Braddy Reads The Westing Game

So I've been working my way through a DIFFERENT book for nearly six weeks now. And... it's been a really good read. A really, REALLY good read. Which is why I'm so disheartened that, six weeks later, I'm only about 150 pages in. The protagonist just barely got BORN. And I've got about 400 pages to go.

Thus, this intermission read: Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, a book most of us probably read by the time we finished grade school.

I read this book once before, and I remembered NOTHING about it except the twist at the end - which, since the novel is a MYSTERY, I won't spoil just in case. So while I knew the SOLUTION to the puzzle, I remembered nothing about the clues, the characters, or even what the mystery itself was about. Made reading the book an interesting experience, to say the least.

Oddly enough, I had a bit of a false-start with The Westing Game - I started reading it, got maybe five pages in, and decided I didn't want to finish. The Westing Game is very much a book for children, so the opening doesn't really have the sophistication of a lot of other novels. Or, you know, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a mystery at the time.

Actually, in hindsight, it was probably the latter, because the opening section strikes me as being pretty good. The problem with it, if there is one, is that it takes it's sweet time giving us the RELATABLE characters. Heck, my other book managed to do that on the very first page, and (like I said), the POV character wasn't even a glimmer in his grandfather's eyes at that point.

That said, the characters in this story are really good, and probably the primary draw. Now, The Westing Game is obviously a product of its time, especially when it comes to portrayals of race. There's both a black judge and a Chinese restauranteur, and while both characters are portrayed with their race a very prominent part of their personality, both are shown to be fairly well-rounded.

The character that really impressed me, though, is Chris Theodorakis, a mentally-handicapped young man in a wheelchair. He has great difficulty communicating with the other characters, but his mind is shown to be keen and sharp. It's probably one of the most positive portrayals of a person with a disability I've ever read, and I was almost disappointed when, at the end of the book (*SPOILER*) he gets better.

The biggest failing of The Westing Game is the speed of the story. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, so it's easy to skip over some of the clues or details. I read a page that said that the characters Turtle and Sandy (who didn't know each other before the story began) were good friends, and I had to stop for a minute. I don't remember how they even MET, much less at what point they became best bosoms.

But, you know, I've only got a few nitpicks when it comes to the plot. The Westing Game is a classic, and, like most classics, it has that honor for a reason. The mystery is compelling, the characters enjoyable, and the clues are mostly there from the beginning, so the reader gets to play along. Great use of an intermission read.