Bloomsbury The Cardturner

Louis Sachar surprises the reader with every book. This one gives a fascinating glimpse into playing bridge but as usual the Sachar humour is there. The boy is encouraged by his parents to be polite to his wealthy uncle - 'tell him he is your favourite uncle' but the uncle shows absolutely no interest in his nephew until he needs a 'cardturner' to enable him to play bridge after he loses his sight. Louis Sachar offers the reader the chance to actually understand the rules of bridge or alternatively he allows you to skip over the technical bits with a warning symbol. The boy gradually learns to love and respect his uncle's skill in bridge and secretly masters the rules with the help of his little sister and we experience him growing up and escaping from his lonely life with rather obtuse and insensitive parents. His uncle never shows him any affection and only needs him to pursue his bridge career, but this is not quite the whole story. Towards the end of the novel there is a long quote from John Steinbeck's 'Cannery Row' and I went straight to the library to borrow a copy of that book and in a way that quote sums up the essence of Sachar's message in The Cardturner.

A rich, mysterious, cantankerous uncle. A hint about cards. Was I the only reader who, forgetting the blurb on Amazon, briefly thought I was about to read a book about a magician (stage or otherwise)?But nope, this is a book about the card game Bridge. It also has a story - a very neat and nice story about a teenager and the uncle he is meant to endear himself to for the inheritance. But primarily, this is a book trying to get young people interested in the idea of Bridge.Well, I thought a lot of the Bridge stuff went way above my head. It's a bit like the latter chapters of Cory Doctorow's  Little Brother  in that regard: you sort of feel you've been learning and understanding a lot, some of it quite complicated to envision in your head, and then it just breaks through the threshold of "I can follow this" and into the territory of "I'm a bit lost, but carried along by the story".There are various questions that formed in my mind (how much dialogue can there really be, in the bidding process - it only goes through two or three iterations in all the examples in this novel, so hardly enough to make meaningful communication possible! And how can it be rewarding to play a turn based strategic battle game that can only last through 13 turns? Etc.) - but there is enough excitement in the story, and a sense of the panache involved in some of the Bridge manoeuvres, that I really enjoyed the novel.OK, so like  Holes (the other Louis Sachar novel I've read), there seems to be a bit too much affection for neatness. Holes had various back stories that all tidy up nicely in a way that makes the novel feel like destiny. The cardturner allows itself a rather large dollop of creative freedom in its interpretation of schizophrenia / ghosts...But it's a beautiful novel, nonetheless. It's for young people, but I loved reading it, even if I felt that the story was a little too neat and cute for its own good. (That said, there were some jolts that I felt quite acutely as a reader, moments when the story had big impact in not entirely the expected way).One flaw were the asides to the reader - each time the author writes something like "if I were a better writer, I'd have..." or otherwise acknowledges the writer / reader interface, I feel a little annoyed.Still, I'd recommend this book. It's a cracking read. Little BrotherHoles

Looking for a book as a gift I picked up the Cardturner and read it in one sitting. I really liked it. Unusual, both unexpected and attractive which may seem an odd word for a book. Even knowing nothing about bridge I was on the edge of my seat. I also read there is a boy in the girls' bathroom which was oddly satisfying - love Louis Sachar's originality!Obviously I had to buy the cardturner a second time for the gift...

Condition was excellent if someone has read this they must have worn rubber gloves, it looks new.Prompt service and a good price, my son is delighted.He hasn't started reading this yet but he is working through Holes, and the Camp Guide by the same author. Its a struggle to get him to read fiction novels but he can't wait to get reading any of these Louis Sachar books.Language and sublect are enough not to patronise him and they all seem to be real page turners.

As with all of Louis Sachar's books, this is excellent. Thought provoking, humorous, serious and light hearted at the same time. I couldn't help liking the main characters while understanding their flaws and weaknesses, which I found engaging and fascinating. Can't wait to read more by Sachar!