Gold

This is the story of Zoe and Kate, two competitive cyclists at the top of their game who have been racing against one another since they were teenagers. They are also best friends. They have a complicated back history which emerges gradually over the course of the book. The story is about the build up to the London 2012 Olympics and the tension hinges on who is going to take the gold medal. At the same time, Kate's daughter is suffering from leukaemia and that will be a significant sub-plot in the book.

I didn't greatly like this book - though by the end I realised I had something more invested in the story than I expected. Zoe and Kate's friendship has zero credibility. Zero! Zoe is a screwed up individual who tramples all over anyone and everyone who gets near her and will do anything to win. Kate is a freakishly perfect, kind and forgiving individual who has sacrificed her chances for her daughter again and again. I didn't feel that either of them were real people. The book took me a week to read because I kept losing interest in it - plus it's so repetitive that I'd pick it up and think "haven't I read this part before?"

Having said that, there IS genuine tension at the end and there are some good twists that you don't see coming. So while my initial thinking was to give the book two stars, I did enjoy it more than that.

Have your tissues ready before you read Chris Cleave's new novel, Gold. At first glance it just seems like a story about two women who are best friends and long time rivals in the world of British cycling, but add a child with cancer and a few deep dark secrets and you'll be racing through this book through a patina of tears and gasps. Okay, that sounded lame. I realize it seems like I'm overstating this, but I really was crying through the last quarter of this book. I also found myself pushing to read faster so I could find out what happens (Ah, just like a bicycle race! Clever, Mr. Cleave!).

Chris Cleave's previous novel, Little Bee, was a huge critical success but I was ambivalent about it. I thought it seemed a little inauthentic, like Chris Cleave doesn't really know what it's like to be an African refugee woman (but, then, it's not like I do either). With Gold, however, I believed that the author not only knew what it was like to train as an Olympic athlete, he also knew what it was like to have a child with cancer, and to be a child with cancer for that matter. In his author's note he mentions a lot of research prior to writing this novel, and it shows. The novel felt real enough that I had to go check on my own daughter several times as she slept just to reassure myself that she was not suffering like the characters in this story.

For more reviews, please visit my blog, CozyLittleBookJournal.

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

I really enjoyed Chris Cleave's previous novel, "Little Bee," so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this one. Ultimately, I didn't enjoy "Gold" as much, but it wasn't because of the writing. The writing was wonderful, though chronologically there is quite some jumping around. At times I found it confusing to suddenly be 13 years in the past, then back to the present, and then another 8 years back.

I did NOT like Zoe Castle. I understood her more as we went on, but she was not a pleasant character for me. As a rule, people who are that driven are unappealing to me, so I am willing to accept that this dislike is no fault of the author's, and it is not a literary flaw. The story also seemed to end a bit abruptly, but truth be told? I was ready for it to be over. I think also, that the suspense was placed in the correct places in the story, so some events didn't necessarily need to be shown the way that others did.

This was a good book. I don't like sports and I hate the Olympics, but this was a nice tale of drive, illness, Star Wars, loss, and determination.

Like many other reviewers here, I have read and was moved by Chris Cleave's earlier novel, Little Bee, so I was eager to read this novel. And while I enjoyed it, Gold does not have quite the same emotional impact for me as Little Bee did. Part of the problem is that most of the protagonists aren't really sympathetic. I know that's part of the point of the novel, but Kate is a bit too much of a doormat for me to really invest in her story, and Zoe does some really horrible things in her drive to win the gold. Jack, Kate's husband and the third in their emotional triangle, is really more of a caricature than a character. Furthermore, I found it difficult to believe that Kate and Jack would keep Zoe in their lives after the trouble she has caused (and continues to cause) them. What redeemed the novel for me is the character of Sophie, Kate and Jack's daughter who has leukemia. Sophie's courage and humor is what kept me turning the pages. Even when I could see the plot twists coming, I kept reading because I wanted to find out how Sophie's story ended.

The book gets four stars instead of three because of Clezve's writing. While the characters didn't really grab me, Sophie's voice was engaging and at times delightful. Gold was entertaining enough for a weekend read, but I doubt it's a book I'll go back to again and again.

