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wmcduff's review
4.0
I had heard about this book on this year's Canada Reads, but didn't get to it, but meeting Ms. Abdou at a library conference kicked my butt into action to start in on this. I'm glad I did.
Just in time for the Olympics, I was introduced to Sadie and Digger, two Canadians nearing the ends of their careers with one last chance to be an Olympian. The book highlights what's it like to be an Olympian in Canada in a non-prestige sport, and the sacrifices that athletes have to make to pursue a dream. Well-written, an excellent read while London celebrates.
Just in time for the Olympics, I was introduced to Sadie and Digger, two Canadians nearing the ends of their careers with one last chance to be an Olympian. The book highlights what's it like to be an Olympian in Canada in a non-prestige sport, and the sacrifices that athletes have to make to pursue a dream. Well-written, an excellent read while London celebrates.
rach's review
5.0
A brilliantly insightful novel about what makes one's life meaningful, and how to pick up the pieces of your life when all your dreams have been shattered.
Elite athletes live a different life than most of us - many years spent so intensely focused on very particular goals, at the expense of their lives, their families, their bodies. So what happens when their bodies give out and their competitive days are over? What if they fought as hard as they could, and it still wasn't enpugh to reach their goals? What if a twist of fate sent them down a radically different path? It's just. It's so sad. How do you get past the feeling of things being left so incomplete, of never knowing if you were good enough to win? What next?
Those are the issues that Sadie, Digger, and their friends are wrestling with through out this book. In the end, I'm not sure anyone has it figured out, but all you can do is try: try to let go of the way things were, and try to build a new sense of self worth, one that is not tied to competition and your identity as an athlete. I want to give Sadie a big hug. Her journey is so rough and raw and real. It's entirely relatable, to see her look back at her team and suddenly feel like she doesn't belong.
Every athlete has to move on eventually, but it's how you do it that shapes the rest of your life. I like that there is no firm resolution in the story about that, because for everyone, that's going to look different.
Elite athletes live a different life than most of us - many years spent so intensely focused on very particular goals, at the expense of their lives, their families, their bodies. So what happens when their bodies give out and their competitive days are over? What if they fought as hard as they could, and it still wasn't enpugh to reach their goals? What if a twist of fate sent them down a radically different path? It's just. It's so sad. How do you get past the feeling of things being left so incomplete, of never knowing if you were good enough to win? What next?
Those are the issues that Sadie, Digger, and their friends are wrestling with through out this book. In the end, I'm not sure anyone has it figured out, but all you can do is try: try to let go of the way things were, and try to build a new sense of self worth, one that is not tied to competition and your identity as an athlete. I want to give Sadie a big hug. Her journey is so rough and raw and real. It's entirely relatable, to see her look back at her team and suddenly feel like she doesn't belong.
Every athlete has to move on eventually, but it's how you do it that shapes the rest of your life. I like that there is no firm resolution in the story about that, because for everyone, that's going to look different.
monnibo's review
4.0
I really liked how the characters were established independently in alternating chapters. At one point I found myself wondering if they ever meet, but I was glad that Angie Abdou waited so long to introduce them to each other.
Abdou’s imagery and writing was perfect; succinct but illustrative with the right balance of narrative and description. It never felt over-written but never left me creating details myself.
I found the entire book very enlightening to the athletic mentality as well as the aftermath. The title is perfect too.
Read my full review: http://www.monniblog.com/2011/02/the-bone-cage-by-angie-abdou/
Abdou’s imagery and writing was perfect; succinct but illustrative with the right balance of narrative and description. It never felt over-written but never left me creating details myself.
I found the entire book very enlightening to the athletic mentality as well as the aftermath. The title is perfect too.
Read my full review: http://www.monniblog.com/2011/02/the-bone-cage-by-angie-abdou/
lauraorourke's review
2.0
I found this book clumsily written and exhausting to read. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I were an athlete, but I just couldn't relate to the characters until about 3/4 of the way through the book.
cuocuo's review
3.0
This book was very compelling until the halfway point when, frankly, I lost interest. The disconnect I experienced was the result of a catastrophic event that was a little too deus-ex-machina for my taste. There's heavy foreshadowing leading up to this event and the finesse that had been demonstrated up to that point was lost. I'll chalk it up to first novel kinks. Overall, the novel is a good glimpse into the sacrifices that serious athletes make all for the slight chance of glory on an international stage. Makes you think twice about pushing your kids into sports, at least competitively.
bitterindigo's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book intellectually interesting but not quite emotionally engaging. In some ways it read more like a magazine article than a novel, with the characters used as mouthpieces for the author's opinions on how Canadian athletes are treated or mistreated by the government.
shawnalewk's review against another edition
3.0
Not bad but the book seems superficial at times and the author could have done more in terms of the depth in the characters. I never felt all that connected to either of them.
ldv's review against another edition
4.0
An engaging novel about two athletes preparing for the Olympics. The chapters flip between the wrestler and swimmer, and of course their stories connect about half way. At that point the book was a bit nature YA romance-y for my taste, but the theme of dedicating one's life to a short-lived profession and what life will or won't be afterwards was poignant. It is also a good look at high-level amateur sports in Canada, so anyone thinking about that life might be interested in this novel.
Well written enough, too.
Well written enough, too.
spaghettireads's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. I felt that the descriptions I'd heard of it were not an accurate representation of the main story. This was advantageous to me since I felt I could relate to it more this way. I thought that the author chose to include specific aspects and end the story at an interesting place. This, for me tied in with one of the points the book was making. I read this for Canada Reads this year, and I would recommend this book to others. Don't be deterred by the fact that you think that you can't relate to the subject, I didn't find this to be a problem. Its not that long and is quite a quick read, but enjoyable none the less.
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