Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon: Book Review

I’ve just put  this book down after turning over its last page. This is the first time  I’ve ever read a Sidney Sheldon and now I partly understand how some people become book-addicts!

Not exaggerating, it feels I’ve just come out of a strange fantasy world of manipulations to reality. Jamie, Margaret, Banda, Kate, David, Tony, Eve, Alexandra, George, John, Peter…….these characters are like known people in my real world now. I marvel  at what a book can do to its readers. And lo, what an author does to his readers!

Jamie - His vigour and sense of righteousnes! Except of what he did to Margaret. His character is all about how a man struggles to lift himself up in the ladder of success after being deceived so badly. I was too sad to have my dinner the day when I went through the pages of his premature death :( May be he should have learnt little of forgiveness.

Margaret - A lovely melancholy!

Kate - Though she does a lot of manipulations, there is something warm about her. Her love for everybody around her – her Dad, Mom, Banda, Tony, grand daughters and most important, David. It was intriguing me as to why the author did not describe much of  the part where she hears the news of David’s death. And as she ages and Eve dominates the story, she is felt less read of.

Tony - If Mr.Sheldon were alive, I would have asked him why he created so much bad luck in a person’s life. I wish at least his paintings were described much more in detail.

And Eve! A combination of Kate and Vander merwe, her great great grand father. She occupies the major part in the second half. She has exactly acquired all the negatives from her ancestors – disloyalty from Vander merwe, unforgiveness from Jamie, flair for power and fame from Kate and added to it were pride, jealousy, hatred, vengeance…..and what not in this beautiful young women! Where did all the tenderness of Margaret, David and Tony go? Obviously to her twin!

Alexandra - Everybody plays tricks in the plot at one point or other except Alexandra. A portrayal of innocence and purity! May be that’s why the author thought of his own wife’s name for this character. And she’s my favourite.

George - Disgusting! It’s terrific for an unmarried girl especially to read what this character does in the story.

It’s just not the plot and the strong characters which remain after completing the book. It has given an understanding of life. An understanding that money, beauty and power does not last forever. An  understanding of how life begins with vitality and comes to a halt of nothingness as we grow old which has been gracefully portrayed in Kate’s life. Amazingly enough, this picture of him reminds me of Kate in  her last days.

Master of the Game – This book, though as old as I am, hasn’t lost its verve. P.B.Shelly’s Ozymandias comes to my mind now “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” How true that human life is short but not his work of art!

Thanks to my friend who forced me to read this book. 450 pages is not less, but don’t miss this book. Keep in mind and read it at least after your retirement.

Book: Master of the Game Author: Sidney Sheldon
This review was originally posted at my personal blog Pages from Serendipity