Never hearing of this particular author before, I was glad to have a fresh and open mind about this work of his I was about to start...unmarred by the expectations readers may have after reading an authors' previous works.
From beginning to end, GOLD was a breath of fresh air. I was happy to see Mr. Cleave bring his readers into the world of the olympics. Happy to see him tell the story of his famed athlete characters as they worked to find their place in both the next olympics and in thier everyday lives. It made me reflect on olympians I have watched on television. They do not seem human, but superhuman, to be able to perform the feats that they do. I was glad to have that human side of those athletes portrayed in this book.
I was also amazed to find, in this book, another fight of epic proportions. The fight of a girl to just be able to live...to be able to survive. Seeing the world through her eyes, watching her notice how her parents reacted to her illness and being able to make them forget their sadness for even one second, made me realize that children with leukemia are so grown up in their own right. I also loved her imaginings of being in her Star Wars world. It was a nice relief thrown in around some of the more serious aspects of the story.
It seems to me that the author really did his homework with this one.

After reading (and loving) Chris Cleave's Little Bee a few months ago, I was curious about his newest novel, Gold. Could it possibly be as well constructed and mesmerizing as Little Bee? Gold is the story of three Olympic level speed cyclists: Kate, Zoe, and Jack; all friends, all training for the 2012 London Olympics. While Zoe is driven by her own demons to succeed, Kate and Jack are preoccupied with their daughter Sophie, who is gravely ill with leukemia. In Gold, as in Little Bee, Cleave starts in the middle of the story, just a few months before the London games, then works both forwards and backwards to get to the end. It's a brilliant narrative strategy. In a series of well-timed flashbacks, Cleave reveals the back story that binds these four characters together. The past and present come together for the reader at the trials for the British women's Olympic team. It is not until we come into the homestretch that we truly understand what is at stake for both women, as well as Jack as Sophie.

So, was Gold as well constructed and mesmerizing as Little Bee? Yes and no. It is a well-designed and well executed narrative, no doubt . I was mesmerized by the tension in the story, and the pace of the reveals. As in Little Bee, Cleave throws in a few modern storytelling methods, including bouncing between five different points of view, and placing some of the action in `a galaxy far, far away', that show off his dexterity as a writer. His absolute mastery of nonlinear narrative is in high gear in this novel as well. He orchestrates each scene for maximum tension; there were several places where I had to put the book down and walk away. For me, that's the ultimate mark of good storytelling.
As well written as Gold is, it is also extremely plot driven; at times it reads a bit like a literary soap opera. I found the characters to be on the very edge of believable. Perhaps because their true motivations are not revealed until near the end of the book, I found some of their actions (and interactions) hard to swallow. While all the plot elements finally fell into place in the last few chapters, my aloofness towards the characters never really jelled into a comfortable acceptance. One small part of me just never fully bought into the cause and effect relationship that the resolution of the conflict relies on.

That said, Gold is still a book worth reading. It's a book that is hard to put down, one that makes you thirstier the more you drink. It is several clicks above most popular fiction on the shelf right now, and will sticks with you long after the last page.

You can read this review, and other reviews and recommendations, on my blog: [...].

Kate and Zoe met when they were both nineteen and very gifted track cyclists. They are now thirty-two and have one last shot at the 2012 London Olympics. This is the story of two women that have been on again, off again friends for thirteen years and rivals all of that time--and they both have more than a gold medal to lose. Kate is a more talented rider, but Zoe takes no prisoners and won't give up. Do they have the physical strength for the extreme demands of their chosen sport as well as the fortitude it takes to get through life?

At the heart of this story is Kate's daughter, Sophie--pay attention. She is whom this book revolves around. She is in a battle of her own with leukemia. While reading, I felt that Kate wanted to capture gold almost as much as she wanted to capture the monster that is her daughter's illness and I constantly asked myself what is Kate willing to sacrifice for those she loves the most?

I was very excited to see a new book by Chris Cleage. He is a very talented, poetic author who provides a very thought provoking, satisfying reading experience.

