The Master of The Game

Hey,there... While sitting on my desk, trying to remember things that should be done, it finally reminds me of my 'azam' on year 2010. Well,I targeted to read at least 6 books in this year which I think I may not achieve that target. Since I've been so busy and trying to adapt with my working situation, it took me quite s long time to spend my time on reading. I only read articles from various sources instead of purchasing novels or other books.

The latest book I have read was The Master of the Game written by Sidney Sheldon.

Master of the Game is a novel by Sidney Sheldon, first published in hardback format in 1982. Spanning six generations in the lives of the fictional MacGregor/Blackwell family, the critically-acclaimed novel debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller List. It was later adapted into a 1984 television miniseries. It was a story of four generations families that live with the power of running their business.

The story then moves one hundred years back to the arrival of Jamie MacGregor (1865–1894) in Klipdrift, South Africa in 1883 to seek his fortune. He is soon defrauded by a wealthy Dutch storekeeper, Salomon Van Der Merwe who steals his diamonds, gets him knocked down and leaves him in the desert to die. Jamie is rescued and taken to Capetown by van der Merwe's servant Banda and in his company, Jamie plans his revenge, as does Banda for his younger sister who was killed by Salomon. The two sneak into van der Merwe's heavily guarded diamond mines in the Namib Desert and succeed in stealing a load of diamonds worth a fortune.

Jamie, now rugged and unrecognizable, returns to Klipdrift, cons Salomon into believing him to be a rich businessman and violates his daughter Margaret who gradually falls in love with him. However, when Jamie learns that Margaret is pregnant by him, he refuses to marry her and reveals to Salomon his true identity. The violation of Margaret's chastity becomes the talk of the town and Salomon soon commits suicide, an unhappy man. Jamie, initially, despises Margaret, but when she gives birth to a son, Jamie develops extreme fondness of his son and consents to marrying Margaret for the sake of their young son, Jamie Jr. (1886–1893).

Jamie creates a company called Kruger Brent (named after two guards who were calling each other in the diamond field) and pours all his attention into the business. At one point, after Kruger-Brent takes over the diamond mines, a young American named David Blackwell attempts to rob the mines in exactly the same way as Jamie and Banda did, but is caught by the guards. Jamie, feeling sympathy for Blackwell, gives him a job in the company. Jamie likes his determination and he works his way through the ranks becoming a Kruger-Brent executive.

Kate grows up beautiful, strong-willed and manipulative. Having fallen in love with David Blackwell as a child she is determined to marry him, and thwarts his engagement by buying the company owned by his fiancee's father. After many years of trying Kate becomes pregnant, but when she is seven months pregnant David is killed in a mine accident, causing her to go into premature labor and give birth to a son, Anthony "Tony" Blackwell. Like her father before her Kate pours her life into Kruger Brent, making it a global conglomerate, and she moves to New York. She naturally expects Tony to take over Kruger Brent, but Tony is more interested in becoming an artist. While he clearly has the potential to become a world-famous artist, Kate secretly destroys Tony's career by bribing a notable French critic to give negative comments on Tony's work. Kate manipulates him into marrying Marianne Hoffmann, whose father owns a scientific patent she covets.

Kate takes in her two granddaughters, whom she names Eve and Alexandra, to raise. Eve, having inherited Jamie and Kate's ruthless and cunning, sees Alexandra as an interloper and repeatedly attempts to kill her starting when they are young children, taking advantage of their identical looks. Alexandra is thought to be clumsy and accident-prone as they grow up and Kate clearly favors Eve as the heir apparent to Kruger Brent, but when Eve tries to implicate Alexandra in a sex scandal Kate realizes the truth about Eve and disinherits her, giving her only a small allowance. Enraged, Eve plots revenge against both her sister and grandmother.

The book closes at Kate's ninetieth birthday party with all her relatives present. Robert, now seven, is turning into a talented pianist. Kate sees him as Kruger Brent's heir but Alexandra and Peter laugh her off. Looking around at her family, including Tony, who was released from the institution for the occasion, and a masked Eve, Kate still believes that she acted properly, even though everyone in her family has been negatively affected by her actions.

p?s : buku ni memang best!