The Players by Deborah Pike is an interesting, captivating and thought-provoking story of a group of university students who met in 1993.
Set in Perth, the story follows the relationships they formed and continued over the next ten years. Their stories are about life, dreams, disappointments, friendships, romance, secrets, rivalry, sexuality and personal growth.
The University Dramatic Society is holding its annual general meeting. A group of students attend and become The Players. Felix, an exchange student from Germany with a desire to direct, suggests and offers to direct The Marriage of Figaro.
Veronika has a passion for becoming a famous stage actress and is envious of what she perceives as her sister Ana’s freedom. Sebastian, a law student, joins as he is drawn to Veronika.
Gloria has a wonderful voice and dreams of finding her Father who is missing in Dili. Cassie longs for Sabastian. And, Joshua is added to the cast when they need an extra player. He is a brother to Charlie, a keeper of secrets and has a connection to Veronika’s childhood.
When their rehearsal venue falls through, Veronika offers the use of her family orchard. The group spend a lot of time together as they rehearse and perform. Relationships are formed.
The story continues after the play is performed and follows each character after they leave university behind. They fall in and out of friendships, search for the meaning in their careers, and discover love and heartbreaks.
The book is easy to follow as the chapters are divided into acts.
Each character narrates their own story and you get to know them as they share their feelings, successes and frustrations. Their lives are entwined.
The characters are quite complex and diverse. Some frustrate you and others you empathise with. They sort of become your own friends. You want to know what happens to each of them, and this keeps you reading.
There is so much in this book. It is quite multi-layered and covers just about everything life throws at you that gets in the way of your dreams.
It is Deborah Pike’s debut novel, and I really enjoyed this riveting read. I can’t wait to see what her next book will be.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading The Players by Deborah Pike. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
I did want to finish this book to see what happened to all of the characters, but to be honest, I found it difficult to connect with any of them. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it didn’t. I still appreciate being able to read this, thank you Beauty and Lace.
Thank you for this book reading opportunity.
I found the storyline a little slow to get into it and once I got into reading the book, it was good and interesting, even though it seemed a bit slow and I read it at a slower pace than usual.
The book focuses on relationships in life, some which last for many years, while others are for a period and do not continue.
It was a good read, different to what I’d normally read.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the offer to review The Players by Deborah Pike.
The book is based on relationships throughout the years and how they develop with ebbs and flows.
There is a cast of characters who rehearse and perform. I found the book too slow for me which honestly made me lose interest. As much as I tried I could not really get into it.