The paperback version of this book comes out in April 2013, but I advise you not to wait. This book has been on my radar since it was released as I am a fan of "Little Bee," which I liked. I love this book, and I am not a fan of cycling nor do I pretend to understand the dedication it takes to compete at the Olympic level. What did I love about this book? The characters: Kate, Zoe, and Jack, are fully developed and fully raw. Each is selfish in her/his own way while each is called upon to make sacrifices for the other. The plot realistically plays out the action so that the races don't dominate the storyline. At times I didn't even care who won. What I cared about were the circumstances that drove the characters. Details are given the reader in a non-linear fashion, much like real life. If you want to be fully engaged in a novel, grab this book. You won't be able to put in down. "Gold" would be an excellent choice for book group discussion. It has lots of juicy moral dilemnas.

I finished reading Gold, by Chris Cleave last night, and I had to take time to write a review. Rarely has a book moved me so much as did Cleave's emotional, human masterpiece about Olympic cyclists, their families, and the lives we touch every day.

Zoe and Kate are best friends--they are also rivals. They have come of age together in British Cycling with Kate always just in Zoe's shadow. With the 2012 Olympics coming in London, these two girls are a shoe-in for the Women's Sprint. Zoe--hard and driven, aloof and antisocial--and Kate: warm, tender, and caring for her eight-year-old daughter Sophie who is battling leukemia. Their relationships are strained once the IOC decides that only one racer in each event will be allowed to compete. Will Zoe sacrifice her third Olympic gold for the sake of her friend and rival who has missed her shot at two prior Olympics?

The real heart of this story, for me, was Sophie. Her imaginative telling of her battle against cancer (a la Star Wars) is endearing and heartbreaking. As the father of two little girls, I found myself relating to Jack (Kate's husband, Sophie's father, and Olympic champion) and his struggle to be the husband, father, champion he is called to be. More than once I found myself in tears remembering visits to the hospital with my own daughters, and the horrible feeling of helplessness which attends those long hours when you don't know what will happen next.

This story is full of very human characters, strong narrative, and a clever wit which makes it an easy page turner. I highly recommend Gold, by Chris Cleave and look forward to reading his other works.

Zoe and Kate have been fierce competitors for most of their lives. They're also fast friends. Zoe already won an Olympic medal, while Kate was taking a break from competition to care for her infant daughter. Now, they have to compete against each other for one slot on the 2012 Olympic team. Drama ensues.

My main problem with this book is amount of drama that Kate and Zoe bring to each others' lives. Yes, their situation is complicated--it would be difficult to be such close friends while pursing a dream only one can achieve. But the solution is to compete, and may the best racer win. It's not about who is more deserving, who already had their turn, or who has sacrificed the most.

But, without the tension, there'd be no book, so obviously that wouldn't work here. I guess the bottom line is I liked the book enough to keep reading, but in the end hated that I'd spent so much time with insufferable, narcissistic whiners.

Chris Cleave is a beautiful storyteller. He weaves wonderful relationships out of the most difficult scenarios. Thought-provoking and touching, his stories showcase the very best and worst of people at the same time. They make you despair for humanity at the same time as giving you hope for our race. We are capable of such terrible things, such selfishness. Yet at the same time, we’re capable of such sacrifice and love.

Gold is wonderfully written, with moments of humour and sadness throughout. I gasped reading one scene, which (as it involved vomit) should have been incredibly disgusting. Instead it was so moving I nearly cried. Having read The Other Hand, I couldn’t imagine Chris Cleave topping that masterpiece. It would be a lie to say that Gold does but it’s a very different book, with a very different story and it certainly holds its own. Absolutely stunning read.

A circle of elite cyclists and their demons train for the London Olympic team. Kate and Zoe are friends and rivals. Kate is married to Jack, the third of their cycling threesome. All three face hurdles in getting to the Olympics. Zoe is a ruthless competitor who is starting to wonder about the purpose of her life. Kate and Jack's daughter is fighting cancer. Through the books we get the trio's back-history as they train.

The writing in this book is technically good, and Cleave does a nice job drawing characters. Still, I found that the book failed to satisfy. At times I found it slow-moving, and the end was too saccharine for my taste. I could see the whole thing being a Lifetime movie. It was interesting to read about how elite athletes experience their bodies, how they are conscious of what every single cell is doing at every moment. That said, there was much more technical information about cycling than could possibly keep my attention.

