The Cardturner

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar was surprisingly absorbing. The premise of the book is that 17-year-old Alton is recruited to turn playing cards three times a week at a bridge club for his great-uncle, who is blind. Bridge is a card game similar to Hearts, but a lot more complicated. I'm not very interested in bridge, so I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this book. However, from the first few pages, I was hooked. The book is in 1st person, so we can see all the thoughts in Alton's head as he also struggles with the manipulations of his best friend, the difficulty with girls, his father losing his job, and a little sister who isn't totally annoying.

There are a few other elements to the book I won't get into because it would ruin the story, but suffice it to say, I highly recommend this book. I think that it's appropriate for anyone in grades 9-12. It's well-written and funny, and even though I've never had any desire to play bridge, after reading the book, I thought that it might be kind of fun.