Recently I read The Westing Game By Ellen Raskin. It took me almost two weeks to read the first few chapters. I almost set it aside as one of those novels, the kind of novel that was a classic but I have no clue how it got to be one; the kind of thing only Language Arts teachers would make you struggle through. I thought I would have to analyze every sentence to understand even the slightest bit of it. It also didn't help that many people kept telling me about how they had never gotten into the book or how they got to the end and weren't satisfied. But, I still struggled through it. Then one day, very abruptly, I was reading and hit a good part. It started to get exciting and then for the rest of the day I couldn't put it down.
The book is about a group of people that have been picked to live in a special new apartment building. They are all heirs to the Westing fortune. Mr. Westing was the head of a big corporation and as such was fairly, no take that back, really rich. Mr. Westing was a man that was obsessed with games, obsessed enough to create one that would change lives. He created a game to decide who was to inherit all of his money. He gave each heir clues from which they could find the answer. But to win they didn't just have to find the answer, they also had to figure out the question.
This book isn't your normal mystery. First of all, there are 16 main characters. Each character has a very strong personality that clashes with some people and blends with others. There is Ms. Hoo who speaks hardly any English and Turtle Wexler who will permanently incapacitate anyone who dares touch her braids, and J.J. Ford the sophisticated judge, just to name a few. Even though, each chapter is told from a different person's point of view you never learn all the information you want or need about the characters.
The writing is very fast paced and thrilling. In most books each chapter starts and the top of the page no mater when the last one ended. This usually means that there is a least a bit of blank space between the end of one chapter and the next. But in this book there is none of that because the new chapter starts right where the last one left off. Most of the chapters actually end up starting in the middle of the page. Although this is different, I really like it. I believe that this gives the book a kind of flow that it would not otherwise have. Having the chapter end in the middle of the page also makes you want to keep reading because it would be strange to end in the middle of the page. I think it is also a good way to save paper.
I really enjoyed The Westing Game. I think anyone who is looking for a good mystery or puzzle would also enjoy it. I also think that people who don't usually read mystery should try this one. It might take you a while to get into it but you will be happy you stuck with it.