Running is Eric Roberts' life. He lives, breathes, and works to run. A star athlete, Eric has difficulty with the fact that he can't beat Trey Allison, the only runner who has ever beat him. When a tragic accident occurs that Eric inadvertantly causes, he's forced to reassess his goals in life and his obsessions in a difficult way. To overcome his self-doubts and find the courage within, he'll need the help of his good friend, Mary and much more. Will he succeed?

A touching, inspirational story. The 70's dialect was hard to follow at first, but the story was worth the read. The characters seem fairly well-developed. Runners and fans of inspirational ficion would enjoy reading thing. ( )

Agony Hill
By Roger Saltsman

This e-book was received from the LibraryThing Member Giveaway program in exchange for a review.

The book opens with two runners pushing each other up a hill that is very difficult on New Year’s Day. As a runner myself, the author hits all the emotions that runners feel when they are one with their bodies.

Eric, our protagonist is very self centered and believes his is the best runner and deserves to win every time. His behavior is cocky and sometimes has total disregard for other competitors. Eric’s goals are changed by a tragic accident that he inadvertently causes.

As he comes of age he learns the value of friendship, what really makes up a person and how to exist in the world. The story line takes us through this process.

I would recommend this book it to anyone who wanted to read a genuine inspirational story about how to push yourself to live your life to your full potential. ( )

This is an interesting story about Eric, a runner in the late 70s - early 80s. It begins with Eric and his friends being teenagers, involed in running, the track team, and various teen issues. It contained a bit of sadness and drama, overcoming obstacles, and even a love story.

While I enjoyed the book for the most part, I found it a bit confusing at first. It takes a few pages to really get into it.

One thing I found really distracting and kind-of annoying was the dialogue. I found the dialogue to be very formal. Teenagers really don't speak in proper grammar with such formality (e.g.: saying "I do not want to" instead of "I don't want to").

Other than that, I really enjoyed this book. ( )

The book starts out with two friends going out on new year's day, and running a dificult trail. The boy is consumbed with jealusy, becasue a boy he thougth was less talented then him, had beat him, and he wanted to change that.
Its a a coming of age story, and the perspective can and does change a lot.
I really enjoyed it, even if I don't like running, myself.
I can understand where the characters are coming from a bit, since i'll be there in 2 years, but it being based for the first bit, in the 70's was a bit hard for me, since that was 20 years before i was born, but i would recomend it to people. ( )

The novel Agony Hill gets its name from an eponymous trail featured in the book, a hill whose runners generally tend to be masochistic. It is here we meet Eric, a runner.

Eric is cocky, self-assured, handsome (and well aware of it), and has a wild side. He tends to lack respect for people who aren't as good as him, and loathe those who are better than him. But when a traumatic accident strikes his senior year of high school, any prospects of an athletic scholarship flutters away, like leaves in the wind.

Agony Hill is definitely a coming-of-age story in which the protagonist learns several valuable life lessons, and strives for a goal many believe to be unattainable. It's the kind of story where you roll your eyes when Eric does something stupid, and cheer him on when he gets something right. You see the path he must run, and want to see him finish running it.

The story is a pretty solid story. The characters are believable, and they all undergo changes, and for the most part, become better.

The book, however, is not free of any flaws. One major distraction was the dialogue. At times, the things the characters said seemed unreal. You know? Real people don't talk like that. They may have talked like that in the late '70's and early '80's, I'll admit. I wasn't paying enough attention back then to notice. Likewise, the dialogue was choppy, as it tended to abscond from contractions, giving teenage informal chit-chat a feeling of extreme formality.

The other problem I had with an otherwise good story was the fact that the author would usually tell you how the characters were feeling, even when such was obvious from their dialogue. Likewise, the continual jumping back and forth into characters' heads can get distracting.

But don't get me wrong: Agony Hill is not unreadable. So, if you're looking for an inspirational story that will appeal to runners, walkers, and sitters alike, and you have no problem with the aforementioned flaws, then you'll probably find that Agony Hill, while somewhat bumpy, is still an easy downhill jog. ( )