The Cardturner is the story of Alton Richards, who is forced to drive his blind, dying uncle Lester Trapp to bridge games, and then act as his 'cardturner'. This means he plays the cards that Trapp asks him to play. Trapp believes Alton has no idea how to play bridge, but secretly Alton learns with the help of Toni, a girl whose grandmother shared an interesting past with Trapp. As Alton learns how to play bridge, he also learns more and more about Toni and about the secrets in Trapp's past. The book takes a slightly supernatural turn towards the end, which is an unprecedented and slightly weird twist.
The characters in this book are the highlight. Trapp, in particularly, is a vivid and fascinating character and although he is not the narrator of the book the whole plot revolves around him. Alton is a fairly boring character comparatively, but Toni is very interesting and there are a host of bridge players and other family members as well.
The main problem with this book is the fact that it is filled with bridge terminology and long accounts of bridge games. While there are frequently very detailed explanations of how different bridge techniques work these are quite boring and very, very complicated. I found myself skipping these sections, but then having trouble understanding later sections of the book.
The supernatural twist is also fairly bizarre and unexpected, but Sachar pulls it off quite well. The book has a good mix of humour and seriousness and is overall a well-crafted, if not slightly complicated concept.
Butterflies: 6.5 out of 10
Recommended for: patient people over 13 who will be able to stick with a book that they may not always understand. Or bridge players, I guess.
Warnings: boring bridge chapters, but no sex, swearing or drugs.
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