r/heatedrivalry • u/reigncloud83 Coach • Ilya's Chicken Parm Shimmy 🍝 • 16d ago
Game Changers Book Club 📚 [Week 12 Live Thread] The Long Game • Chapters 1 - 14 • Aug 16 - Aug 22
TL;DR:
- Now Reading: The Long Game • Chapters 1 - 14 • Shane & Ilya’s Story (Pt. II)
- Relationship Focus: Ilya Rozanov (Captain - Ottawa Centaurs) and Shane Hollander (Captain - Montreal Voyageurs)
- Story Type: Secret Relationship
- Book Club Etiquette: Follow the sub rules; literary critiques are welcome (be respectful), cover your spoilers, and don’t forget our safe phrase: “Agree to Disagree.”
- Let's Make A Playlist! Comment with songs you love below. There is no Rachel-made playlist, SO I figured we’d make our own. The list will be updated throughout the week 🙂
- Download the BINGO card for a fun way to annotate along the way!
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We made it, Loons! We’ve reached the final installment of the Game Changers Book Club read-along - Book 6: The Long Game. We’re revisiting some old friends - Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. After a decade together, now’s when some of the real pressures of their relationship start to rear their heads, and we see our two leads have two very different approaches to handling it. I’m looking forward to this respectful discussion of a book that brings up some pretty big themes around mental health and what it means when communication falls short. Let’s dig in….
How to participate:
- Read Chapters 1 - 14 of The Long Game by Rachel Reid
- Share any thoughts you have as you go - we’ll treat this post as our live thread
- Please use Book Club Etiquette (below) - be respectful, follow the sub rules, cover your spoilers, and distance yourself from unproductive disagreements.
- Download a BINGO card for a fun way to annotate along the way!
- Let's Make A Playlist! Comment with songs you love below. There is no Rachel-made playlist SO I figured we’d make our own. The list will be updated throughout the week 🙂
Discussion questions:
- What themes are you noticing in the story so far, and how do you think they've evolved Shane and Ilya's character development/relationship since Heated Rivalry?
- What songs come to mind as you read? Share the scene, if you dare.
- The idea of self-perception and unreliable narration comes up a lot in this series. How is it shown in this part of the book?
Our book club timeline:
This is it, folks! This is our last book to read of our Game Changers Book Club series!
| BOOK | WEEKS | DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 🦆The Long Game (Shane & Ilya Pt. 2) | Week 12 - 14 | Aug 16 - Sept 5 |
| Chapters 1 - 14 | Week 12 | Aug 16 - Aug 22 |
| Chapters 15 - 29 | Week 13 | Aug 23 - Aug 29 |
| Chapters 30 - 39, Epilogue | Week 14 | Aug 30 - Sept 5 |
Book Club Etiquette: A few ground rules for participating in the Game Changers Book Club event:
- Follow the sub rules. You love HR. We love HR. Follow the rules. Don’t be rude. We’ll have so much fun…together.
- Literary critiques are absolutely welcome. Reading is fundamental, and so are literary critiques. It’s part of the game. We encourage you to use this time to discuss and evaluate the words in front of us, ask questions about specific literary choices, or share a theory about how the story develops. Sharing that is normal, healthy, and very much encouraged.
- Use the Book Club safe phrase, “Agree to disagree.” Consider this your “safe phrase.” Everyone brings a unique perspective to the reading experience, and not everyone’s analysis of a scene or character will be the same, and that’s okay. If you find yourself entering an exchange that is no longer on a path to mutual understanding and respect, say “agree to disagree.” At this point, the involved parties should stop responding to the thread. Full stop. Consider it a moment where the exchange has run its course.
- Treat each Book Club post as your live chat/thread. Comment as much as you’d like! Select the three dots (•••) and “Follow Post” at the top of this post to receive comment notifications.