A fast-paced, deeply felt story about three cycling athletes who compete at all kinds of levels, including several of the Olympics, the guy who coaches them, and the child in all their lives who captures even the most hardened heart among them. The book follows their lives from the time they meet at age 19 and concludes when they're 32. What I liked most was how the story illustrated for me the many different ways in life a person - Olympic competitor or average joe - can earn the gold - and which gold is ultimately more important. I also enjoyed how I didn't feel depressed after finishing the book - there are a lot of tragic moments and heartbreak in the book, but all of these things are handled with hope and grace. Brokenness, failure and loss don't have to be permanent, and sometimes despite the worst things happening, some families can actually survive, go on and be better instead of bitter.

I never thought that a book about Olympic bicycling could be this interesting. As someone who knows nothing about the sport and never has been interested in it, I was hooked from the first page. The characters in this book get under your skin and will not leave. I finished this book right before the summer Olympics and watched the bicycling competitions in a whole new light. The Olympics may be over, but this book is perfect read any time.

What I loved about all the characters but esp. Kate & Zoe was how real they were. They were flawed, interesting, wonderfully complex characters. Also, it was impossible not to love Sophie. How could anyone not admire the pluck and courage of that kid is beyond me. Also, Cleave is careful never to fall into the sentimentality trap which is so easy when you have a storyline about childhood cancer. He truly is a gift writer with a knack for crafting memorable characters.

Very much enjoyed Chris Cleaves' latest novel. The book's basic premise is two athletes battling for the chance to win Olympic gold.ut As Chris shows us that like all of us, Olympic athletes have much more to their lives than just competing.
Zoe, Kate, Jack and Tom all meet at an event for elite bicyclists, when 3 of them are just 19, and all four will have their lives intertwined forever more, through sport, love, sex and a passion for living.
Two will marry, and have a child striken with luekemia, all while trying to gain a spot on the Olympic team.
Our bookclub met Chris at a booksigning and what an interesting and likeable man he is.
He rode with elite cyclists for 5 months, and spent countless hours at a children's hospital to see how children cope with luekemia.
His hard work paid off and this novel rings oh so true.
A great read, so much more so with the Olympics about to start

Just in time for the Olympics, Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee, publishes a book about Olympic track cycling.

Kate and Zoe have been competitors and friends (sort of) for years. At age thirty-two, the women train for their final Olympic Games. The grueling training schedule tests their physical fortitude as well as the limits of their fragile relationship.

In terms of pure athleticism, either woman can win the gold medal. But in a sport where the difference between winning and losing is one tenth of a second, a strong mind beats a strong body.

Kate is the more naturally gifted athlete, but her demanding personal life distracts her from training. After a three-year remission, her daughter Sophie's leukemia is back. In contrast, Zoe has no personal life at all, but guilt and anger accompany her everywhere.

Who triumphs? It won't take you long to find out because this terrific, if somewhat overwrought, novel moves at Velodrome speed!

Why did I read this book? I mean, seriously? Do you know how much time I've spent watching--or even thinking about--the Olympics in the past decade? Zero minutes. I can't imagine why I thought I'd be interested in reading about female Olympian frenemies.

Well, I do know the main reason why I read Gold. I've never read Cleave's work before, and I was intrigued by the polarizing response to his prior novels. This is a high-profile release, and I was curious. As you may have gathered, it was not a success.

I can't attribute my negative response entirely to my lack of interest in the world in which the novel is set. (After all, Chad Harbach got me invested in his baseball players in The Art of Fielding, and John Irving wowed me with a memoir of wrestling in Trying to Save Piggy Sneed.) The subject matter wasn't the biggest problem. At the heart of this novel is the relationship of two elite British cyclists, Kate and Zoe. Kate is basically so bland that there's not that much to say about her. Zoe is... not bland. A few quotes:

"Zoe was wary of the idea that on some level she might be a good person."

"But it only made her more angry, hearing herself admit that she had a problem with anger. It made her feel defeated, admitting that she couldn't handle defeat."

"It was rare to see Zoe connect with Sophie like that. It was rare to see her connect with anyone."

