Oh my lord, I loved how the book revolves around a card game. Trapp’s inclusion in the game definitely added to it however, it lost its sparkle after he died.

Overall, I hated the relationship between Toni and Alton on a romantic level. It just felt weird once they had Annabel and Trapp “talking” to them during the national game.

The whale symbol and summary inclusion definitely saved me from DNFing the book as Bridge talk would certainly bored me ( )

This is a teen book about Bridge. The card game Bridge. I feel like it's the kind of book that adults are going to LURVE because 1) it's Louis Sachar and 2) insight-multigenerational-personal-growth blah blah etc but has almost zero teen appeal. I mean, zero.

That said, I liked it. The main character was likeable (although his mother? sheesh, she was horrific. like, almost cartoonishly awful.) and the relationship between Alton and his Uncle was lovely and well developed.

A fast read, and it made me want to learn Bridge (which I will not actually do because it's insanely complex). ( )

I guess it isn't possible to make bridge exciting*, although Mr. Sachar really gave it the ol' college try. The non-bridge playing parts were enough to keep me interested though, with some really charmingly real characters.

*Although I have to wonder: if the narrator hadn't repeatedly told me how boring it was, would I have found it as boring? ( )

Alton’s parents urge him to warm up to wealthy, blind, cantankerous Uncle Lester. Alton is soon hired to turn Lester’s cards during bridge games. Exquisite writing delights as readers learn the strategies of the game.

An unassuming young adult novel that I simply adored. It wasn't fraught with teenage angst, rather it focused on the lives of a group of people who are affected by the card game bridge. I liked it far more than I imagined I would. ( )