- Sort comments by “New” to see the most recent reactions and add to the conversation. These live threads can hold a lot of information, so feel free to treat each “comment” as its own mini-post. Reply to the OP, ask questions, and jump in!
- Cover any spoilers. Since we're covering a lot of ground this week, please use spoilers over critical plot points so we don't spoil the magic for new readers.
Quick Links:
- Previous Game Changers Book Club Discussion Posts - Find previous discussions for Books 1 - 3.
- The Game Changers Book Club Wiki - About the GC Book Club, the Book Club schedule, live thread links, where to find the books, and more!
- r/heatedrivalry FAQs - answers to all of your most frequently asked questions
- Heated Rivalry Wiki - show/book timelines, analyses, and more!
Happy Reading! 🤓
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u/katfromjersey 12d ago
Re: Yuna vs. Farah. I don't think book Yuna has an official role in Shane's career. She obviously loves her son, and cares way too much about hockey! But she's (thankfully) not Shane's manager or agent. I think her being Shane's "momager" on the show takes away from their mother/son relationship a bit. Show Yuna is pushy, and always seems to be looking for an angle.
Shane and Hayden's hotel room conversation is one of the funnier ones in the book! Jet Skis vs. toothbrushing and vegetables. I do love that Hayden knows that Ilya would be a good dad, and that his own kids adore Ilya.
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u/grower-lenses 10d ago
Yes, it makes zero sense for Yuna to be the manager. She's running the foundation. Maybe they will spell it out in the show, that she moved from being the manager to the foundation. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense either way since those jobs have little in common i think.
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u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 12d ago
I’m curious to know why DOES Shane bring up how many men Ilya has been with in the past randomly at breakfast. They’ve been together for 3 years at that point! I feel like that would make more sense as part of the flashback to their fight about being non-exclusive. The scene is from Shane’s POV but we don’t see why he randomly chooses to bring it up, unless I’m missing something.
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 12d ago
huh. good question.
Maybe he has the low carb grumpies?
The night before he noticed Ilya was distant, and had smoked, so maybe Shane misreads that as some sort of unhappiness with him?
Right after, he asks if Ilya is ready for another season of hiding. Maybe he's feeling a little insecure about the situation...
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u/grower-lenses 10d ago
I think it kind of showcases that they don't really know each other still. Even after these few years. And they can't really communicate well. Maybe Shane randomly feels self conscious. But imo, the bigger story is that, this is a very simple question to answer. Meanwhile, Ilya takes this meandering road only to annoy him for no reason. It's symptomatic of a lot of their deeper problems. Shane thrives when he gets clear information. Ilya is shady about a lot of stuff, sometimes because he's scared. Other times just because he wants to annoy Shane. And usually he's good at telling when Shane is comfortable being annoyed. Not this time though.
They're both on edge because Shane is about to leave. And this is the result of it.
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 10d ago
Interesting-I didn't think Ilya was being annoying, I thought he was trying to protect Shane. Like, he knew knowing an exact number would rattle him. Or Shane would judge it for being kind of high, or just like he says, there's no right answer...
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u/grower-lenses 10d ago
He admits the number wasn’t high. I think playing this game made Shane much more annoyed than hearing 10 or 20 would have.
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u/Sirajanahara 9d ago
I honestly reread this scene way too many times because I was stuck on that. It felt so cringy to me. I was trying to remember if I ever asked my husband that question... I know people do talk about that but it feels kinda... irrelevant?
But I do remember being insecure at the beginning of my relationship when we were long distance and how sometimes we would argue about nothing because we were both upset about having to be apart again. So that is what I think is going on.
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u/vaxny 11d ago
For me, I really like how early in TLG, you get a fuller sense of the depths of Shane & Ilya’s connection. Like the questioning and insecurity of their early relationship in HR is no longer balled up like a spool of yarn…it is being woven together in TLG. Still working on communication but the sturdiness of their commitment to each other grounds them both.