"It was a new feeling for her, this knowledge that her own well-being had in some way become linked with that of another. It was an unexpected snare. As the feeling intensified, a weakness grew in her body in direct proportion to it until she could hardly lift a barbell off the mat. Her unease mounted and she resented Kate more and more--almost began to hate her, in truth, for the fact that she liked her too much."

That Zoe is a very messed up girl. She was NOT a person I enjoyed spending time with.

Cleave wends a story that is full of reductive childhood traumas, family dramas, and enough competition to last a lifetime--and not always on the bicycle. Additionally, there's a major subplot about a sick little girl who I found neither cute nor especially believable. A major surprise about 2/3 of the way through the novel wasn't all that shocking, and frankly wasn't all that interesting. His use of language was nice, and it isn't a horrible book, it just failed utterly to connect with me through either the story or the characters.

But I will give him this--as the book races (forgive the pun) towards its dénouement, Chris Cleave really ratchets up the tension. I did wonder who would come out on top and how victory or defeat would affect the characters. So, I must have been invested on some level. But for me, this book was just something to finish so I could move on. It was not a pleasure.

Chris Cleave is a master of shrugging off predictable choices and writing a plot that's true to characters, not form. In picking up a sports book, especially a sports book that's summarized as two rivals battling for gold medal at the Olympics, one has a certain expectation of how the plot will unfold. There will be ups and downs and some backstory and some preliminary battles and then the thing will climax with one final race/match/game in which one rival is victorious and the other fails. How many books and movies have we all seen like this?

In Gold, Cleave explodes this predictable story arc, and what results is a plot that keeps turning itself inside out, defying your expectations until the final few pages. It's a beautiful novel of motherhood, friendship, trust, redemption, and it's highly moral without ever making you feel one character is really right or wrong, or the narrative is pronouncing judgment on any of them. Even the most brutal choices are presented in the context of the world from which they arose, and there is a complexity to these characters that goes far beyond "the good one" and "the tough one" as some summaries suggest.

I think my favorite character was one that surprised me. The coach of all three of the cyclists was an aging athlete himself, he was torn up by choices he found himself having to make, and he saw the characters with a sort of blank objectivity that really helped me understand what they were doing. I loved the way Cleave took time with him and showed him completely -- he could have been such a trite, throwaway creation -- the crusty coach that loves both girls. Instead he was as culpable and as worthy of redemption as any of the main characters, and I really loved how the story expanded for him.

I have an 8 year old daughter. The scenes with Sophie tore at me and amused me and made me happy and sad. I won't give away the ending, so I won't say more than that. The book is beautiful and hard, and I'm glad I got to read it during the summer games.

“Gold” is mediocre at best, certainly not as good as Cleave’s two earlier novels. I found some of Zoe’s machinations unconvincing, notwithstanding that I was able to believe sufficiently in the far more calculating Amy Dunne character from Flynn’s “Gone Girl”. Zoe meets Kate for the first time, sees her as a competitor, then visits Jake at the hospital to psyche her out – better if it had been done out of a competitive sense, or are we to assume Kate is disguising her true motives? He was in the hospital because Zoe refused to let him overtake her, the only time she pulled that stunt. The account of that first introduction to the coach and the competitions was compelling reading until the accident. With access to trainers, Kate and Jake never see fit to mention that their 4 year old has gained no weight in a year! By the time several of the flashbacks in the novel occur they are not a surprise and are sometimes tedious.

Still, Cleave is a good writer, so there were many good scenes. Jake is marvelous at living in the moment. “You could only be sad (about Sophie’s health) if you let yourself join the dots, if you allowed the scatter of moments in their totality to have some kind of a downward trend that you might be dumb enough to extrapolate. If you just sat on the kitchen floor like this, enjoying the feeling of your bare feet on these checkered tiles warmed by this bright April sun, …..”

Anyone who has participated in competition on a national scale knows that as you move up in the ranks you start to recognize your competition more and more. This book details the turbulent friendship of two girls who meet in a teen training camp for Olympic cycling and quickly rise to the top.

I don't want to spoil the many twists and turns that the book takes, as they are as entertaining as they were unexpected. One woman is competitive to the core while the other has to balance married life and motherhood with the needs of training at an elite level. The character development is very rich and I kept wanting to know what would happen next, reading late into the night.

