| ||||||||||||||||||||
Leia Carlisle can't tell anyone her secret.
After a debilitating ski injury, Leia loses her job as an airline pilot and turns to gambling for its empowering adrenaline rush. But the more she gambles, the more Leia thrives on the rush of euphoric wins until her obsession consumes her.
If she doesn't overcome this addiction, the game will destroy her family, her faith—and her life.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Troubling and compelling story,
By P.W. Reader (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Going for Broke: A Novel (Paperback)
On the surface, a typical married couple...both of them pilots, meeting under exciting and compassionate circumstances that instantly draw them to each other. Husband Ethan has their life, most especially their financial life, mapped out to the last detail, anticipating every contingency. And although they have their disagreements, Leia seems happy to accompany her husband on his carefully plotted journey as long as she has her own pleasureable activities of flying planes and being outdoors. Then, just after they buy a house in a Nevada town, Leia sustains a knee injury in a skiing accident. Holed up in her house for months in a new town with no means to continue her physical activities, and only a few friends to be had (some of which are annyoing), and a husband constantly away on business, Leia falls into depression and turns to the easiest form of entertainment Nevada has to offer, only to spiral down into a deepening pit of despair. It starts small, of course, with the encouragement of a friend to try the games, and playing free online with "play money" only, but then gradually worsens over time until one last despicable act finally shows Leia the black soul she really has become by destroying her life and family, both current and potential. But thankfully, she is not without means of redemption.This book does a marvelous job of showing the slow decline of Leia as she gradually develops her addiction over many months, going through the typical phases of a compulsive gambler: winning, losing, desperation, and finally, hopelessness. Leia transforms from a moral, truthful woman to a master at deception very good at hiding her tracks, until one final depressing event beyond her control triggers her brain such that the urge to play is much stronger than her care about anything else, to the point where she resorts to the lowest of measures to feed her addiction any way she can. Kudos to the author for a great job of depicting Leia's thought processes during her addiction, coming up with every flawed excuse in the book as to why what she does is ok...she'll pay it back later, she'll stop after the big win, she only needs to win so much to fix her debt, it's just entertainment, winnings really will help pay the bills, the games are a challenge to be overcome, etc. The book also includes a great epilogue of intriguing questions for discussion (for instance, how much Leia's husband figured into her fall of despair and what he could have done to help), and a small interview transcript.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Going for Broke ~ Reviewed,
By Novel Reviews "www.novelreviews.blogspot.com" (Every City, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Going for Broke: A Novel (Paperback)
This book starts out light hearted and shows an average married couple in the early years. Leia has an accident and is confined to the house for the first time in her life. She is going crazy. What can she do to occupy her time? She starts searching the web. What does she find but a gambling site? What can it hurt? (she tells herself) The site lets her gamble for free. She knows her husband doesn't like gambling; they are Christians. Christians don't gamble. She tells herself it's not gambling because she is not using "real" money.Her husband Ethan is off on business trips and she is stuck home alone in the house with the computer calling to her. She is thrilled that she has won $10,000.00 play money one night. "Oh, how that could help them out if that were real money," she thinks to herself. Maybe she would try it with real money her husband doesn't have to know. It sure would help out since she was out of work for 3 months (the lie - the seductive trap). As I was reading the book I wanted to stop the character from entering the trap. In the authors notes at the end of the book, she states that women succumb to gambling nearly 3 times faster than men. I was surprised to also learn in this story that a gambling "addiction" can take as little as 2 weeks to develop. It is just as bad as using a substance you put into your body. This book was very informative. The characters and their stories were very believable and sometimes tough to read. Nora St.Laurent Life Way Book Club Leader Mall of GA store
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Melanie's best book yet!,
By
This review is from: Going for Broke: A Novel (Paperback)
This is Melanie's best book yet. As I traveled with Leia down her path to destroying her hard-earned nest egg, it felt just like some nightmares I've had. Thankfully the forgiveness and mercy of Christ is shown by the other characters' response to Leia's addiction at the end of the book.Also, any book that throws in a reference to the Duke-North Carolina basketball game (p. 143) automatically gets 5 stars from me.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
