18. The Westing Game

By Ellen Raskin

My daughter kept asking me whether I'd finished John’s book as she wanted me to start reading The Westing Game, stat!  She seemed to really enjoy the mystery aspects of the story and wanted to hear what I thought about it.

Before I even finished the book, my daughter wanted to know who my favourite character was.  I think I said Turtle, as it was an obvious choice.  She told me how the author made each character memorable and different from one another.  I agreed.  Soon after, she expressed an interest in reading more mysteries.

Sixteen strangers receive personal invitations to rent apartments in the new Sunset Towers apartment complex, a luxurious property on Lake Michigan adjacent to wealthy businessman Samuel J. Westing's mansion.  A few months later, the residents begin hearing rumours that the old man had died. Shortly after, the sixteen residents are invited to a reading of the will by a lawyer.

 

Each resident is named as a potential heir of Westing’s fortune and company, but the will also claims that Westing was murdered by one of them and stipulates that they must work in pairs to solve Westing’s death and locate his murderer. Divided into unlikely pairs, the residents participate in a complex game, using clues from the will to uncover the truth. As the game progresses over the course of several months, the heirs discover unexpected connections to Westing and each other, leading to a series of revelations and surprising twists. 

I appreciated how Raskin had a large cast of characters, which was fairly diverse for its time.  The main residents of Sunset Towers included the Wexler family (Jake, Grace, their daughters, Angela [28] and Turtle [13]), the Hoo family (James, Sun Lin, and their teenaged son, Doug), who ran the in-house restaurant, and the Theodorakis family (George, Catherine, and their sons, Theo, and Chris). Other residents included Sydelle Pulaski (the only character with no connection to Westing because she was mistaken for Sybil Pulaski), Flora Baumbach (a shy 60yo dressmaker who becomes a surrogate mother figure to Turtle when they’re paired together) and Judge J.J. Ford (an African-American woman in her forties). The real estate salesman, Barney Northrupp, the doorman, Sandy McSouthers, the 62 year old delivery “boy”, Otis Amber, and cleaning woman, Berthe Crow, were also key figures.

Perhaps my expectations were a little high as I felt that the reveal of the actual mystery was somewhat fantastical and far-fetched.  It also felt a bit anti-climactic, and the ending seemed rushed.  It jumped years and crammed a lot of information into the final chapters without some needed context.  I still didn’t understand Westing’s actual motive other than loving to play games.  Seeking justice wasn’t the real motive, just a red herring, so I guess establishing genuine connections between the heirs and making amends to them was the underlying goal.  So Westing was ultimately a magnanimous figure, albeit an eccentric one, as befitting a super wealthy person.  After all, it was an overly elaborate scheme to bring his heirs together!  This review summarized it well:

The heirs ultimately find that in order to win the money, they must name one of their own as the murderer—even after they have come to realize that Westing was not actually murdered and is perhaps even still alive. They refuse to play Westing’s game any longer, unwilling to sacrifice one of their own for the cash prize. Westing’s whole game has sought to impart to his heirs the importance of teamwork, generosity, and acceptance. In the end, through the teamwork the Westing game has required of each of the heirs and the communal perspective it’s shown them, the heirs have learned that the values and wisdom one passes along are more important than the proliferation of empty generational wealth. While the heirs don’t get the millions they were promised, they each obtain a share of Sunset Towers, signifying that the legacy Westing wants to leave behind is one of community and growth rather than empty money. 

The heirs learned that Berthe Crow was Westing’s ex-wife, and Mrs Wexler was indeed related to Westing (his niece?), but there was no attempt to establish a connection between these two characters at all after this revelation was made, which I found odd.  We do learn that Mr and Mrs Westing’s daughter, Violet, committed suicide because her parents refused to let her marry George Theodorakis.  After Violet’s death, Mrs Westing left her husband, returned to her maiden name Crow, became devoutly religious to atone for her sins and to live a humble existence as a cleaning lady for Sunset Towers. Later, Crow and Otis Amber got married and found their own happiness in helping others by establishing a soup kitchen. 

Both Angela and Turtle Wexler had issues with their mother, but that never really got resolved. Years later, after the game concluded, Angela learned how to live for herself and ended up going to med school and became a neuro surgeon!  That seemed to come from nowhere though we saw inklings that Angela wasn’t happy being the “perfect” daughter with a controlling mother and soon-to-be controlling fiancé.  Eventually, she did end up marrying Denton after establishing her career, and they had a daughter named Alice. Baba (Flora Baumbach) later moved in with Turtle after she retired as they had maintained a close relationship.  The mother, Grace Wexler, later worked as a hostess for the Foo family, who've expanded their restaurant into a successful chain, but we never learn if Grace had mended her relationships with her two daughters, which seemed to cause a lot of strain and dysfunction.

