his secretary Maria, with his ex (Elizabeth), and with his partner Anson Bauer whom he fires for not producing what he has promised. His experience with the CSR will give him a lesson in humility, and teach him that he is not master of his destiny (something also very Chestertonian remember that story of the "Poet and the Lunatics" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... when a theology student went mad, and believed himself God, to prove his mistake Nicholas Gale made him suffer to prove him that he was not God). From the moment he signs the contract with Feingold, he will no longer be the master of his destiny (in fact, no one is master of his destiny, despite the Pelagian heresy defending otherwise). Before submitting to the CSR two millionaires Ted Thurston, and Jerry will give a hint to both Nicholas van Orton, and the reader of what is going to happen, and how they should prepare for such an experience.
They make him go through some tremendous tests, they put conditions on him, they practically assault his house (they manipulate what he sees, and his way of contacting using a clown's doll, which contains a key is very original), they make him believe that he has lost everything, and he has to dowry his best resources to survive. Even forming a couple with someone from a lower status than yours (with Christine. In his way of treating her you can see an evolution of the character goes from vexing her to being subjected to her, despite the fact that she deceives him), and realize that fortune is not everything. The best of this novel in addition to the postmodern tribute to G.K. Chesterton, who will not be the only one in the novel. There is also the nightmare so present in some stories of Father Brown https://www.goodreads.com/series/5560... and in "The Man Who Was Thursday" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... (which is a nightmare in itself) making us believe the reader, that the worst is true, and leads us to hell, even if it is not real, and responds to the fears of the characters. Here the same thing will make us believe, that the worst is possible (is CSR an entertainment industry that allows you to enjoy strong emotions, or is it a scam, which seeks to ruin you? This is the dilemma that will swarm throughout the novel), and then take a rather different course. It is the character of Christine or Christy their vitriolic (funny) dialogues with Van Orton (another of the novel's achievements). A woman with a red bra is always attractive, and who does not wear underwear the crush Christine-Nicholas is undeniable . Another good moment is the conversation between brothers when Conrad tells him that everything has escaped him, and tells him that the company wants to take everything from him, and even blames Nicholas himself, and tells him, that he hates him, because he lives on the edge, and his brother envies him. One of the most touching things about a novel that reminds you of the Innocent Innocent program, or a Hidden Camera program (although like my mother sometimes you feel like beating up the pranksters) is to see what your environment does, which truly loves you to save you from yourself. The evolution of the character is very interesting, as well as his metanoia, which leads him to be a kind of modern Ebenezer Scrooge https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... The operation was not without risks, because Van Orton ran the risk of ending up like his father, and more taking into account the situations of stress, and tension in which he is involved. Without a doubt what I liked the most is the ending, since the reader expects one thing, and in the end a very different one happens. Apart from the fact that, just as the Chestertonian hero also ends up with the possibility of rebuilding his life, as happened in "Queer Trade" I would have liked to reread the first chapter of this novel before writing this review). Of course it is a very interesting experience, and despite its literary shortcomings. The novel and the movie are very similar. In fact, it has been adapted with great fidelity, and precision. All in all, I think Deborah Kara Unger should be second in the cast, not Sean Penn. My grade is (3/5).
September 28, 2020
Hay ~~spoilers~~
Muy inverosímil, nada de lo que pasaba me resultaba creíble. Al principio no logré entender cómo siendo un empresario centrado en su trabajo pueda aceptar firmar papeles, cancelar reuniones por algo que no tenía ni idea qué era. No vi la película, vi el trailer, pero me resultó más acertada la caracterización de Nicholas, el estereotipo de empresario malo con sus empleados, astuto y de mente cerrada; en el libro me pareció una persona muy blanda. No me creí para nada el personaje de Christine, desde el principio se notó que era todo una sucia y asquerosa mentira. ¿Cuándo se tiró por el balcón y aterrizó en un almohada gigante??? No entendí nada.
Tampoco me resultó creíble el final. Sabiendo por todo lo que pasó, intentaron matarlo como cinco veces y cuando descubre que todo fue una mentira se muere de risa, hace como que no pasó nada y se va a Australia con Claire ??? Nonono todo mal.
