72. The Cardturner - Louis Sachar

A Novel About a King, a Queen, and a Joker
Delacorte Press, 2010
$17.99
for: YA and adults who understand (even just a little) the game of bridge
337 pgs. (okay, ok, I only skimmed the last pages, the in-depth bridge descriptions...)
Rating: 5

I giggled my way through this story. I love the way Sachar creates characters...some with no surprises, some with lots of little surprises that keep edging in and making you smile, making you like them more (or less) or understand them better, or wish you knew them yourself...

Our protagonist, Alton. A 17 year old who pretty much lets people walk all over him, but has the ability to keep his mouth shut even when he could come up with a snappy retort. Sometimes it's better to be that guy. He likes and respects his 11 year old sister. Wow. He knows his parents are full of it, but he just silently rolls his eyes. He's smart, but doesn't let many people see that he is.

His uncle, Trapp, the grumpy, blind-from-diabetes, millionaire bridge player. He doesn't say much, but he packs a punch. He is insightful except for when it comes to Alton (but he makes us wonder, all along, if he's pulling the wool over our eyes about that, too.) He's a good man, with lots of love and caring that he doesn't show in "normal" ways. He's a brilliant card player. I love when he talks about the urge to communicate, "Why do you think people gossip so much? Why can't we keep secrets? Why have we invented the printing press, the telephone, the Internet? It's so ideas can grow and reproduce. Our bodies, our brains, are just machines that ideas use for a while, then toss aside when they wear out."

Toni. Toni Castaneda. Close family friend of Trapp. New friend and card partner for Alton. She carries a secret....and becomes the only one with whom Alton can confide about some pretty weird stuff.

Bridge. As in the card game. Duplicate bridge, to be precise. Who would have ever thought that a book about teenagers playing a game that Sachar portrays as mainly played by senior citizens would be so entertaining? So interesting? So ....well.... magical almost. I don't play bridge, though I played lots of whist and hearts in college a zillion years ago. Therefore, I had a bit of an idea about trumps and four players. The bidding, the intricacies, were all new. I got it, though, except what I decided NOT to get...some of the bidding, for example. My big questions: Will Young Adults Like All The Details? Some will, for sure. But most? I can't wait to find out.

The plot moves along quickly. What Sachar introduces in the last quarter of the book is magical, special, and fun, fun, fun. I won't spoil it here, but I've got to say I loved this and couldn't wait for every fifteen minutes I could stick my nose into the book.

Written in the first person, on p. 310 Alton says, "Since you've stuck with me this long, you know I don't do a lot of long descriptive paragraphs. I don't use many similes or metaphors. "A screaming lightning bolt of pain" is the only one that come immediately to mind....." Sachar writes this so that you really get to know this kid - and want to know him more!

I've rambled, I've rambled, not good. I'd better end, And what have I really said?

Louis Sachar's website is here.
GreenBeanTeenQueen writes a review that actually tells about the story and gives more information than I'm able to in my current reflective mood.
Presenting Lenore gives some great quotes from the book and some interesting comparisons to other books.
And Sherry at Semicolon sums it all up quite nicely (and don't you feel you MUST read a blog whose subtitle is Books We Must Have Though We Lack Bread ??)