The Cardturner, A novel about a King, A Queen, and a Joker
Author: Louis Sachar
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date of Publication: 2010
Available at TK Community Library
Reviewed by Gerald Stein
Imagine that you have just finished your junior year in a small high school. Imagine that it is the beginning of summer vacation. Imagine that you do not have a job, nor do you have much interest in going out and getting one. Imagine that you have an Uncle Lester who is blind and very rich. Imagine that your parents want you to be especially nice to Uncle Lester. Imagine that your parents want you to work for Uncle Lester during the summer as his cardturner, whatever that means. Imagine that your name is Alton Richards, and imagine that most of your teachers mix up your name as well. You have the basic ingredients for Louis Sachar’s summer hit, The Cardturner.
Seventeen year-old Alton reluctantly talks to his Uncle Lester one day shortly after school is out for the summer. With no job and no prospect for one, Alton hears his uncle’s voice in one ear, and his mother’s voice in the other, “Alton, tell him he is your favorite uncle!” she hisses. Alton ignores her as usual. His uncle Lester sounds sick, gruff, old, and Alton knows that he is blind as well. “Do you know how to play bridge?” Uncle Lester asks over the phone. “No,” Alton answers truthfully. “Good,” comes from the phone line. “I want you to be my cardturner at the bridge club four days a week.” The phone line goes dead.
From here on, Alton is pulled into the addicting world of bridge cards, tournaments, matches, and competitions. He learns the basics of bridge playing, not by being taught by his uncle, (Uncle Lester couldn’t be bothered!) but by merely observing the cards and playing the cards as his uncle calls for them. With 52 cards out, Alton soon learns that his uncle has a phenomenal memory, recalling all of the cards in his own hand after Alton has listed them for him in a quiet part of the club room as well as the other three hands of the other three bridge players at his table. Soon Alton is caught up in the game of bridge, a game that rivals Euchre, Poker, Crazy Eights, War, and Go Fish all put together. Alton first begins to try and learn the game on his own; then with the help of his bright 11-year old sister, and finally with a strange young lady who used to be Uncle Lester’s cardturner but who was fired for unknown reasons.
Author Louis Sachar, an avid bridge player himself, has written a witty, insightful novel for the young and the young-at-heart about the self-discovery that happens every so often in a person’s life. Sprinkled throughout the narrative, Sachar gives the reader an easy-to-understand grounding in the art of bridge playing with definitions, games, strategies, failures, and successes. Before long, you are caught up in the tale, wondering how Alton will take his new-found knowledge and apply it to his life. The novel is compelling, entertaining, and worthwhile. Readers who play cards will especially be interested in learning about this challenging new-to-them game. For those who have never played cards, The Cardturner will turn you into a 7 No Trump Bidder in no time.
The End
(Gerald Stein is a TKHS retired English teacher who, with his favorite partner Regina, plays bridge and teaches Beginning bridge classes wherever there are willing students. He and his wife Regina reside in Middleville. Their oldest grandson, six-year old Evan, knows how to do dummy play in the exciting world of bridge.)
Visit my bridge blog: http://betterbridgeinbarrycountymichigan.blogspot.com
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