Going for Broke

by Melanie Dobson

Book Overview

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,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589190939
• ISBN13: 9781589190931
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: River Oak
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Melanie's best book yet!

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.

Troubling and compelling story

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.

It's so easy to get hooked

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 Book Club Servant Leader www.psalm516.blogspot.com

One addicting story. Pun intended.

Addiction is a difficult thing, and Going for Broke is a fabulous glimpse into the life of a decent person who develops a compulsion to gamble until she no longer recognizes herself. Much like cocaine or heroine, the compulsion will eventually take over and swallow the person whole. The author does a wonderful job of accurately portraying how someone can sink so low and go so far as to being willing to do just about anything for their "fix." The rationalizing thoughts, the desire to be secretive, the withdrawal from friendships and support systems...it's all there. Like one of the endorsers wrote on the back of the book, this story is addicting. I stayed up late and woke up early until I finished. The tension just kept building and building, but not once did Leia become unlikable. Of course the reader will want her to snap out of it, but the author takes you to the place where you develop compassion for Leia, and that's not an easy thing to do. I didn't get the urge to slap Leia. Not once. I had thought about slapping her husband, though, and beating his friend senseless, but you have to read the story to find out why. Overall, I'd say that Going For Broke is the best story I've read about the cravings that addicts have for gambling or any other vice. Gambling destroys lives and dignity and this story brings the reader right to the edge with Leia. What I liked best about the story was the honesty. There were no quick fixes, and while God holds people accountable for their mistakes, He will redeem anything and will meet us where we are if we would only trust in Him and not ourselves. I love edgy stories that illustrate how God even uses the muck in our lives to create something beautiful that will glorify Him. Going for Broke did that, and then some.

Broken in Christ

Going for Broke is another novel by Melanie Dobson that I couldn't put down. Even though I haven't struggled with gambling, sin is an issue we all deal with. To see how Leia is deceived and justifies her sin, is very convicting. This is a fictional novel, but it very well could be my story or the story of any of us. I finished the book with a fresh desire to allow Christ to search my heart and set me free from any sin that entangles me.