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A review by brandypainter
Playing the Cards You're Dealt by Varian Johnson
4.0
Oof. This book is hard to read as an adult. Hard because Johnson did such a great job creating characters you truly feel for, and as an adult, you see where it's all going from a mile away. It hurt. I do love that we have a MG book dealing with familial complications resulting from one member's addictions that focuses on gambling. As it is a rising problem, this book will both help build empathy in young people and show so many of them they are not alone. The relationship between Ant and his brother is so heartwarming, and the friendship complications hit exactly the right note for 5th grade.
It is just shy of being a 5 star book for me because the narration was completely distracting. (This is totally a me problem.) I can't stand being talked to by the narrator. Those slips into second person pull me out of a story everytime, and with this it also highlighted that who is narrating the story is a big secret, which was also distracting me from the story. (I suspected correctly where that was going, and it's not my favorite device. I hate it when author's try to get creative with narrators. Rarely does it work for me as a reader as anything other than a distraction from the narrative itself.)
It is just shy of being a 5 star book for me because the narration was completely distracting. (This is totally a me problem.) I can't stand being talked to by the narrator. Those slips into second person pull me out of a story everytime, and with this it also highlighted that who is narrating the story is a big secret, which was also distracting me from the story. (I suspected correctly where that was going, and it's not my favorite device. I hate it when author's try to get creative with narrators. Rarely does it work for me as a reader as anything other than a distraction from the narrative itself.)