Game Changers - Books

The summer after junior year of high school looks bleak for Alton Richards. His girlfriend has dumped him, he has no money and no job, and his parents insist that he drive his great-uncle Lester, who is old, blind, very sick, and very rich, to his bridge club four times a week and be his cardturner.

But Alton's parents aren't the only ones trying to worm their way into Lester Trapp's good graces. There is Trapp's longtime housekeeper, his alluring young nurse, and the crazy Castaneda family.

Alton soon finds himself intrigued by his uncle, by the game of bridge, and especially by the pretty and shy Toni Castaneda, as he struggles to figure out what it all means, and ultimately to figure out the meaning of his own life.

For someone he rarely saw or spoke to, Alton's (yes, that's really his name) uncle Lester features rather a lot in his life. His uncle is very rich, you see, and Alton's parents are desperate to stake a claim on that inheritance. Uncle Lester is bound to die any day now, after all. Trouble is, uncle Lester doesn't seem to think much of them, much preferring his ex-wife's sister's daughter Sophie and granddaughter Toni. Go figure.

Uncle Lester is obsessed with bridge, but quite blind. He needs someone — his cardturner — to tell him what cards he's holding and play the cards he instructs them to play and Alton's parents are in luck: Toni's bungled her role as cardturner by asking the wrong question at the wrong time and Alton's in!

Alton doesn't know anything about bridge, but he senses very quickly that his uncle is a genius at it: Alton only has to tell him his cards once and uncle Lester not only remembers them all, but instructs him to play exactly the right card at the right time. And as Alton watches his uncle play, he can't help but become curious about the game — and start to appreciate his uncle beyond his parents' single-minded desperation for money.

In some ways, it's hard to explain on why I love this book so much. To say it's written straightforwardly would not do credit to the great work of the author in channelling the voice of a teenage boy adrift and uncertain of where they really fit gradually recognising his parents' lack of empathy and judgemental attitudes towards his uncle by actually spending time with him, but it also isn't the sort of book that you admire the beauty of the prose and vivid pictures the author paints. The heart of this story is more in watching the relationship between these two people develop into genuine understanding and affection, and seeing the wrongs of the past righted.

By the way, you don't need to know anything about bridge to read or enjoy this book. The author marks the sections that are very bridge heavy clearly and explicitly says that there is no requirement to read them. (I do because I enjoy trying to understand it all but you do you.) I suspect that you will need at least a basic knowledge of suits and picture cards (J, Q, K, A) to get through the book though.

As another note, there is some judgemental language used towards the (assumed) mentally ill — it's clear from the context of the book that this is not condoned, but it's worth flagging if it will upset you. There is also mention of an off-screen suicide.