The young Turtle’s sudden transformation into Nancy Drew was also rather sudden.  During the game solving, she came across as a bright, precocious kid, yet easily led astray by false leads, ie. the stock market and never seeming to get close to solving the mystery.  Then by the game's conclusion, Turtle suddenly found all the answers instead of the Judge (even though the Judge knew most of the answers at that point).  Further, she somehow figured out that Sam Westing, Barney Northrupp, Sandy McSouthers, and Julian Eastman (the CEO of Westing Paper Products) were all the same person using various disguises; Westing created the "McSouthers" identity to replace "Westing", making Sandy the "murderer".  I don’t understand why Turtle kept this discovery a secret from the others, though, other than wanting the inheritance to herself.  Also, I believe the other heirs continued to believe that Westing was dead, when in fact, he was very much alive.  After the game had concluded, Turtle visited the home of Julian Eastman (Westing) to tell him she knew his true identity, thereby winning the game. Turtle became Westing’s protegé and eventually took over the company while also inheriting Westing’s fortune. 

Overall, I enjoyed The Westing Game, but felt it could've been a much tighter and stronger story had Raskin tied it all together better and spent more time exploring the background and relationships between the characters.  Nevertheless, the premise, setting and the cast of characters made up for some of the weaknesses in the narrative.  And a young adult reader wouldn’t have the same nit-picky quibbles I’d have.  In the right hands, it would also make a great movie (apparently, the 1997 film adaptation was disappointing and not highly rated).  Perhaps the movie Knives Out was a kind of spiritual successor as there were definitely elements inspired by The Westing Game.

17. Through The Woods

By Emily Carroll

9. The Hero and the Crown

By Robin McKinley   

The Hero and the Crown had a lasting an impact on me as a young teen.  I think I first came across it at the Kerrisdale Public Library, which had a pretty good paperback fantasy selection!  It was one of the first fantasy novels I read, and it inspired me to seek out similar authors, like Marion Zimmer Bradley, Patricia McKillip and Anne McCaffrey.  They were the most popular woman fantasy authors of their time.  I remember later borrowing McKinley’s Beauty (a retelling of the well-known fairy tale) from my high school library (Point Grey), skipping PE and sitting down behind a hedge to read the book!

 

I'd been meaning to revisit The Hero & the Crown and was on the lookout for a used copy for some time (I own a vintage copy of The Blue Sword - from 1987!). I can’t remember where I found this Ace Edition paperback - probably at Pulp Fiction on Main St. in Vancouver (the paperback version I read as a teen was the 1984 Tor edition featured at the bottom).

 

I can say that reading The Hero and the Crown as a jaded, middle-aged woman no longer holds the same magic as it did when I was a naïve 13 yo.  As a young teen, I was more fixated on the low-key romance between Aerin and Luthe, the hermit sorcerer, than Aerin’s journey of self-discovery.  As a grown woman, I now appreciate the heroine’s journey and found little in her relationship with Luthe to suggest any romance.

 

It's classic high fantasy fare:  Aerin is the daughter of King Arlbeth of Damar, a land where dragons are dying out and the royal bloodline has the gift of kelar, the ability to use magic in varying degrees.  Tor is the closest male heir to the throne and he’s got an unspoken thing for Aerin.  Galanna, Aerin’s beautiful sister, never misses an opportunity to taunt Aerin about her faults, ie. her lack of the kelar ability, her height and fiery hair, her unattractiveness, etc.  One day, Galanna convinces Aerin to eat the leaves of the surka plant, poisonous to those who are not of royal blood. While the surka didn’t kill Aerin, it made her extremely ill.

 

During her recovery, Aerin discovers a book about the ancient history of Damar and how it was terrorized by giant dragons (nowadays only the smaller relatives still exist). She also finds a recipe for kenet, an ointment meant to protect the wearer from the effects of drgaon fire.  During this time, Aerin forges a friendship with her father’s retired war-horse, Talat. While experimenting with the ointment, she trains herself on mounted combat with Talat. Eventually, she sneaks off to slay a small dragon that has been troubling a village. Her success earns her some minor notoriety and requests to dispatch troublesome dragons in other areas. In the meantime, one of the western barons, Nyrlol, threatens civil war in the north.

