Gold: A Novel

I bought this book because I'd read 'Little Bee' by the same author and was grabbed by the life-likeness of the characters and the authenticity of the dialogue. I felt I was right back amongst the people I knew when living in London 40 years ago. After starting 'Gold' I, at first, wondered why I'd bought it as I wasn't the least interested in cycling, especially pursuit events. However, once again I was grabbed by the characters and kept on reading as I got drawn into the plot and through them, was able to appreciate the thrill of the sport. The author says he, himself, raced to experience what he was to write about and it shows. I'll watch the velodrome events during the next Olympics with a greater understanding and excitement thanks to this book. However, there's more to the plot than competitive racing - the human dynamics are also riveting. To get inside the head and body of each character as the author does is nothing short of amazing, and his research is commendable, adding integrity to the story. This book confirms my belief that Chris Cleave is a great writer and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

five characters, 3 competitors and a love triangle. one beautiful child coping through Star Wars and true hero of the book along side an aging coach whose wisdom and humor gets them through some very tough times. chris cleave writes extremely well and it's as much of a psychological profile as an investigation into the depths competitive biking sprinsters in this case go through to be at the top of their game fighting for Olympic gold. I liked it because I felt I was learning a lot and because the characters were so real. Good and evil, pathos and humor, back stories that are both motivating and destroying. Scenes in the book will haunt you and not easily be forgotten.

Chris Cleave is an extraordinary writer, whose talents surpass most, which is why I'm extra critical of his work. "Incendiary" and "Little Bee" were gut wrenching, with raw emotion and detail; they didn't trail off like a fairy-tale ending. "Gold", Cleave's third book to hit shelves is a fine read; however, it's nowhere near as good as his previous work. The story centers around two female Olympic cyclists in their early thirties, Zoe and Kate, who are training for the 2012 London Olympics. Training together since they were nineteen, the two ladies have more drama off the track than on, yet remain as close as sisters throughout each traumatic event that hits their life in their thirteen years together. Instead of taking the voice of his main characters as we're used to him doing, Cleave chose to write in the third-person, skipping from character to character, making it difficult to truly understand and feel each voice. His character development maintains strong yet leaves the character somewhat distant from the reader. To be honest, the characters didn't come across as believable. They were too simple and "Hollywood-like" to actually be realistic. In the end, "Gold" fails to live up to "Incendiary" and "Little Bee". His detailed descriptions of the track and cycling maintain the reader's interest; however, it's nowhere near his best work.

As the days countdown to the 2012 London Olympics, Cleave delicately balances the plot with revelations of the intertwined pasts of 3 Olympic cyclists and their coach. A riveting read about the lives of elite athletes, where your best friend can be you toughest competition. In Gold, Cleave retains all the insights into the motivations of individual souls that made Little Bee so captivating, but delivers them with a more plot(and less soul-crushing despair). This is one of those novels, I want to read again just to study how he balances it all and brings it all together. It's a book that will appeal to serious and casual reader alike (so it's perfect for book clubs).

"Gold" is a great read. As the story unfolded it was harder and harder to put down. Cleave does a great job of taking the reader into three separate but overlapping worlds: the interior world of the professional/ elite athlete in general, the physical world of competitive cycling in particular, and the internal world of the individual characters that make you care about this novel. Although the story examines what it takes to pursue Olympic gold, it also is a keen drawing of a set of inter-connected and terribly flawed human beings, of their dreams and their realities, and the fears that get to them in the middle of the night - just like the rest of us. Like Cleaves' other work, this novel has the journalist's nose for the telling detail as well as the compelling human element. A good read for the jock and non-jock, alike - and I know of what I speak. Seriously.

I have read both The Other Hand and Incendiary, and although pretty dark, loved them. I felt they pondered a little too much on the darker side of human nature, but I think we should all recognise that we have that dark side and its potential is to 'look the other way'. Gold delivered! I loved the characters, the build of the drama, I foresaw much of the plot, but still loved how the characters histories padded them out. I loved Sophie and how her vulnerability added an energy to the whole story, not just to her illness. I got moaned out throughout my whole holiday, with a large group, to put the bloomin Kindle down!!! That's testimony for you:)

Such a disappointment. The race was on! For me it was a race between throwing it across the room or getting to the finish. Only the fact that it was on my Kindle saved it being thrown. And only the hope that it would improve got me to the finish. I had been so eagerly awaiting this. I had read pre-release review and interviews, so I knew that it was a change of pace to The Other Hand (aka Little Bee) and Incendiary. But I did expect the depth, the empathy, the sharp observations, the bittersweet storytelling that I found in both of them. But that was not to be. The storyline followed the rivalries of Olympic cyclists. It gives backgrounds of the main protagonists via flashbacks. But the storyline itself is predictable and saccharine, and the dilemma seems so contrived. The language was often cliched and clumsy. Characterisation is set out at the beginning and doesn't get any development. Where the child in The Other Hand had cute characteristics, the child in Gold is cloying. I was amazed in both of the previous books at how well Cleave writes female voice, but in Gold I didn't quite believe in Kate. As a highly competitive athlete, she lacked verisimilitude.

