TBR Tuesday - Short review of "The Game"

If you are an avid reader like me, you probably have a lot of books either on your bookshelf or on your e-reader that have been sitting there a long time as you collect even more books.  We call that the TBR, or to-be-read, pile.   A fellow book blogger (http://deesbookblog.com/) came up with an idea to reduce this pile by creating "TBR Tuesday" in which she would review a book that has been on her TBR pile for at least one year and post that on Tuesday.  I decided to do the same thing with some of the book on my TBR list.  These reviews will be shorter, and not always contain all the information in my usual reviews, but it is still a great way to find some of those older books and finally get around to read them.

For my first TBR Tuesday review, this is one that I picked up way back in 2009, when I first recieved my Kindle. I explain the circumstances in the review why I took so long, but considering Jack London is one of my favorite all-time authors, it was worth the wait.  Here is my review of his short story about a boxer, "The Game"

Title/Author:

“The Game” by Jack London

Published:

1913

Rating:

5 of 5 stars (Outstanding)

Review:

I stumbled across this book by accident as Jack London is one of my favorite classic authors and I have read “Call of the Wild” multiple times.  When I received my first Kindle and saw that book was available, I jumped on the chance to pick it up.  However, I also saw that London also wrote a novella titled “The Game” about boxing.  Well, never one to miss the chance to pick up a free book on sports and add the fact that one of my favorite authors wrote it, I picked that up too. Then it sat in the TBR pile for almost 6 years until I decided to reduce this list of books. 

Originally published in 1913, this is a tale of a boxer named Joe who loves his job as a boxer.  He loves the competition in the ring and doesn’t ever stray from that.  Until the night his fiancée Genevieve attends one of his matches. She has loved Joe from the start, but never felt comfortable with his chosen profession. Nevertheless, she goes to his latest bout and the story of what both of them are feeling is a terrific short story. 

The boxing passages are well-written as London gets into the mind of the fighter.  That is why I enjoy books on the “sweet science”, whether fiction or non-fiction.  Good boxing writers will tell about a boxer’s mind and spirit and London does that well for Joe.  It doesn’t stop there, however, as Genevieve is also portrayed as a loyal and loving woman. The portion of the book that tells how they meet and fell in love is a passage any romance reader would enjoy. 

This is a wonderful story of two people in love and yet in deep conflict at the same time.  The language is appropriate for the early 20^th century and is one that I would recommend to any reader.  It is a wonder addition to London’s more well-known works.