I am very surprised with The Cardturner by Louis Sachar. I've read a couple of other books by Louis Sachar, most notably Holes, and loved them, so on that basis alone, I picked up this book. Well, that, and the cover is really pretty.

And then I found out it's a book about bridge. And I'll admit, that put me off for a little while. But then it came up to the time where I either had to read The Cardturner or return it to the library and now I am so glad that I chose to read it!

I adored The Cardturner. Right from the start, I really liked Alton's character. Alton's mother kind of forces this relationship between him and his ageing and rich Uncle Lester in the hopes that their family will be rewarded in his will. And Alton goes along with it all, and eventually ends up as Uncle Lester's (or Trapp as he is mostly known) cardturner at his weekly bridge club. And if you've never played bridge or don't know the rules and the intricacies of how to play bridge, then you will by the end of the novel. Sachar doesn't shy away from explaining things in detail. For people who aren't as intersted in that aspect of the book, you can skip ahead using the symbols that indicate a detailed description is approaching in the book and read a condensed version. Myself, I read every word of it, because I found it all to be fascinating!

Part of the appeal for me, was this relationship between Alton and Trapp. Trapp is kind of moody and gruff and Alton tries so hard to please his uncle. Alton realises what an exceptional person Trapp is and how his memory skill is extraordinary in terms of his bridge game. Trapp is able to remember all of his cards, his partner's cards and all the moves his opponent's played both in current games and in the past. After seeing his uncle play, Alton sees bridge more as a mental sport than a game and does his best to learn more about bridge. Even roping his little sister Leslie (who refreshingly, isn't annoying at all!) and his best friend Cliff, and Trapp's former cardturner, Toni into playing bridge with him. On the way, he uncovers some of his family's and Trapp's history and uncovers a really sweet/sad romance that had been shelved for forty years.

One of my favourite aspect of The Cardturner is this philosophical conversation between Trapp and Alton about how ideas and concepts never die. I thought the way that this idea ties into the story was interestingly done with Toni's mental health and the way in which Trapp and Annabel were connected. But lots of bridge! As a person interested in psychology, I found the limits and capacity of Trapp's memory to be absolutely captivating to read about. But also this transformation of Alton from someone who lets others walk over him into somebody who knows what he wants and goes after it.

A very interesting book, one in which I stayed up very late reading in order to find out how it ends! Don't be put off by the bridge, people!

I really loved it! It was a very unique story that kept me turning pages.

3.5 stars. This is a good book with a teen male protagonist for 7th/8th grade boys. It's got a good mix of humor and heart.

How are we supposed to be partners? He can’t see the cards and I don’t know the rules!

The summer after junior year of high school looks bleak for Alton Richards. His girlfriend has dumped him to hook up with his best friend. He has no money and no job. His parents insist that he drive his great-uncle Lester to his bridge club four times a week and be his cardturner—whatever that means. Alton’s uncle is old, blind, very sick, and very rich.

I read this book years ago and it fascinated me and made me determined to take up bridge. Well I've just re-read it (I've now been playing bridge about 5 years) and enjoyed it even more! As well as the bridge it's a really good story with plenty of laughs and great characters. Highly recommended (although you risk losing your life to a bridge obsession).

It was really easy to read, well written and had a great pace. I thought it could have been more though, there was something that I can't quite put my finger on that I would have liked it to have. But I'm just being nit picky so excuse my ignorance. I really liked all the characters, but I think that was because I actually didn't know that much about them. that's it it needed a little more character development, the ending i know said Alton would stop letting people push him around but a single sentence/paragraph isn't enough after 300 pages of other stuff. overall I liked, probably one of the faster and less intense reads I've had recently.

I'm giving "The Cardturner" 3.5 stars. 3 stars for the actual story and .5 stars for the bridge facts.
When I learned in the beginning that Alton was going to spend time with Uncle Lester just to get his money I thought "Okay, people have hard times I know that" but the lengths his mom went to was drastic and a bit rude. Also, it seemed like they were counting and recieving every last penny Trapp had. I didn't like Cliff whats so ever because it seemed like he was always stealing any potiental girl from Alton. That was the story that I gave 3 stars but I had kind of wanted to know how bridge worked and there were many facts worth learning... and I didn't understand anything that was going on... so okay. It was worth the read and I'm glad to add it to my read shelve.

So, I didn't get the bridge parts, but fortunately, Sachar makes it easy to skip those parts without losing any of the story. And I loved the dysfunctional characters and the bizarre connections that brought them together. A warm, funny story with a bit of magic thrown in.