 

King Arlbeth denies Aeri’s request to join his army, and while he and Tor set off to deal with Nyrlol, word arrives that the last great dragon, Maur, has reappeared and is terrorizing a distant village.  Aerin takes it upon herself make the journey to dispatch Maur.  She manages to kill him but barely makes it out alive…. I just realized there’s a lot going on, and don't feel like summarizing the rest, but hopefully this is enough jog my future self. 

 

I do remember feeling quite swept up by the story, so I was a little sad when I wasn’t able to quite conjure up the same old feelings while re-reading this as a middle-aged woman.  Regardless, it's a classic tale full of adventure, battles, dragons, and magic, featuring a heroic princess who “doesn’t fit the mold.”

 

Interestingly, a few years later, Olman would read The Blue Sword to our daughter.  He was at White Dwarf in Vancouver asking for recommendations for YA novels and this was one of their suggestions.  It's a standalone sequel to The Hero and The Crown, but set generations later when Aerin has become a legendary figure.  So I think when my daughter is a little older, I’ll see if she’s interested in my copy of The Hero and The Crown.

3. House of Stairs

By William Sleator

Continuing my exploration of YA fiction, House of Stairs is a 1974 dystopian classic about five 16-year-old orphans mysteriously confined within a huge, Escher-like complex of stairs. Left alone without purpose or explanation, they come across a machine that emits voices and flashing lights, but more importantly, the machine dispenses food (meat pellets!) after the kids act, or even move, a certain way. The kids soon rely on this machine for sustenance and it gradually becomes apparent they have to psychologically torture each other in order to survive!

The title is a little misleading since the confines are much more vast than the interior of any house, yet no less claustrophobic. It’s like a reverse locked-room (white void), psychological horror story where people are trapped with others whom they grow to hate. Each character has distinct, if rather stereotypical, personality traits: Peter is socially awkward and withdrawn; Lola is rebellious and distrustful of others; Blossom is manipulative and spoiled (as well as obese); Abigail, despite being pretty, has low self-esteem and is a total people-pleaser; and lastly, Oliver is your typical douchebag jock. It's no surprise that it’s going to take a miracle for this demented Breakfast Club to get along, let alone work together as a team in order to beat the system.

As the characters converse or bicker at each other, we get pieces of information about the outside world , which seems not much better than the maze-like prison they're stuck in. In fact, America sounds eerily like North Korea except that the environment is ruined to the point where even the air is no longer fit to breathe. There are constant resource shortages where only a privileged few can live in relative comfort and society has become extremely regimented, if not authoritarian, in its control over citizens.

There are obvious, heavy-handed themes of governmental mind-control, individualism vs authoritarianism, paranoia, and behavioral conditioning that was trendy in the 1970’s. As a YA book, however, this was dealt with enough skill and respect to the reader. The author obviously had no qualms about disturbing young minds. For instance, when the cruelty escalates amongst the teenagers, a rift splits the group. One group gives into their sadistic tendencies to the point of urinating on each other. Interestingly, there are no overt portrayals of sexuality in the novel: Abigail and Oliver never go beyond the furtive kissing stage and it’s merely implied that Peter is a closet homosexual. In reviews I’ve read, there was a writer who remembered seeing this book in the “Special Permission” shelf at the high school library. So I’m sure this book was a minor shit-disturber in its day.

House of Stairs was not a terribly profound book and it felt a bit dated at times, but the story was a treat to read, as it made an absorbing psychological character study.  My only regret was not discovering this book in my youth. I was so into finding out what happened next that I even brought the book with me to work and finished it during my lunch break. Being a slim paperback also helped since I don’t like lugging thick books around when I’m commuting.

Interestingly, Dark Carnival, the genre bookstore conveniently located near my in-law’s house in Berkeley has a nice collection of William Sleator books in their YA section. It’s amazing how well-stocked their store is, it’s no wonder they still have stacks of un-shelved books on the floor. Unfortunately, thanks to me, House of Stairs is no longer in stock!

In keeping with the YA dystopia movie trend, there’s supposed to be a film adaptation planned for late 2012. Exciting!

Here is the review which made me put this book on my Xmas list.

Here’s a site which looks at the various literary tropes that Sleator used in House of Stairs.

Here’s a site which looks at 25 William Sleator books.