'Ravages', by R.A. Padmos
Aug. 1st, 2011 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dfotwI know that most people who follow this journal are, to some extent, into football slash, so it is with great pleasure that I bring a book rec that will undoubtedly resonate with all of you.
The blurb says that 'Ravages' is a love story between two footballers -Steve Gavan and Daniël Borghart, who play for a fictional club in the Premier-, but it's so, so much more than that. It's a story about loss, about acceptance, about secrets and what happens when those secrets come to light.
It's not the typical boy-meets-boy, boys-fall-instantly-in-love, boys-face-contrived-circumstances-that-keep-them-apart, boys-have-a-happy-ending story. Seriously, take your expectations and leave them at the door when you start this book, because this is a story that goes much deeper than that. I dare you not to fall in love with the characters -the main couple, their teammates and friends-. I dare you not to feel their struggles as your own. I dare you not to read this book and then look at the fanfiction we all read and write and see it differently.
I really, really, really don't have enough words to praise this story.
You can read more about 'Ravages' here, enter a giveaway for one copy at the author's blog here or buy a copy straight from the publishing house here.
I promise you won't regret it... I know I didn't!
If there’s anything happier than him and Daniël watching a footy match, he’d like to hear about it, so they could try it too. It’s a quiet sort of happiness, but it makes him think beyond the moment. He’s not ready yet to dismiss himself as ultimately irrelevant, a nice experience at best, in comparison with the much more important career that lies ahead for a player as talented and dedicated to the sport as Daniël Borghart. He thinks he can still manage a couple of good years with those legs of his. Although when it comes to staying with Kinbridge Town, he acknowledges some of it is likely wishful thinking on his part. By the end of the season, he’ll be thirty-two, with young guys like Miller and Borghart breathing down his neck. And there’s more on the way, with the owners allowing manager Degaré a very healthy budget. Still, every club, no matter how much in love they are with their new stars, need the dependable players; the older guys who can be overlooked all too easily and still make the difference between a team and eleven high earning guys who just happen to be on the same pitch at the same time. But it’s becoming less the alpha and omega of his existence. He wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s just a game, and things like privacy and what the papers would write or the songs the Kinbridge Kings would sing don’t matter, but something is shifting.
And whatever that something is, it makes him smile and swagger a bit like he’s drunk, although he’s almost never drunk, and think about his future in a way that’s new to him. He’s no longer young enough to have any grand illusions; the world is what it is and people are what they are, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s ever going to change. If one day Daniël looks him in the eye and tells him it’s all over, that he’s no longer as important as the beautiful game, he will bow his head and try to keep his dignity while walking away. Until that day, he will keep on searching for a solution to reconcile the irreconcilables. He’s not the one to start the revolution, but he’s willing to try and jump over his own shadow to prevent Daniël from being unhappy.
The blurb says that 'Ravages' is a love story between two footballers -Steve Gavan and Daniël Borghart, who play for a fictional club in the Premier-, but it's so, so much more than that. It's a story about loss, about acceptance, about secrets and what happens when those secrets come to light.
It's not the typical boy-meets-boy, boys-fall-instantly-in-love, boys-face-contrived-circumstances-that-keep-them-apart, boys-have-a-happy-ending story. Seriously, take your expectations and leave them at the door when you start this book, because this is a story that goes much deeper than that. I dare you not to fall in love with the characters -the main couple, their teammates and friends-. I dare you not to feel their struggles as your own. I dare you not to read this book and then look at the fanfiction we all read and write and see it differently.
I really, really, really don't have enough words to praise this story.
You can read more about 'Ravages' here, enter a giveaway for one copy at the author's blog here or buy a copy straight from the publishing house here.
I promise you won't regret it... I know I didn't!
If there’s anything happier than him and Daniël watching a footy match, he’d like to hear about it, so they could try it too. It’s a quiet sort of happiness, but it makes him think beyond the moment. He’s not ready yet to dismiss himself as ultimately irrelevant, a nice experience at best, in comparison with the much more important career that lies ahead for a player as talented and dedicated to the sport as Daniël Borghart. He thinks he can still manage a couple of good years with those legs of his. Although when it comes to staying with Kinbridge Town, he acknowledges some of it is likely wishful thinking on his part. By the end of the season, he’ll be thirty-two, with young guys like Miller and Borghart breathing down his neck. And there’s more on the way, with the owners allowing manager Degaré a very healthy budget. Still, every club, no matter how much in love they are with their new stars, need the dependable players; the older guys who can be overlooked all too easily and still make the difference between a team and eleven high earning guys who just happen to be on the same pitch at the same time. But it’s becoming less the alpha and omega of his existence. He wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s just a game, and things like privacy and what the papers would write or the songs the Kinbridge Kings would sing don’t matter, but something is shifting.
And whatever that something is, it makes him smile and swagger a bit like he’s drunk, although he’s almost never drunk, and think about his future in a way that’s new to him. He’s no longer young enough to have any grand illusions; the world is what it is and people are what they are, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s ever going to change. If one day Daniël looks him in the eye and tells him it’s all over, that he’s no longer as important as the beautiful game, he will bow his head and try to keep his dignity while walking away. Until that day, he will keep on searching for a solution to reconcile the irreconcilables. He’s not the one to start the revolution, but he’s willing to try and jump over his own shadow to prevent Daniël from being unhappy.
