The Cardturner

A Novel About a King, a Queen, and a Joker

By: Louis Sachar

Narrated by: Louis Sachar

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

"How are we supposed to be partners? He can’t see the cards and I don’t know the rules!"

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

But Alton’s parents aren’t the only ones trying to worm their way into Lester Trapp’s good graces. They’re in competition with his longtime housekeeper, his alluring young nurse, and the crazy Castaneda family, who seem to have a mysterious influence over him. Alton soon finds himself intrigued by his uncle, by the game of bridge, and especially by the pretty and shy Toni Castaneda. As the summer goes on, he struggles to figure out what it all means, and ultimately to figure out the meaning of his own life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2010 Louis Sachar (P)2010 Listening Library

Critic reviews

Winner, ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Nominated, Arizona Young Readers Award

Short-listed, Bank Street Child Study Children's Book Award

Short-listed, Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices

Winner, NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies

Winner, NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies

Nominated, Nebraska Golden Sower Award

Nominated, Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award

Winner, Young Adult Services Division, School Library Journal Author Award

A great story and family friendly

We listened as a family while traveling across 4 states. At times I was lost with the descriptions of bridge playing but my son said he enjoyed those parts. All were short and didn't take away from a great story. I tell friends that Sachar books are like the best Seinfeld episodes. The story always comes together so beautifully in the end. All of the loose threads are tied and I always learn something new.
He is an ideal author for listening with teens and adults.

psyche

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened to this book traveling to a bridge tournament so it was appropriate.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The bridge hands were authentic and enjoyable. The fantasy part was a little - well, fantastic. The final tournament was not believable, it needed a better deception premise.

How could the performance have been better?

The performance was ok but had its share of mispronunciations and misplaced accents. The fog horn warnings of technical passages were annoying.

Was The Cardturner worth the listening time?

If you are a tournament bridge player give it a listen.

Bridge

I love the book! I especially loved hearing the helpful hints on the card game bridge! Now I am kurious! I would recommend this book to anybody who would like to learn new card games or even if they just need some new great books to read! I pick this rating because the reader did a phenomenal job reading this book! The wording in this book was also incredible!

Definitely worth the time..

This is one of those books that could easily be overlooked, passed by or even one a reader may be scared away by the first impression of a boring book about bridge players. But if given a chance, readers of all ages are sure to agree THE CARDTURNER is so much more.

An honest and touching read… THE CARDTURNER is not at all what you’d expected from what at first glance seems to be a book that revolves around the playing of Bridge. Fortunately, at least for me, who’s someone that doesn’t even know how to play poker; this novel goes way beyond a game of cards. Yes this book contains quite a bit of technical passages in regards to the rules and strategy of playing bridge, but the story truly is one of relationships and personal growth and those technical bits can be skimmed through without really damaging the story as a whole, if the reader chose to do so, although I felt, even those parts were easy enough to follow and worthy of my novice attention.

Louis Sachar takes readers into the world of bridge in first-person narrative through 17 year old Alton. Alton, as in title, becomes “a cardturner” for his rich, blind and unwell great uncle at the insistence of his mother, who hopes to up their place in Uncle Lester’s (aka Trapp’s) Will. Alton, a typical teenage guy with no previous knowledge of the game of bridge, takes the summer job of chauffeur and cardturner (not that he had a choice) and finds that there is a lot more to the old man than money and the questionable scandalize family stories he’d grown up hearing.

I’d highly recommend THE CARDTURNER to anyone who enjoys a good book, especially the audio version, which is narrated by the author.

A good read/listen

When I first heard about bridge, it was through this book. I started to deal out hands like Alton. I played them with my mother. If your knew to bridge, this is a good read; if you know bridge well, it is a better book.

The narration is ok. I get that it is read by the author, so he isn’t really a professional narrator, but it was hard to keep track of the voices because they are all just the same.

Fantastic

What made the experience of listening to The Cardturner the most enjoyable?

Such a great story. I never thought a book about a card game could be this good.

wow

took me a little while to finish but only because life got in the way of my listing time. I loved it. I wish it was longer. I really got attached to the characters. its a good story to listen to. he is a great author and narrator.

not just for lovers of bridge

I loved this book. I have not played bridge in years but I enjoyed this look into the world of contract bridge. More than that, the voice of the teenaged narrator was genuine and true. Also, an excellent reader and an engaging story.

y3et

I like sti lota
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