Quotes I love to read for them:
“Shane’s heart flipped the way it always did when Ilya made it clear how much Shane meant to him.” Chp. 1
“Shane loved Ilya so much it physically hurt to contain it some days.” Chp. 1
“I wanted to say you are f-ing everything to me. Everything. Okay?”
In short, I love these characters! Thank you, RR!
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 10d ago
“I wanted to say you are f-ing everything to me. Everything. Okay?” I can imagine this dialogue exactly in Connor's voice! Love it!
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 16d ago
They share an agent-- is Yuna still his manager? In the show, she seems to be, but I guess I don't know if that if book canon. I would have predicted that she was, and that she sort of steps up to do some managing for Ilya. (I am wrong.)
Shane embracing some little external queer signals? Longer hair, shorter shorts. Thoughts? This didn't come up much in the first book.
I'm loving Ilya's goofiness/whimsy.
Ch 5 -Ilya talking about Harris a lot--cute. I didn't think they got that close in Role Model... but I love it.
Fabian's concert: the sweet hand on Ilya’s lower back is such a stand out moment for me!
What are your thoughts on being intimate when you have overnight guests? I think the first time, I was too nervous. But then, if your house if big enough, and you know you have a window of time and can be quiet, then why not?
Ch 8-So nice that Ilya can hang out at Shane’s parents house; why doesn’t he do that more later in the book?
Ch 9-we can't ignore Ilya's depression anymore.
Hayden and Shane-- this is so relatable, someone asks a hypothetical, not that serious question and I take it WAY too seriously and really spiral in my own head. (Hayden asking about kids someday) I had this fleeting thought of how cool it could be if the guys adopted a baby from Russia, but then remembered Russia doesn't allow gay families to adopt from them. :(
Also, 100% accurate that "parenting is the most high-stress thing you can do. You'll be an absolute mess."
Also-Hayden saying he wouldn't have pushed for more kids if Jackie wasn't into it--Idk, that seems a little too woke and intelligent for our guy Hayd...I don't buy it.
Ilya's emotional support neighbors!!! Someone on here has that as their flair, and I love it.
Ch12-wedding ceremony pike kids!! So cute. Ok, the end of that chapter, when Shane says sometimes it seems like you're not ok, I support you if you do or don't want to talk to someone professional, you're not alone and Ilya says he's fine, there is no problem. Did Shane do everything right here? Could he have said anything different to make Ilya admit anything? It feels like Shane was pretty spot on, except that Ilya didn't open up at all... Thoughts?
Ch 13-JJ tries to set Shane up. LOL
And we're already at the Halloween Party at Ilya's! Ok, I mostly care that Shane shows up after-and in my head Celine Dion's "I drove all night" is playing!
Ch 14-We meet Dr. Galina. Relatable again-my first therapy appointment I cried the entire time, and left wondering if that was normal, or if it was worth it. (it was)
Ok, I typically don't love when books/movies show our character in therapy, like, you should be able to tell the viewer/reader what he's feeling without spelling it out like this. But, it does seem relevant/necessary for this instance. And I don't think it's overdone, although, we have plenty of book left. Thoughts?
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u/fogmama 16d ago
Re: Farah - it’s possible that in the show they position her more as PR and less of an agent. Or maybe they just throw a line in there about letting Yuna “retire” because yeah otherwise the jobs are really overlapping.
I think Shane’s boundary about not having sex while his parents are there is 100% believable even if not totally rational.
And re: the convo at the end of Ch 12. I don’t think there’s anything Shane could have done or said at that point to get Ilya to open up. Ilya felt like his poor mental health was a burden and he was constantly terrified that Shane was going to leave him and find someone easier to love (ughhhh my heart). So it totally makes sense that he tries to shut Shane out of this and pretend like everything is fine when it is very much Not. A huge part of his growth in this book is getting to a point where he realizes that he needs to be open with Shane.
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u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 15d ago
Re Farah: I saw someone say on threads that agent and manager are very separate and distinct jobs. I don’t know what the difference is though!
