GENRE: Fiction - Literary
NUMBER OF PAGES: 254
FORMAT: Digital
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Review copy as a part of iRead Book tours.
REVIEW:
The Olympic Games have always intrigued me. Being from a country that focuses more on Cricket, other form of sports like Cycling or Gymnastics fascinates me. I picked up this book just for that very reason.
Riding, traces the journey of Andre, the son of two Olympic Games organizers, Elizabeth and Mario. When Andre is born, Elizabeth’s focus shifts from her professional life to nurturing Andre. While Mario’s work with the Olympic installations takes him across the globe, Elizabeth and Andre settle in Curitiba, Brazil. Andre takes a liking for cycling and eventually takes up professional training. It is revealed in the midway of the story that Andre is actually a special needs child. I was expecting that to be revealed in the very beginning of the story, the writer choose to reveal it way later. If she hadn’t revealed Andre’s dream in the summary, this revelation in the actual story could have easily been the biggest twist of the story, given that this book is a work of fiction. As the story progress, the writer narrates numerous stories of such Para-athletes like Andre. She also details about how the Olympic Games actually contribute to the infrastructural growth of the country hosting it.
The story as such is well crafted but could have been accommodated into two books. I felt that the facts about the Olympic Games cramped the space that the story could have taken up. Andre’s determination was very inspirational and his story was realistic. I loved the way the writer beautifully narrated that frustrations are indeed a big part of the journey to success. The characterization was quite unbalanced, in sense, I felt the writer focused more on Elizabeth and Andre, leaving out many other characters like Mario or Dr.Eureka or Rose. Though the secondary characters were given sufficient importance, I felt that sort of lacked conviction. The writing was pretty much straightforward and kept me hooked. The only thing that peeved me was the way that the writer choose to bring in the climax of the book. After stepping on the pace mid-way, the writer sort of slowed down things towards the end by narrating tales of other Para-athletes instead of focusing on Andre’s story. This narration could have made more sense if it had been put somewhere initially when Andre actually starts his professional training.
MY SAY: A must read inspirational book. An eye opener for those who don’t follow Olympics in general (Para-Olympics specially).
RATING:
PLOT: 8/10
CHARACTERISATION: 7/10
NARRATION: 7/10
BOREDOM QUOTIENT : 4/10 (Lower the better)
OVERALL RATING: 7/10
AUTHOR LINKS: Website Facebook Twitter
BOOK LINKS: Amazon Barnes & Nobles Book Depository
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