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Mary's Reviews > The Westing Game
The Westing Game
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I don't understand why this book won a Newbery Award. It was confusing and sort of awful. Additionally, for today's reader, it felt extremely dated and had some remarks in it that I would call "un-politically correct."
It all starts with a group of eccentric people of all ages who quickly become involved in a mystery game involving a large inheritance. The person who first solves the mystery wins the inheritance. Clues are given along the way, but I'm not sure whether or not the reader was supposed to be able to solve the mystery. I wouldn't recommend this and I feel bad for kids who have to read it as an assignment.
It all starts with a group of eccentric people of all ages who quickly become involved in a mystery game involving a large inheritance. The person who first solves the mystery wins the inheritance. Clues are given along the way, but I'm not sure whether or not the reader was supposed to be able to solve the mystery. I wouldn't recommend this and I feel bad for kids who have to read it as an assignment.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 3, 2010
–
Finished Reading
July 8, 2010
– Shelved
July 8, 2010
– Shelved as:
children-s
July 8, 2010
– Shelved as:
mystery-crime-fiction
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Carmela
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rated it 1 star
Mar 04, 2014 11:48AM
I did not enjoy this book however I really think you missed a lot of basic parts in it
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Actually I agree with you
didn't enjoy either - the audiobook narrator was very boring and did not do a good range with the voices - story / mystery was not intriguing at all thumbsdown
What wasn't PC in it?
Risks wrote: "What wasn't PC in it?"Sorry, I read this seven years ago and I don't remember which remarks I thought were not PC. Thinking back, I remember the dialog seemed dated, so possibly it was how different groups were described...
Risks--Some of the politically incorrect issues are some very stereotypical views of Chinese characters from the '70s (think: mocked broken English, oversimplified inner monologue, fat Mr. Hoo, prone to thievery...). The worst for me was the treatment of Chris, the teen in a wheelchair. Raskin's descriptions of his thoughts and others' treatments of him was callous. And a clue for me that she wasn't just describing THEIR biased thoughts was when she wrote her narration of Chris (coupled with her slight nastiness towards some of the other characters). The end, when (spoiler!) Theo and Turtle decide not to have kids ever "because of the possibility of inheriting Chris's disease" was just really, really, callous. Painfully so. I LOVE Raskin's genius at weaving the plots, and I also love some of her characters (like Doug and Chris), but yeah, really can't ignore the occasions of cultural--and actually, human rights--awareness. Definitely one of those "huh, those were some of the views in the '70s'" moments...
I can flow with the un PC stuff-it was a different time and the context for any book needs to be considered--it is just for me, the book is just awfully written...
"Theo and Turtle decide not to have kids ever "because of the possibility of inheriting Chris's disease" was just really, really, callous."Concern about potential quality of life issues, oh noes, how "callous".
Regarding the “un-politically correct” content—I think it’s extremely clear throughout the novel that any character who makes any remotely bigoted remark is generally unliked. The remark is usually admonished by other characters or the narration itself. The fact that this novel was written in the 70s actually proves it was ahead of its time. Please read critically before you make such accusations. It may not be your cup of tea, but it shouldn’t be slandered.
in my opinion you missed the concept of the book
I know this is a really old review, but as someone who read this book as a young kid (and reread it multiple times after that), I loved it. I'm not sure I'm the target audience anymore, but at the time it was one of my favorite books. Hopefully some kids who have to read it for school these days feel the same way!
My assigned grandson agrees and accepts your condolences🤣
It was written in the 70s. You shouldn’t expect something written ~50 years ago to be politically correct. Plus, I would argue that this book wasn’t really that politically incorrect.
I had to read this book when I was in fourth grade and loved it. It is better when someone reads it to you so you can write down the clues as you go along.
agreed - it was so very confusing to me and i didn’t understand any of the characters or what was happening