Gold: A Novel by Chris Cleave has sait patiently on my To Be Read shelf for way too long. I selected, thinking it looked like a book that I would like, but then more books found their way in. Finally, today I picked it up and I didn't put it back down until I came to the end.

I like to sum up a book in a phrase. For instance, this is a book about family, or this is a book about competitive sports and so on. That is impossible to do with Gold. This is a story about olympic caliber cyclists. There is Tom, who is long past his prime, and coach to two amazing women. Women who are friends and competitors in more ways than just cycling. The women are Kate, and Zoe and they are breathtaking. The are completely each the opposite of the other in many ways, but they have equal degrees of talent, and fragility. They have powerful bodies, but their lives make their rigid training and competition seem like a walk in the park.

Jack is a cyclist, too. He met both of the women at a youth competition when they were young, and the three of them have shared friendship, love, competition and more ever since that first moment when they had their lives ahead of them, and knew that they could make it to the top. These four people are strong and determined. Nothing they do in any day of any of their lives compares with Zoe. Zoe is eight years old, and she is in a competition of sorts, too. She is trying to stay alive.

Gold is a compelling page turner of a story that will have you running the gamut from tears to fury to exhilaration, and then back around again and again. Nothing and no one in this story is simple or clear. The twists and turns are nothing compared to the emotional upheaval that you will feel as you read. The lines of who is the winner and who loses are blurred in this brilliant novel.

Recommended.

At the Manchester Velodrome, nineteen year old Zoe Castle and Kate Meadows meet when each tries out for a spot on the Elite Prospects Programme for British Cycling. Coach Tom Voss selects who he wants to train. Both teens are attracted to racer Jack Argall, but though Zoe hooks him first, Kate wins that competition as she marries him.

Thirteen years later, Zoe and Kate have remained friends but now compete for the sole British female cycling slot at the 2012 London Olympic Games and with their age it should be their last ride. Kate, who gave up two previous games over the health of her eight years old daughter Sophie, ailing with leukemia; while Zoe is known as a serial sex fiend who plays hard in everything she does. The thirtyish rivals will soon compete in a winner goes to the Games and the loser stays home.

This is an exciting look at the highest level of competitive cycling between two women tied together from the moment they met. Their personalities are different as Kate is a dedicated mom while Zoe has the track only. Jack is a cross between the two ladies as he is driven to win almost to the degree of Zoe but also knows his only important gold medal is his family. Although Kate is too forgiving especially of Zoe who has relationship issues, this is an engaging read that takes readers behind the scenes and around the oval.

Harriet Klausner

Athens, Beijing, and London Olympics. A 12 year Odyssey of competition and friendship culminating in one series of races

The premise was so exiciting I couldn't wait to read it. Add in the promise of a asknowledge mast at his craft writer.

However the story was more a let down than anything.

Zoe comes off as a ultra-competitive Vampire

Kate reads like a doormat of wife and friend

Sophie is a saintly seven year old with a potential terminal illness and more bravery than Braveheart

Jack a man who is more a prop than a husband

And a 5 star reading ends up as an ok read

Sometimes a writer comes along and you just know that it is their job, and unique purpose to write a great story. Chris Cleave is now one of my favorite Authors. This is my first book to read by him, but certainly not my last book that I will read by him ......... now that I have found him!

I quite simply ..... could not put this book down. Gold is a story about what it takes to be completely Human, while at the same time reaching for enormous heights of excellence in Life. Chris Cleave has grasped in this very compelling book what it takes to write about the competitive human spirit while still reaching deeply into the psyche and asking those questions we all have..... Is it worth it?

So you are reading this review to try and decide, Is it worth it? Quite simply, Yes! And again, Yes! This is a heartbreaking wonderful novel that has everything a good book wants to have....

1) Great Character development
2) An Original Story
3) It is Well Written and the Words Flow
4) After you Finish the Book, you want to talk about it.

This book simply "is" what the Title suggests........ GOLD!!!

