Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Westing Game

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

28 reviews

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book is very interesting. I remember reading it and loving it in middle school, which is the target age group for this book.

There are some instances of Xenophobia and Ableism, as well as misogyny, and half of the humor is based on pulling people apart. There's a disabled character who gets better by the end (mostly by choice), and the main character's mother has never loved her.

When I got a specific section on chess, I realized where I'd learned about the Queen's Sacrifice. It was this book.

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poirot's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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crufts's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

WOW! Just wow! This brilliant mystery novel raced along, never wasted a word, and had me applauding at the final page.

Two months after the residents of the Sunset Towers apartment block move in, the mysterious Mr Westing dies and leaves his $200 million fortune to nearly all of them in his will. But to get the money, the heirs-to-be must solve a mystery set up by Westing. It's the titular Westing Game: who murdered the old businessman, and why?

I can't speak highly enough of the writing style. Clear, brisk, and efficient, the 216-page novel has an economy of words that leaves us space to focus on the actual clues of the mystery. As the clock ticks on, the image of the crime and the motivations of each of the characters comes into focus.

The narrative is also very funny in its portraiture of the characters, who are often amusingly self-absorbed:

Thursday was a sunny day, a glorious day; the autumn air was crisp and clear. None of the heirs noticed.

With a whopping sixteen potential heirs in the game (plus a few other minor characters hanging around), the novel accomplishes the impossible: each of these named characters are memorable and distinguishable from eachother. I didn't believe it could be done, and yet Ellen Raskin did it. A technique she used very well for this was to explicitly list out the names of the heirs during the reading of the will. After that point, it's not hard to remember who anyone is.

Any further details would be spoilerific. But if you enjoyed the film Knives Out (or another house-based mystery story), you'll love The Westing Game. Frankly, this ought to be made into a movie as well. Oh man! I can't wait to reread it so I can catch all the details I missed on the first pass.

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twentyventi's review against another edition

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I made it about halfway through this book, having loved the very cheesy TV movie as a kid. I loved the premise and I also was prepared to read a more simplistic mystery targeted towards kids, but it just all started slowly falling apart for me with one-dimensional characters and the writing style so erratic that it bordered on confusing even for an adult. I did not care about a single character.

Also the ableism in the book was incredibly off putting — I realize this book is old and so using outdated terms and attitudes, but it was just incredibly difficult to stomach.

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