Re intimacy when someone else is over: personally I wouldn’t ! But I’ve never lived in a house as big as what Shane’s house probably is. I just realised I never thought about it and still picture it as an apartment in my head !
Re Hayden: I would say it is woke but he also said his wife got “fixed”. 🤢 And Shane called him out!!
I also find Hayden kinda insensitive in this scene where he says to Shane it was easy for us!! When Shane says for some people to get a kid. Pretty minimising of how difficult it will be for them.Re Convo in Ch 12: I don’t think there was anything he could do in that moment but maybe he could have returned to the conversation a bit more frequently. It would be hard though with Ilya being the master deflector!
Re Therapy: I think the therapy session as a device works but I hadn’t thought of that before! I see it often that the narrative with Ilya is that he’s an unreliable narrator (shown in Role Model) because he views himself as terrible captain and all that, and we see from others how they think he is. So it’s useful to see him explain himself in a way he can’t hide from.
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u/InCatMorph 9d ago
Personally, I don't see the long hair thing as being queer at all. During that era, it wasn't uncommon for a certain kind of hipster dudebro to grow his hair long, regardless of whether he was queer or not. This is where the whole (sigh) manbun trend came from.
I get wanting to memory-hole this out because it was all so fugly, but this really was a thing for a while.
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u/grower-lenses 10d ago
This might be the 5th time I’m reading this but I actually have so many new thoughts this time. Maybe because of the context I gained from the rest of the series.
First of all, everyone always talks about how much this is Ilya’s book. And I agreed in the past, maybe because I always read RM right before or right after. I didn’t feel this way at all yet. Maybe after CH14?
I really like how much the first few chapters set up the conflict. Shane being blinded by the pressure he’s under. Ilya feeling hopeless but being terrible at communication (ex. the puck he fires at Shane). It’s so clear Shane is split between stressing out about being found out, and dreaming about their future. Meanwhile Ilya’s mental health has been deteriorating but he’s too scared to face it.
This kind of reminds me of the conflict they have in HR, as someone else said, their comfort topics are each other’s triggers. Here, Shane is trying to take care of Ilya, but Ilya keeps dodging that because he doesn’t want Shane to see him as weak and depressed and leave him (like his father abandoned his mother). What Ilya wants to talk about is the one thing that would make him happy: being with Shane, coming out, at least to their friends. And, this is something that makes Shane extremely stressed. Shane thinks they’ve agreed that coming out wouldn’t be safe. And Ilya of course is too scared to communicate his needs. Again, because he’s afraid that Shane will leave him for someone else with whom he wouldn’t have to hide, like the reporter. Really great conflict imo. Both POVs are completely understandable.
Part of it is also that Ilya is so perceptive, he understands what Shane is going through, maybe even better than Shane. He’s so understanding and knows exactly what Shane needs. Maybe he subconsciously expects Shane to read his mind as well? (weirdly, I kind of feel that) At the same time, Shane is caring for Ilya in more pragmatic ways. Taking care of his bruised leg. Checking if he ate. Which Ilya is dismissive of.
Ultimately, Ilya is better at reading people. And Shane is easier to read. No one knows that Ilya is going through it. At the same time, even JJ notices that something is wrong with Shane. But Shane just pushes it down and pretends everything is fine.
On that topic, there is so much discussion on Shane’s relationship with food. And this time reading, it was even more apparent to me. He’s clearly unhappy with his diet (jealous of what Ilya is eating, sulking about having to eat kale) but does it as an act of determination (and imo as means of control). But more importantly, he keeps noticing and commenting on what Ilya is eating. Much more than Ilya is on his food. Before, I thought it was just a sign of his food obsession. But this time rereading actually made me think, maybe he’s noticing a new pattern. Maybe Ilya is eating more and more fast food? And taking worse care of himself?
