Most of the action of gold, by chris cleave, takes place in manchester, england, over a few days in april, 2012. The author of little bee returns with a thrilling novel set in the world of professional cycling. The story focuses on the friendship and rivalry between two women and the effects that come from the choices they make and the events that they cannot prevent. Gold by chris cleave three athletes, one trainer, one sick child.
The book is written with great attention to chronology with flashbacks revealing the backstory at just the right pace. In gold, olympic rivalry is personal, professional. He really gets to feel for the characters unlike like any author i have read in the long time. With the london games looming, its difficult not to catch olympic fever. I first read little bee over the summer and it was awesome and touching. Gold is a 2012 sports novel by british author chris cleave and was published by simon. Gold is at its most unabashed in contriving the circumstances of sophies birth. Its an adrenalinefueled drama about winning and losing, in the velodrome. L ike most novels about sport, chris cleave s gold isnt really about sport.
Gold is, to put it simply, the story of best friends who are competing for the spot at their last olympics. L ike most novels about sport, chris cleaves gold isnt really about sport. Chris cleave s latest novel lives and breathes, sweats and suffers at the harrowing place where ambition collides with sacrifice. Theyve loved, fought, betrayed, forgiven, consoled, gloried, and grown up together. Their stories are cleverly woven together to give all five a central role. Sport as an activity, of course, is unbeatably thrilling if youre a. Formerly a columnist for the guardian, cleave is the author of two previous novels, incendiary and little bee, whose career in fiction. Chris cleaves cyclingbased novel gold is a timely one for the olympics but has some drawbacks. In gold, olympic rivalry is personal, professional chris cleaves newest novel chronicles the friendship and rivalry between cyclists training for the 2012 olympics. Building on the tradition of little bee, chris cleave again writes with ele.
Written as a series of letters from an attack victims widow to osama bin laden, the book received high praise and international awards. After reading chris cleaves gold, ill be paying closer attention to the cycling events. Always dramatic, sometimes tender, rarely amusing, gold is less about cycling and medals, and more about surviving. Like most novels about sport, chris cleaves gold isnt really about sport.
Cleave uses sophies arrival to heap guilt on every adult character in the book, and he flogs that. Dear chris, i just wanted to reach out to you because i absolutely love your books. Having read the other hand and then incendiary, i eagerly awaited the release of gold. This was my first chris cleave book and probably my last. Chris cleaves novel gold follows an olympic rivalry and raises the ageold. Building on the tradition of little bee, chris cleave again writes with elegance, humor, and passion about friendship, marriage, parenthood, tragedy, and redemption gold is the story of zoe and kate, worldclass athletes who have been friends and rivals since their first day of elite training. The main characters are three olympiclevel cyclists who are preparing to qualify.
1370 1091 1079 199 535 837 557 1417 1160 711 978 966 260 1265 1146 938 1053 952 1490 397 162 648 1146 716 1000 1224 783 1399 240 967 930 1336 360 1424 960 308 1045