I read this after hearing the author interviewed on BBC radio. It sounded as if he had spent considerable time researching in order to produce a book about the challenges and euphoria of competitive sport, as encountered in cycling. Evidently I made a mistake because as far as I could see this is a story about a love (relationship?) triangle with a sick child added in. If this was really about sport's challenges then presumably we wouldn't be subjected to a strapline of `Caring for sick children is the Olympics of parenting'.

I cared a little about Sophie and the coach was good value but the rest seemed to be cardboard cut-outs. Where the others did show any depth it was all a bit obvious and, anyway, I didn't really like the people whom I think were being portrayed.

There were any number of niggles from start to finish. I only cycle for fun but surely anyone can see that sprinters and pursuiters should have a different physiques; apparently not in this world. Why did Zoe's ankles hurt after the `showdown', she'd been training for her entire adult life? The scene at the first day of group training was, to me, just plain ludicrous in supposing that anyone would fall for what went on. At 60% on my kindle I grew impatient for the end, by 90% I was fed up to the point of just turning the pages because I wouldn't let the book defeat me.

The world that Sophie had created for herself was a good idea but even that wore thin about halfway through the book. I liked her courage and how in the midst of her own stresses she cared about others.

At the end I thought the book was all a bit 'painting by numbers'.

After having read Little Bee Chris Cleave has been a favorite. I eagerly awaited his latest Gold, and have not been disappointed.

Gold follows two Olympic hopefuls. Now 32, Zoe and Kate met while training for track cycling when they were 19. According to their shared trainer, Tom, Kate was a born cyclist and the one to beat, but Zoe had drive and focus that had led her to numerous first place finishes. With the London Olympics just around the corner Zoe and Kate know that this will be their last chance for Olympic gold, but each are facing emotional hurdles that might sabotage their chances.

All of the characters are so well written they pop off of the page, but it is Kate's daughter, Sophie an eight year old Star Wars fanatic, battling a recurrence of leukemia like a true Jedi Knight, who is the true heart of the story. As she roots for her mother the reader can't help but root for Sophie.

I truly do think anyone but Chris Cleave could write a story that packs such an emotional wallop as this without having it turn into a melodramatic "Lifetime" movie.

I loved Little Bea and now Gold. What next Mr. Cleave?

Let's start with the positives. Chris Cleave is a compelling and gifted writer. There are sentences that beg to be remembered. He has a sly humor and his research (into track cycling) is entirely credible. So what's the problem? It's because he has these gifts that you find yourself wanting more from him. In the end, he's a sentimentalist. It all has to be tidily wrapped up. There is no room for tragedy. Everyone wins. Death loses. Tears are tears of redemption. Oh well. What life denies us he wants fiction to make whole. A worthy ambition if you want the guests to go home moderately happy.

Book Title: "Gold"
Author: Chris Cleave
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Age Recommended: 17+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

Review: Be warned this story will make you cry as well as exhilarate you. Two women meet at 19 growing up together in the world of competitive sports only to find themselves competing against one another in the Olympics. They soon realize they have to make one of the hardest choices of all... will they allow competition to kill their friendship or will they realize all they've been through together could never be worth the price of Gold.
A fantastic read that will capture you and hold you tight to the very end!

An absorbing literary novel about a friendship that survives for more than a decade of competition. Probably best enjoyed by women who are interested in competitive sports training and cycling. A well crafted story with convincing characters, including the supporting cast of a shared coach, a shared love interest, and a little girl who loves both Zoe and Kate.

It was pretty good. The plot twist was actually in the middle, and after that, you can pretty much sum up what is going to happen, but it really was told in a beautiful way. I will definitely read more from this author.

I love how this book is organized, with flashbacks to the past and cute inserts about Star Wars and Sophie. This book would make a terrific movie, the characters feelings are brought out so well almost like poetry. I had so many emotions while reading this, and couldn't put it down! Really engaging story.

Book Title: "Gold"
Author: Chris Cleave
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Age Recommended: 17+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

Review: Be warned this story will make you cry as well as exhilarate you. Two women meet at 19 growing up together in the world of competitive sports only to find themselves competing against one another in the Olympics. They soon realize they have to make one of the hardest choices of all... will they allow competition to kill their friendship or will they realize all they've been through together could never be worth the price of Gold.
A fantastic read that will capture you and hold you tight to the very end!