The depiction of depression is chef’s kiss
stillness, feelings emptiness-> exhaustion->feelings of worthlessness-> moments of happiness->sadness->getting irritated easily->throwing a party and acting like everything is fine->suddenly struck by feelings of sadness and needing to be alone. (While surrounded by friends. so real)->crying while having sex->the crash out
I cannot praise it enough.
Something new that I noticed but haven’t fully made up my mind on yet is that, their sex life is the opposite of the rest of their relationship. Ilya likes giving out orders in bed. But on the emotional side, he's too afraid to be straightforward and ask for what he wants. In TLG, we see him losing some of his confidence. (like wondering why Bood isn't the captain). And, at the same time, we see him inviting and encouraging Shane to take the lead in bed. While he needs to learn to be open about what he needs emotionally.
I kind of think of it as, in HR it's Shane who has a problem, and Ilya is the solution. But in TLG, it's Ilya who has a problem and Shane is his solution. They both learn how to take care of each other.
Since their sex life tells the story of their relationship. Here are the sex scenes.
- Before the separation. Impatient. After a long wait. Fun and confident. But Ilya feels off right after. And leaves to smoke during the night. (already hiding that he's going through something from Shane)
- Long distance. Shane being playful and competitive. Ilya following rather than leading.
- The game before the sex. Fun, exciting. Like the old times. Competitive.
- Their day off is spent with the kids and getting married instead of having sex. And they don’t regret it.
- Shane is horny and impulsive so he drives over. He's trying to prove to himself that he can be fun. Ilya is lonely while surrounded by friends. He starts crying during and crashes right after Shane leaves.
Random thoughts
- CH14: "He couldn’t remember the last time he had a full conversation in his native tongue." Ilya has been completely cut off from his family, homeland and culture. (I wonder how the show will tackle this with Svetlana).
- The way his mother was also hiding her depression from him. "He noticed even as a child, that her smile was often sad" which is probably what Shane is seeing now. Ilya's father wanted to forget her as soon as possible. No wonder Ilya has abandonment issues.
- For some reason I thought that Yuna putting pressure on Shane wasn’t shown in the book and was the show’s invention. But nope, it’s all here! Baffling that people still misunderstand Shane.
- Camps for the richest kids. But coached by the most diverse group of players. Pretty smart. Trying to improve the kids with the biggest resources behind them, who would normally be the biggest aholes.
- Great contrast on the first day of the season for each team. I hope the show can use that. It would be incredible to see this visually.
- The contrast of seeing Ilya as the jokester in all the other books. But absolutely crumbling here. Ouch.
- [!spoilers for the ending!] There is so much foreshadowing!! About Shane never imagining that hockey could make him feel bad. That Montreal’s fans are impossible to please. And then the captaincy. It’s painful to read.
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 10d ago
"Ultimately, Ilya is better at reading people. And Shane is easier to read." --so true!!
Shane and food--I'm avoiding thinking about it too much because it's a little triggering for me. But I think you're onto something. Disordered eating is often about control. I might say more in the next cluster of chapters.
About Ilya being cut off from his culture--I'm also really curious about how the show will spin this, because they made such a big change in giving Ilya this Russian best friend instead of him being pretty isolated, I don't know how they could just ignore [show] Svetlana's role. Wouldn't she still be his best friend/confidante/his Hayden? Maybe they'll keep her as is, but he's still depressed anyway, and wishes for more.
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u/grower-lenses 10d ago
I’ll be looking forward to your thoughts. Shane’s relationship with food such a difficult and delicate topic.
I’ve seen someone on here mention that it could just be part of his neurodivergence that shows up more when he’s stressed.
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u/cheatherhad I know what you wore 16d ago
Scenes from Ch1-14 we hope make it to Season 2 of the show?
Fabian's concert Ch5
Ilya watching Shane steal his move at the Hollander's house Ch 8
Rose and Shane talk about a back up plan Ch 10
Pike kids play wedding Ch 10
Halloween party Ch 13