The library shelves, both in brick and mortar libraries and cyber ones, are filled with non-fiction books about the sport of cycling. Novels about the sport, however, are few and far between. "Gold" is one of them, perhaps one of the best among the few. The two main characters are young women, friends and also fierce competitors who vie for a place on Britain's Olympic track cycling team. The team can only take one of them to the 2012 Olympics in London, which creates tension throughout the novel and keeps us turning the pages to find out which one. Readers not familiar with track cycling will get a primer here. Author Cleave takes us into that milieu - the training, the tactics, the strategy, the bikes. But this isn't just a sports story. Mr. Cleave uses cycling as a catalyst to draw his own portrait of familiar themes of the human condition, played out between the two women and their coach, a lonely, late middle-age has-been (once a competitive cyclist himself) who lives vicariously through the success of his charges. His is not an easy task, trying to distribute his affection and loyalty equally between his two athletes. Read it, you'll like it.

About life and death, the inevitable fleeting nature of human abilities, the importance of balance and alternatives. As each of the five characters struggles with their own personal challenges in the context of the Olympics, we get a sense of each world and the scope of and reason for those challenges. Well written and ultimately satisfying.

Zoe and Kate are friends. Zoe and Kate are colleagues. Zoe and Kate are rivals. Both women are professional cyclists who have represented their country. Zoe has the advantage over Kate as she has been to an Olympics and won the coveted Gold Medal. There is the chance to get it probably for the last time in 2012, in a home Olympics. This is a book which is very much of it's time. The legacy of the 2012 games is still around, the drugs scandal of winners of the Tour de France still a point for topical discussion. It demonstrates very effectively the dedication, skill and sheer hard work in achieving something as a Gold Medal. It could be any sport, but the author has chosen cycling. My heart was pedalling as fast as these two women as they learn to train hard and play the game, the game to win. Their home lives are intertwined and it takes a fair way into the book to bring these two women even further together than just rivals on the race track. However for me Chris Cleave does something very clever with these two characters; he makes you hate one and love the other. I felt for Kate, she made some rather difficult choices in life and had a lot she was trying to balance. Kate was a person who I would want to know. Zoe on the other hand got right under my skin. Her sheer arrogance left a lot to be desired and even when we learn more about her past and what made Zoe, Zoe I still felt nothing. The choices she made were not based on anything intuitive and emotional, they were based on one thing - to win and to win gold. Anything else would finish her. The supporting characters of Jack, Kate's husband also a professional cyclist drew on when two competing sports people are in the same arena and spotlight whilst trying to keep their feet firmly on the ground, the complete opposite to Zoe. Interestingly enough the description of their homes did exactly that; Jack and Kate a terraced house in a residential area of Manchester , Zoe the penthouse apartment in an area that says only one thing - money. Then there is Sophie, Jack and Kate's daughter who has Leukaemia and is battling her illness, whilst trying to hide how she really is from her parents. It brought heart wrenching moments of her alone being ill and trying her best to hide it in a Star Wars toy. Tom the coach of Zoe, Kate and Jack keeps their wheels turning (pun intended) and not only supports them track side and their physical strength but their mental strength or lack of it, to achieve the best. The author has weaved a tale, quite tight but I felt it was starting to fail slightly at the end. It was obvious where it was going to go, and I did not like that, I wanted the opposite to happen because I knew that some of these characters had the strength to survive away from cycling no matter what the outcome. The review has been challenging to write, it would be so easy to give away the whole plot. However, this is a great book and well worth a read.

Es lohnt sich wirklich, Cleeve zu lesen. Auf Englisch immer ein Genuss. Schon LITTLE BEE war toll, aber in GOLD hat sich der Meister übertroffen. Das Schiksal der Hauptfiguren wird in Rückblenden erzählt und ist sehr kurzweilig zu lesen. Die Tragik aller drei Figuren wirkt schon etwas hart, aber ist nachvollziehbar. Etwas irritierend zwar, dass die kleine 8jährige Sophie etwas altklug wirkt, aber das kann auch mit ihrer ernsten Krankheit zusammenhängen. Realitätsfern auch, dass Sophie so ganz normal von Kate und Jack "adoptiert" wird. Doch es ist eben Belletristik! Mir hat besonders gefallen, dass ein Leben der Leistungssportler recht realistisch beschrieben wurde, aber ohne Clichés wie Doping usw. Mein persönlicher Favorit in dieser Story ist der alternde Trainer Tom. Insgesamt ist der Roman sehr zu empfehlen! Ich fand ihn so spannend, dass ich mir die Lesprobe habe schicken lassen und dann gleich das ganze Buch an zwei Tagen verschlungen habe. Es lohnt sich wirklich!!!

I am not easy to please, but this was a wonderful book. I learnt alot about cycling, and the psychology behind it, and loved the family story. Chris Cleaves. After Little Bee, you've done it again, and captured my attention, my mind, and my heart!

I absolutely loved the book. It was so different from the bang bang stuff....am about to order his first book which I have not read.