The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The second book I read for this quarter was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It is a mystery/suspense novel and takes a lot of thought to read. It is not the kind of book that you can just pick up randomly and dive into. You have to read it straight through as long as you can in order for it to make sense. The thing is, you will not want to put it down. The plot is rather complicated so its hard to summarize. Basically, a very wealthy man dies and leaves his will to 16 "random" people. The will, however, is not ordinary at all. It comes in the form of a puzzle. The 16 heirs are divided into 8 groups and are each given a unique set of clues. Once a group figures out the puzzle, they will inherit the man's 200 million dollar fortune. This competition to solve the puzzle before everyone else makes for a very interesting and complex story. This genre of books is one of my favorites so I really enjoyed the book. I liked how the author kept bringing in pieces of the puzzle as the story moved on. Just when you think the puzzle is solved, some new element comes up and you have to seemingly start all over again. But thats what made the book so captivating. You always wanted to know the next clue. Another aspect I liked about the novel was the way the author individualized each heir. In other words, all the heirs had their own unique characteristic you could label them with. For example, the girl named "Turtle" was a bratty child who always seemed to cause trouble. It seems simple to give each character a different quality, but with 16 different characters, it would be hard to make sure you remembered who each one was. I had no trouble at all with this. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery novel. Again, its very interesting and makes you want to keep reading.

Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

I thought the characters were realistic. Each one had their individual flaws and strengths, just like a normal human being. The one character that might be unrealistic is the "dead" man. This pretty much spoils the whole book. The wealthy man apprently takes on 5 different alter egos that each interacted with the heirs. It seems a little bit of a stretch for one man to take on 5 different roles and not get caught somehow. However, without this rather unrealistic aspect, the story would not have been as good.

What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?

The setting of the book was in modern times. It takes place just outside the city where the estate of the deceased man is. Its during the fall months so it kind of gives you the spooky feeling of Halloween when it talks about an old mansion. One thing that was unique about the setting was the story did not just take place in one location. Events occurred in the mansion, in the apartment complex where all the heirs stayed, and in the city. By doing this, the author kept the story from being stagnant, which helped keep the story interesting.

Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

For this nine weeks, my first book was Summer Ball by Mike Lupica. I chose to read this book because it is the sequel to another book I enjoyed reading, Travel Team, which was also written by Mike Lupica. Basically, the novel is about a teenage boy who goes to a premiere basketball camp over the summer. While there, he meets old rivals as well as new ones who challenge him on and off the court. Through it all, he has to learn not to bring himself down, but to stand strong through adversity. The thing I liked most about this book was that it was written in a personal way. In other words, the main character was not some superhuman that had no real emotions. The author really lets us into the mind of the protagonist and allows the reader to feel how the character is feeling. I also liked the fact the book was not cliche. Most sports books are so repetitive in their plot. It is the same old story. The main character stinks at a sport, he becomes a hero somehow, and leads his team to a championship against the best team out there. Everyone has heard that story and its not interesting after you have read it many times already. Summer Ball is quite the opposite. The main character actually starts out being good at basketball. However, he never becomes a hero. When opportunities come to make himself look good for his stingy coach, he ends up messing up. It does not sound like a very fun book, but its a lot more interesting than the cliche underdog story. There was not really anything I disliked about this novel. It kept me captivated throughout the whole story and I could relate to it a lot because I play basketball myself. I would definitely recommend Summer Ball for any of my friends, especially the ones who play sports.

Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

As I said before, one of the things I liked about this novel was the personalization of the characters. They thought and acted just like any other teenager would. For example, in the book, there is a kid who is just a jerk. The main character cannot stand him because the jerk is always messing with his head. Not only does this affect the main character off the court, it also affects him on the court. With all of this in the back of his mind, he has a hard time concentrating on playing basketball. He starts making a lot of mistakes and he just has to learn to shut out the jerk's taunts. If someone was mouthing off to me, I would react the same way probably. I would start doubting myself and it would affect my normal life. It would be really hard to clear my head and focus on what actually matters.

How do characters or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?

Most of the characters dynamically change over the course of this story. One change I want to focus on is the main character's little friend, Zach. Zach is a short kid who was forced by his parents to come to the camp. Although he is pretty good at basketball, he just does not want to be there. Because of his short stature, he gets picked on a lot. At first, he is just miserable, always doubting his abilities. Eventually, the main character, who is in a similar situation, gives him some encouragement. This causes a big change in Zach's behavior and he starts to gain more self-confidence. He went from being an unsure, angry kid to a confident and content person from the beginning of the book to the end.