Menos mal que fue corto, quiero ver cómo lo llevaron a la pantalla grande, quizás cambie de opinión.
Muy inverosímil, nada de lo que pasaba me resultaba creíble. Al principio no logré entender cómo siendo un empresario centrado en su trabajo pueda aceptar firmar papeles, cancelar reuniones por algo que no tenía ni idea qué era. No vi la película, vi el trailer, pero me resultó más acertada la caracterización de Nicholas, el estereotipo de empresario malo con sus empleados, astuto y de mente cerrada; en el libro me pareció una persona muy blanda. No me creí para nada el personaje de Christine, desde el principio se notó que era todo una sucia y asquerosa mentira. ¿Cuándo se tiró por el balcón y aterrizó en un almohada gigante??? No entendí nada.
Tampoco me resultó creíble el final. Sabiendo por todo lo que pasó, intentaron matarlo como cinco veces y cuando descubre que todo fue una mentira se muere de risa, hace como que no pasó nada y se va a Australia con Claire ??? Nonono todo mal.
Menos mal que fue corto, quiero ver cómo lo llevaron a la pantalla grande, quizás cambie de opinión.
October 6, 2014
I thought the movie was really clever so I was keen to read the book. When I bought it second hand I didn't realise the book was based on the movie - that goes a bit against the grain! But I really enjoyed the book. It was well written and fast paced. I'm still not convinced The Game would work well in real life - there were too many things the protagonist did which I thought couldn't have been predicted by CRS. Nevertheless, it's an exciting book.
February 22, 2021
Me ha encantado este libro. Lo he devorado. Ayer por la noche lo terminé. No podía dejar de leer. Es muy original la premisa que tiene este libro. La verdad es cortito, pero se te hace súper corto por todos los diálogos que tiene pero sobre todo por la acción de la historia. No puedo contar nada de la historia, pero solo decir que te engancha muchísimo desde casi las primeras páginas. Te mete tanto en el "juego", que parece que eres tú el protagonista. Lo recomiendo mucho. No defrauda para nada. 22/02/2021
July 28, 2025
"The Game" is such a fascinating read! The way it delves into the psychology of attraction and the world of pick-up artists is both thought-provoking and intense. It really makes you think about human behavior and social dynamics. After reading something so deep, I like to unwind and shift gears a bit. For that, I’ve been https://7bitcasino-7.com/login/ It’s a great platform to relax and enjoy some entertainment after diving into a heavy book like this. Sometimes, balancing intellectual reads with lighthearted fun can be the perfect way to reset.
March 4, 2018
Seconde lecture pour ce bouquin dont mon souvenir m'avait laissé de bonnes impressions.
Si l'écriture n'est pas transcendante, l'intrigue est vraiment très sympa et carrément prenante.
Si l'écriture n'est pas transcendante, l'intrigue est vraiment très sympa et carrément prenante.
October 13, 2019
Bien meilleur que le film
May 17, 2024
I have seen the movie and I have it on DVD.
The book is just as good, even better than the movie.
I highly recommend this book
♥
The book is just as good, even better than the movie.
I highly recommend this book
♥
December 17, 2020
What do you buy a guy who has everything? A game that will fuck with his mind, send him broke, neary kill him multiple times, send him to a different country and get him to jump off a building. Also a great movie with the great Michael Douglas. Very fasted pace read.
December 27, 2018
Me lo regalaron el año que salió la película protagonizada por Michael Douglas.
Me gusta leer los libros antes que las pelis, así que me puse con la novela y al ser cortita recuerdo que me la leí del tirón.
Un juego trepidante.
Me gusta leer los libros antes que las pelis, así que me puse con la novela y al ser cortita recuerdo que me la leí del tirón.
Un juego trepidante.
June 2, 2015
I am not a big fan of a book, which comes after the movie, but since I never saw the movie, I thought I would read the book. I very much enjoyed it. The story is intriguing, fact paced with lots of twists and turns. It was a fun book to read.
August 7, 2011
Great quick read! Unpredictable action and plot. Would love to experience the game!
October 27, 2012
great short story, lots of action... well worth the read
January 11, 2025
For some reason first I read the book and later on I saw the movie. Both are great!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews