Characters matter more to me than plot most of the time, which is why I probably found The Westing Game a disappointment. I thought the book lacked characterization. Superficial characterization abounded: readers learned at least two or three facts per person. But did any one character EVER reach the point of humanity? In my opinion, not really. The characters that probably came closest were Angela (the reluctant bride whose wedding shower was bombed), and Turtle (the one who connected the dots that no one else was even looking for). So this is a plot-driven book, the focus being on sixteen (or so) people working together or against each other as the case may be to solve the mystery of who murdered Sam Westing. There are eight teams of two people each. Each team is given $10,000 and a handful of word-clues. The clues are a mix of letters, words, and numbers. On the one hand, if they work together and share resources, the inheritance might be won. But. If they do that, then the inheritance would be divided up. The book, I admit, has more than enough plot twists. At the end while I wasn't exactly overwhelmed or confused, I was still left saying WHY and HOW?! The book just did not make any sense to me. The rushed epilogue-of-sorts didn't help me make peace with it either.
© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
3 comments:
Becky, thanks for your honest review.
I loved this book back in junior high. I need to reread it to see what I think of it as an adult.
I dunno. I haven't read the book in a ing, long time. But it reminds me of one of my favorite movies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, so it's can't be all bad.
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