I No Longer Play The Game

Rating:
Summary: Excellent sports romance.
Review: This book is excellent, i couldn't put it down. As a former athlete my man the author nails this lifestyle down, particularly from the brothers' and sisters' perspective, you will enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Love Resonates Higher than Football
Review: With its intense and very detailed description of the world of college and professional football, specifically, the life of a young and naïve superstar named Kevin Styles, you would think that "I No Longer Play the Game," a novel by aspiring author, Anthony Lawrence, would merely recount the stories of those few whose childhood dreams of playing football in the pros came true and then crumbled before their very eyes. Had it been so, I can honestly admit, that I would not have lasted more than ten minutes reading it. After all, how many times have we as readers been fooled into reading a book about an athlete who cannot cope with life after the game, when the cheers have died down and he/she has become ordinary. Such books have been written and rewritten before. On the contrary, in Lawrence's novel, although every aspect of the "Game" of football is covered, you might be happily surprised as to what "Game" the characters in the novel are actually playing.

I have always considered the mental "Game" to be tougher to play than the physical "Game". But again, if you think, I am still talking about the game of football, you could not be more further from the reality of this novel. At another level, the book is about love. Specifically, the novel is about the love between protagonist, Kevin Styles, and his not so perfect antagonist-girlfriend, Chantel Dupree, in their struggle to avoid the behaviors that inhibit men and women's ability to have close/committed relationships.

Drawn from his years of experience, both as a committed man and a former football star, Lawrence provides the readers with the right combination of humor and drama in creating this healthy guide for cultivating intimacy. I was very impressed with his style and technique. It was his approach which assisted me in separating inconsequential truth from pointless fiction and allowed me instead to find the important lessons Lawrence is attempting to convey to us: why do relationships go bad? And how do we deal with the openness and vulnerability of our hearts?

The thing I liked the most is that rather than citing cliche affirmations of relationship advice or ambiguous principles of love and war that we can easily locate in any self-help book, Lawrence allows his "players" (or characters) to talk and act out their experiences through liberal dialog, without holding any feelings back. Specifically, as a character, Styles spoke and acted from a mindset, I could honestly understand. Moreover, it was hard not to find ironic the fact that Chantel Dupree reminded me of many a woman I have either dated or met, thus making her in my opinion the true centre of the story. While she essentially longs for true closeness, Ms. Dupree's makeup, without overtly overshadowing Styles', remains the crutch which holds the true underlying theme of the book upright and allows many females, I am sure, an opportunity to relate to her struggles.

I bought the book for my girlfriend, and I ended keeping a copy for myself. You do not need to be an athlete or, for that matter, a sports fan to enjoy this book. All that is required that you be searching for the true factor at the heart of any relationship. Consequently, this book is the perfect novel for anyone who wants to truly understand the "Game" we all play in finding love.

Lawrence is a very inspirational writer. In all respects, his book is magnificent. The only thing that could make this book better is a sequel. Perhaps, if the demand is there, Lawrence will feel it necessary to quench our process of discovery as we reminisce in our own relationships. In the meantime, after you have finished enjoying the book, I suggest that you consider starting a collection of your own Anthony Lawrence novels ("The Ring of Betrayal" and "When Tomorrow Comes"). Most prints are not excessively costly, and the satisfaction they will provide I can proudly foretell will quite literally be astonishing.