An engaging novel about two athletes preparing for the Olympics. The chapters flip between the wrestler and swimmer, and of course their stories connect about half way. At that point the book was a bit nature YA romance-y for my taste, but the theme of dedicating one's life to a short-lived profession and what life will or won't be afterwards was poignant. It is also a good look at high-level amateur sports in Canada, so anyone thinking about that life might be interested in this novel.
Well written enough, too.

I am in awe of athletes, particularly athletes who make it to the Olympics. This is a book about two Olympians from Calgary. It is a novel but I believe it accurately reflects the reality of the hard work and sacrifices such elite athletes must perform.

Sadie is a swimmer. She has a degree in English literature but she continues to live with her parents, work part-time at the university gym and train full time as a competitive swimmer. She has qualified in the 800 metre freestyle event to represent Canada at the Sydney Olympics. Now she has seven months to hone her style and reduce her time. Except life throws roadblocks in her way and she struggles to stay on course. The death of her beloved grandmother really throws her for a loop; she stops going to practices for a while but then gets back into the routine so she can keep her promise to her grandmother to win a medal at the Olympics.

Digger is a wrestler. He also has trained and sacrificed a lot and has missed qualifying for the Olympics twice. Now at 30 the Sydney Olympics is probably his last chance so he is delighted to qualify in his weight class. His teammates from Calgary did not make it and one has a hard time accepting that. Digger just keeps training and working out and he is sure that this is his chance.

Since both Sadie and Digger train at the University of Calgary it is inevitable that they will meet after they join the small group of Olympians from that facility. They recognize something in each other and soon are helping each other train. There could be a sexual attraction as well but that is just put on hold until after the Olympics. There is no time for anything but preparing for the Olympics. Until there is an accident and one of them has nothing but time.

This book really gave me insight into how hard these elite athletes work to climb to the top of the heap. I will never achieve anything close to this and I don't think I would be willing to make the sacrifices even if I had the natural ability. Society asks a lot of the people who represent us at the Olympics and I don't think they ever get repaid. ( )

2-1/2 stars. ( )

Sadie is a swimmer; Digger is a wrestler. They are both training in Calgary for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. They are both at the end of their careers, so this Olympics will be their last shot. In addition to the training, they have things going on in their personal lives and about half-way through the book, they do meet.

This was probably good timing to be reading this, just after the Rio Olympics. I'm not that much “into” sports, so I wasn't sure how much I'd like this one, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it so much. The author is a swimmer, so she could go into behind-the-scenes details most of us wouldn't know. The chapters are told from alternating viewpoints and I enjoyed the personal stories of Sadie and Digger, particularly Sadie. Since the book was mostly set in the city I live, it's always fun to read about places you know, as well. ( )

"I really liked how the characters were established independently in alternating chapters. At one point I found myself wondering if they ever meet, but I was glad that Angie Abdou waited so long to introduce them to each other.

Abdou�Äôs imagery and writing was perfect; succinct but illustrative with the right balance of narrative and description. It never felt over-written but never left me creating details myself.

I found the entire book very enlightening to the athletic mentality as well as the aftermath. The title is perfect too.

Read my full review: http://www.monniblog.com/2011/02/the-bone-cage-by-angie-abdou/" ( )