An absorbing literary novel about a friendship that survives for more than a decade of competition. Probably best enjoyed by women who are interested in competitive sports training and cycling. A well crafted story with convincing characters, including the supporting cast of a shared coach, a shared love interest, and a little girl who loves both Zoe and Kate.

It was pretty good. The plot twist was actually in the middle, and after that, you can pretty much sum up what is going to happen, but it really was told in a beautiful way. I will definitely read more from this author.

I love how this book is organized, with flashbacks to the past and cute inserts about Star Wars and Sophie. This book would make a terrific movie, the characters feelings are brought out so well almost like poetry. I had so many emotions while reading this, and couldn't put it down! Really engaging story.

Despite the promise, the story soon devolves into one lackluster list of objects and movements after another rather than thrilling action. Most grating however was the inauthentic voice for the female characters whether little girl or adults. There is a lack of insight and honest understanding of the female mind. This was disappointing. It was like a man putting on a woman's suit (or racing gear) and pantomiming his story of her life.
I put it down after page 40. Life is too short to spend reading this book.

I really enjoyed The Other Hand by Chris Cleave so I bought this to read on my holiday last week. I didn't actually know what it was about until I started reading.
Cycling, The Olympics?! Oh dear, I thought, I might have made an unwise decision regarding the purchase of this book. Turns out I hadn't.
Although there are certainly a couple of passages in the book that probably only appeal to or touch the senses of a truly obssessed sportsperson or cyclist it was mostly a story about passion, pride, and pain. Good stuff. Recommended.

Having devoured Cleave's The Other Hand (or Little Bee, as it was titled in some countries) I had high expectations for his next novel. It's pretty darn good and I like that he's tackled a topic a world away from his previous novel. But I wouldn't say it's rock solid. Took me a bit to get into and I can't say the characters felt entirely alive, but the context was great: sport's not my thing, but he wrote beautifully and insightfully about being an elite athlete. It doesn't parallel The Other Hand, but is still worth a read in my opinion.

I found the story somewhat compelling as you want to find out what happens to the characters, but I didn't get much more out of it than that - no deeper meaning, no great insight into the world of Olympic sports. Also I found some of the situations and characters' emotions unbelievable at times. Lastly, I didn't love how the story jumped around time-wise.

I really couldn't get into this book. The characters were not likeable. The little girl kept going on about Star Wars for pages and pages. I really enjoyed Little Bee and Incendiary, so I was excited to get this book. I'm glad I got it from the library and didn't spend money on it.

Such unbelievably bewildering characters. Zoe is one of the most loathsome characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading, and Jack and Kate were complete doormats for continuing to let her manipulate and ruin their lives over and over. It disgusted me the way everyone coddled her and felt bad for her, and her "tragic past" did not at all justify all of her hateful, selfish behavior.

The twist is also one of the worst I've ever read, and not only did the inexplicably late reveal make everything that came before it ring false, but after the reveal Cleave just kept twisting the knife further and further until there were no redeeming qualities to the book left.

The writing is objectively good and it was an easy, fast read, but I honestly can't give it more than one star for my experience in reading it. Wow, I have not hated a book this much in a long time.

I loved this authors previous two novels and couldn't wait for the release of Gold. Sadly, I can not recommend this book. Mr. Cleave writes well enough but the plot is drivel. One of the main characters is so unlikable I actually wanted her to fail. Two others are brainless doormats. The last few chapters were almost painful to read as they seemed to have been forced. Maybe my expectations were too high to begin with but Gold doesn't even merit a silver.

I liked Little Bee (although not as much as everyone else, apparently), but something was missing from this book. The story is engaging, but after the first couple of chapters it becomes very predictable. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the racing world, but the book as a whole left me with nothing to remember.

Middle of the fence for me. I was looking forward to finding out what drives us to succeed. What will we sacrifice for? I haven't read any of Cleave's books before, so I didn't know what to expect.

I got lots of gold nuggets. Kate and Zoe are friends, but sometimes not so much. Both are trying for the Olympics. Professional cyclists. Kate's daughter Zoe has leukemia. Well, not Kate's daughter. Talk about a love triangle!

Lots going on in this book, but I enjoyed it. What kind of person are YOU?