Justine Regan

Justine Regan
The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin
Mystery
Holiday
Pg. 178


1. Right now in my book I have just found out that Sam Westing never really died and that he has been living among the residents of sunset towers for some time now, and that he was also four different people throughout his life time (Sam Westing, Windy Windkloppel, Sandy Mc Southers- the doorman, and Barney Northrup). I am now finding out what people are doing after inheriting all of Sam Westing's money (200 million dollars that was split between all the heirs). This part of the book skips ahead a few years and is talking about what each character is doing to pursue their dreams from the beginning pf the book and how the money they inherited ha helped them to do so. This part of the book is also telling me how they spend their time when they are together because, all of the heirs and their families have become close friends by now.



2. I really like this book because I was never sure of an answer to the mystery of who killed Sam Westing- Which ended up not even being the question in the first place. I loved that with every chapter came some new evidence hinting that one character or another killed Sam Westing, although none did. I thought the book was really confusing because, all the back round information was given as the book went on as opposed to in the beginning like most books I am used to reading-this book was really thought out. I also thought it was really confusing that all the characters were introduced in the first couple of pages- sort of like how it's done in of mice and men. I felt like the author did a really great job telling me about all the characters so I had a connection with each and every one. I didn't think the author was going to be able to do that especially because, the book isn't very long. I also like that unlike many of the books I have read throughout my life, this book had many main characters versus most books which just have one or two main characters. I thought it was cool how I got to experience this book from many different points of views too.


3. I think two major themes throughout this book have been trust and friendship. From the beginning of the book when all the heirs were given a partner to work with in order to find the murder of Sam Westing. The residents of Sunset Towers had to work with and trust their partners to help them find out who killed Mr. Westing. I f they had not have been able to trust their partners it would have been really hard to eventually figure the puzzle out. I think friendship was also a great theme in this book because, when it came time to give answers when people were supposed to accuse each other of killing Sam Westing no one actually accused anyone of killing him. I think this is because, since all the residents had become friends over time they knew that no one would ever commit such a horrendous felony.


4. My favorite character was Turtle. She was my favorite because, when people were beginning to look into who set the bombs, Turtle let herself get caught setting one when she really wasn't the bomber just to help out Angela who was a victim of her own bomb. Turtle knew that everyone would be extremely upset with Angela if they knew that she was the real bomber, so Turtle set a bomb off in the elevator when Angela was still in the hospital that way people didn't get suspicious (the bombs were all set off within a few days, all four of them). I think it was brave of Turtle to take the blame of (mostly) her sisters actions because, she too ended up getting badly hurt by the bomb she set off.



5. My least favorite character was Grace Wexler because, I feel like she greatly favored Angela throughout the book, which made Turtle feel really bad. Grace was always saying how pretty Angela was or how she was so perfect. Grace just pushed her other daughter Turtle to the side and completely ignored her. Grace was always really demanding too and put a lot of pressure on Angela, making it feel like she could never say no to her mother, so Angela always did what her mother told her to do. It was the same with people who weren't even in their family, like Mr. Hoo. Grace was trying to get him to chance his restaurant name to Hoo's on first from Shin Hoo's. This is an example of when Grace was trying to take over something that was none of her business what so ever.


6. Next, I think I will be given a little more information about how all the characters are now doing. Such as Angela with her collage, or Chris with his new medicine. I then think I will be told some really key information about Sam Westing that would have helped all of the heirs in solving the puzzle much faster. I think this information will also help me get to know Mr. Westing a little bit more because, this is the one character in which not a sufficient amount of information was supplied.