Dreams of Gold [Hardcover]

Maynard F. Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

Maggie Carothers and Clay Bartlett are America's best pairs skaters and its best hope for bringing home Olympic gold. Partners both on and off the ice, they are the envy of millions. But their dreams of gold and of "happily ever after" come to an abrupt halt when a car accident ends Clay's career. Emotionally devastated for her partner and suddenly uncertain about their future together, Maggie leaves Clay to hone her skills as a singles skater. Returning to Japan, the country of her childhood, she begins to train again with her original coach. The old sensei teaches his troubled student that a great skater needs more than daring triple jumps; she must truly become one with the music. It is a lesson Maggie will carry with her to the Olympic rink where, in a stunningly dramatic finale, she will learn what ultimately matters -- in art, in life, and in love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Setting his third novel (after Trade Secrets) in the world of competitive skating, Thomson mixes interesting background material with a suspenseful story about the career choices and love entanglements of an appealing heroine. With less than two years to train before the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, pairs figure skater Maggie Campbell is horrified when her lover and partner, Clay Bartlett, is injured in a career-ending car crash. Fueled by bitter resentment at superstar singles skater Doe Rawlings, whom she blames for the accident, Maggie decides to leave her Boston home to train as a singles skater in Japan, where she lived for 14 years as a misfit (her mother is Japanese, but she looks like her American father). Once there, she takes up training with her beloved old coach Madam Goto and runs into Hiro Araki, a childhood friend who's now a yakuza, a Japanese gangster, and who becomes Clay's rival for Maggie's affections. Maggie faces the bigotry of the Japanese skating culture in a fascinating subplot that fleshes out the cultural context of Maggie's family, her coach, and her ethnic identity. Under Goto's tutelage, she learns a zenlike focus in competitive skating; she wants to beat the bratty Doe, but in order to do so she must skate for herself. While Thomson does a fine job of sketching the figure skating environment?overzealous coaches, mercenary promoters, stage parents and technical lingo?his story takes the reader a step beyond. The scenes in Japan provide a rich, imaginative, connecting plot to the rinkside drama: the dark world of the Japanese mob, corrupt skating judges, Japanese nationalism. Destined for the mostly female audience of TV's second-most-watched spectator sport, the novel conveys the emotional and mental heart of the sport as well as the athletic regimen. With this calculated crowd-pleaser, Thomson scores gold. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Thomson's (Breaking Faith, Pocket, 1996) story of the quest for figure-skating gold, slated for release after the 1999 World Championships in March, is a winner. Megumi (Maggie) Campbell, a joyous skater and tough competitor, is a child of two cultures, fully welcomed by neither. Raised in Tokyo, she considered herself Japanese despite having her American father's features and flaming red hair. Rejected by judges who considered her too un-Japanese to skate for Japan, she returns with her family to America, where she and her partner (and lover) Clay become world-class pairs skaters. When he is injured, Maggie returns to Japan to train to compete as a single again, skating against the woman she holds responsible for Clay's injury. Though the figure skating is central, and its grueling demands and dangers accurately portrayed, the book is much more about betrayal and conquering anger and envy to lose oneself in the beauty of the sport. Recommended for public libraries.?Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 452 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044652445X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446524452
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,104,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gold Medal Pulp Fiction, February 8, 2000

By 

Robert L. Fleisher (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreams of Gold (Mass Market Paperback)

A delightful bit of escapism, "Dreams of Gold" might have been the result of a collaboration between Sidney Sheldon and James Clavell. The book's insights into the world of figure skating and life in contemporary Japan are fascinating, and the book is peopled with wonderful characters, although not in a roman a clef style. ( It would have been even more fun if real figures had been worked into the narrative.) "Dreams of Gold" isn't great literature, but it is a great escape. Its plots and subplots all tie up nicely, and I read into the night to see who was going to win the gold medal. It's frothy and fun. As a gay man, however, I did wish the gay characters weren't so swarmy, manipulative, and evil.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe a man wrote it!, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreams of Gold (Hardcover)

Maggie Campbell, the leading character in Dreams Of Gold, is a gem. She's smart (she's a sophomore at Harvard when the story opens), she's emotionally and physically strong, and she gives 100% in everything she does. This has made her one of the world's best figure skaters, and enabled her to overcome a devastating blow in her past, but it also means she commits totally to a relationship that the reader can see is a disaster waiting to happen (the author skillfully lets the reader in on things Maggie doesn't know). I found myself thinking, as I watched the spoiled, manipulative Clay using Maggie: "Maggie, Maggie, don't fall for that line!" Then I'd remember the times I'd made the mistake of falling for a charming, good-looking, self-absorbed, manchild's lies--and what woman hasn't?

I love skating, and this book will satisfy the most rabid fan, with a look inside world-class figure skating that feels 100% authentic. But while Maggie is very much part of this world, she's the wonderful character she is because she's also much more than that world. Maggie on the ice is a joy to "watch," but it was Maggie off the ice who kept me turning the pages.

As I read the book, I kept wondering: "How can a man know that a woman would think that way? The author gets Maggie so right, not only Maggie the young woman but Maggie as a young girl, and at every stage in between! I also admired the authenticity with which he draws Japan, and the Japanese, where I lived for several years. I felt I'd gone back! We see inside the corporate suites of the great Japanese companies, we learn what it's like to grow up in Japan, and we get intimate views of the Japanese underworld and the Burukumin, the Japanese "untouchable." Mr. Thomson obviously knows Japan, and has great fondness for it, but refuses to be blind to its flaws.

All the characters--American and Japanese--are skillfuly drawn, many are engaging and two, Hiro Araki and the formidable skating instructor, Madam Goto, are complex, multi-dimensional figures I couldn't get enough of. And Maggie Campbell--well, if I could have an older sister...

This is one beach book I won't mind re-reading!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sports novel and romance all wrapped up into one book, March 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreams of Gold (Mass Market Paperback)

I personally thought this book was very good. At the beginning, it was somewhat boring, but it instantly became magnificent. However, it was somewhat confusing because it went back and forth between settings, so I had to go back and check it. But, the relationship between maggie and hiro was VERY interesting...friends at first, lovers after that. And, the strive to become an Olympic Gold medalist was exhilarating.