Playing Hard
A Life and Death in Games, Sports, and Play
Published on 15. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
198 pages
978-1-77086-777-2 (ISBN)
Description
Playing Hard is a tribute to the power of play in all its forms - a searching personal account of how play, games, and sports sanctify life and give it meaning. In this moving and wide-ranging examination, Peter Unwin reflects on life and relationships through countless acts of play and the many unexpected places it is found.
Through a shared love of games, the author reconnects with his terminally ill father and is exposed to the complexities of his father's past, of his experiences with war and violence, and of a different but equally powerful commitment to a life of play.
From Snakes and Ladders to shooting pool, from an improbable soccer game in the Sahara to first memories of playing baseball under catalpa trees - Peter Unwin examines the irresistible urge to have fun, reminding us that to live is to play, and to play hard is to live well.
Through a shared love of games, the author reconnects with his terminally ill father and is exposed to the complexities of his father's past, of his experiences with war and violence, and of a different but equally powerful commitment to a life of play.
From Snakes and Ladders to shooting pool, from an improbable soccer game in the Sahara to first memories of playing baseball under catalpa trees - Peter Unwin examines the irresistible urge to have fun, reminding us that to live is to play, and to play hard is to live well.
Reviews / Votes
"Playing Hard is a beautifully written collection of personal essays examining family, loss, history and culture viewed through the language of sport - which so often is also the language of men, when conversations around a game are really conversations about everything else." -- Stephen Brunt, author of Facing Ali and Searching for Bobby Orr "Playing Hard is a moving personal document that asserts 'the sportsman's belief that even the very worst things that happen to us in life can be healed by play.' Unwin celebrates sport as a unifying element, underscoring its inherent value across generations and throughout lifetimes. Ultimately, play has the power to buoy and unite us, and, as the collection attests, can act as a means of keeping us and our histories alive." -- Stacey May Fowles * Quill & Quire * "Playing Hard is uniformly excellent." -- Jason Blake * Sport Literature Association * "Intimately personal and yet with a universal resonance, Playing Hard: A Life and Death in Games, Sports, and Play is a simply riveting memoir that also offers thoughtful and thought-provoking insights and commentaries on the role of all manner of sports related competition on his (and our own) life. Absorbing, entertaining, exceptional, original, and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library American Biography/Memoir collections ..." * The Midwest Book Review * "Unwin's short essays reveal a curious mind and strong narrative skills. He revels in the characters from the annals of sport who once were famous but now are obscure." -- J.D.M. Stewart * Literary Review of Canada *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
With flaps
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
231 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77086-777-2 (9781770867772)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Peter Unwin is the author of ten books, as well as essays, short stories, and poems. He has been thrice shortlisted for the ReLit Award and his short story collection Life Without Death was shortlisted for the 2014 Trillium Book Award. His articles, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous journals and magazines. Peter recently completed a PhD in the Humanities at York University.