Review: Gold by Chris Cleave

Gold by Chris Cleave tells the story of two Olympic track cycling competitors, Zoe and Kate, who are friends but also fierce competitors. Friends since they were selected for the national cycling team at age nineteen, they are now facing their final Olympics in London 2012 where they will compete against a home crowd for Team GB. They each cycle against different demons but both are talented cyclists and tenacious racers and leave nothing on the track. The suspenseful tale follows the girls' road to London 2012 and reveals so much about each on the way.

Zoe and Kate have a complicated relationship.  Although friends and able to understand each other in a way that those who do not compete at this level cannot, they are also rivals on the track. Their relationship is consumed by the rivalry in many ways - they even competed at one point for their mutual friend, Jack.  Kate won that competition  - she and Jack are now married with a young daughter, Sophie. Kate's life is definitely more well rounded  - she has her husband and her daughter to focus on - but her cycling career has paid a price for it.  While single minded Zoe has collected gold medals in Athens and Beijing and struck lucrative endorsement deals, Kate's energies have been directed towards Sophie as she is fighting leukemia. But the fire of the competitor burns inside her and she yearns for the validation of her cycling talent offered by the Olympic contest.

Zoe and Kate are very different characters but both elicit strong reactions. Zoe is driven and ruthless in her pursuit of a win.  Time after time, she sacrifices her friendship with Kate in order to best her - she capitalizes on any weakness she perceives in her friend and blows that crack wide open, their relationship be damned. It is almost as if she is overcome by her desire to win and she does these horrible things but she looks back a little stunned and disappointed in herself for hurting Kate and destroying yet another relationship in her life. It is clear she races against herself and is often her own worst enemy. As the novel progresses, the layers of Zoe's psyche are peeled back and reveal the pain  which powers her rides.

By comparison, Kate is more unassuming and she continually gives Zoe second chances in their friendship. Although a fierce competitor herself, she exists beyond her cycling career and therefore can afford to grant Zoe kindness. She appears more evolved than Zoe because she is not so driven by a base desire to succeed.  She faces her own challenges, however, as she struggles with the constant worry for Sophie.  Even though she wants to train hard and perform in the Olympics, she is concerned about any time spent away from Sophie - will her prioritization of her cycling career even for a single day leave her daughter unprotected? The irony, of course, is that the course of Sophie's illness is completely out of her parents' control and that helplessness is terrifying.

Gold is a fast paced novel which offers a character study of two fascinating competitors. Cycling and competition, however, become just the vehicle to reveal Zoe and Kate's characters. Their is suspense in the novel with the upcoming Olympic competition and along with that suspense, more and more of the girls' history is unraveled. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it dovetailed nicely over the summer with my London Olympics fever.  But you don't need to be an Olympics or a sports fan to enjoy this book - the characters are truly the stars and will keep you reading.  One of my best of 2012 for sure!