Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: May 11, 2010
ISBN: 978-0385736626
Pages: 352
Lester Tripp is rich. He's also a crazy Bridge player and Alton Richard's favorite Uncle. At least that's what Alton's mother always tells him.
Oh yeah, Lester is also blind. So he needs someone to tell him what cards he has and he tells them what cards to play. He hires Alton. Alton's parents hope that this will lead to Lester leaving them his money. The problem is that Lester used to employ another relative.
So yeah, what's Bridge? It's a card game. You know, the one that old people play. The one with about amillion rules. Yeah, that one.
The relationship between Alton and Lester is slowly uncovered as Alton uncovers the mystery in their family. A lot is uncovered during the Bridge plays. Sachar gives detailed descriptions of the play, BUT he marks them with a whale and you can skip to the end of each passage for a brief description. I've read that the whale is a nod to MOBY DICK - which was full of whaling detail that no one cared about.
Even though you think you can't get through a book about a game as boring as Bridge...you're caught up in the story before you know it.
As Uncle Lester would say "Nicely played."
Lol at the last line. Yes, exactly. This was a surprisingly good book. The parents could have been a bit more dimensional... but Alton and Lester were so great it almost didn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the parents were like an afterthought: oh gosh, we need someone to say that, let's toss in some parents!lol
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