stephmiller615 's review for:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

3.0

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I had never heard of this book before seeing it mentioned several times recently. A few people have said that it was their favorite childhood book, so I thought it might be fun to read with my son. We enjoyed the mystery aspect as well as the character and plot development (lots of twists and turns and red herrings), however, it was very poorly written and used extremely outdated language involving many stereotypes. The writing was clunky and difficult to read aloud at times due to missing transitions. Overall, it was a fun story, but I would only recommend it for children if read with an adult so you can help identify problematic themes and language along the way and follow it up with a conversation about outdated literature.