In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of The Westing Game, the heirs grow more suspicious of one another until a bomb goes off again, and then my brain breaks. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Westing Game.
Chapter Fifteen: Fact and Gossip / Chapter Sixteen: The Third Bomb
My god, what is this book?
- “Friday was back to normal, if the actions of suspicious would-be heirs competing for a two-hundred-million-dollar prize could be considered normal.” Bless this book. BLESS IT FOREVER.
- Flora’s sincerity and kindness is just one of my favorite things. She could direct Turtle away from their stock theory, but she wants to play fair, despite that there’s no rules that say she can’t!
- The whole murder conversation made me think about how not one person had, up to this point, ever asked how Sam Westing was murdered. Did the coroner ever say how he died? Why hasn’t anyone followed up on this? I think this easily opens up the chance that Sam Westing isn’t actually dead, but… god, that possibility hurts my head so much that I almost don’t want to consider it. This whole book hurts my brain.
- But it brings up a necessary point. I think how Westing was murdered is an important detail, a clue that these heirs could use that’s not provided in the will itself. And which heir is truly capable of murder and why? Did Sam Westing die laughing?
- I’ll put my vote in for “Hoo’s On First,” while a witty name, is absolutely terrible.
- Why is Grace so invested in Shin Hoo’s doing so well???
- (I have a lot of questions and I’m going to ask them and don’t answer them, I swear.)
- Why is Mrs. Westing such a huge secret? I understand someone wanting to avoid the limelight because they’re shy, but Mrs. Westing seemed to purposely avoid any photographs of her actual face. It has to be intentional! How could she accidentally time every photograph on record of her so that her face was always blocked???
- My guess: Mrs. Westing is someone that would be recognized.
- Wait, that doesn’t work, because wouldn’t someone in real life be able to recognize her? Bah, nevermind, that’s a terrible theory.
- Why were her hands blurred?
- WHY DO SANDY AND JUDGE FORD REMEMBER MRS. WESTING AS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE? Sandy remembers a mole. Judge Ford remembers completely different physical attributes. WHAT THE FUCK.
- Okay, so maybe that line about Judge Ford staring at George’s dark skin finally has some context, though I still can’t figure this out. Violet Westing knew George Theodorakis, and most likely she was in love with him. Angela Wexler resembles Violet, Theo resembles George, and it’s this weird love triangle that’s playing out again in Theo, Angela, and Denton. I DON’T GET IT!
- GOD, THE THIRD BOMB BLAST IS SO TERRIFYING. I’m 100% certain that the bombs are the fireworks from the Westing house, which explains why Angela isn’t dead after holding AN EXPLODING PACKAGE.
- I do want to say that I adore how Raskin wrote the scene that followed the bomb blast. As each of the tenants ask questions of the police captain, we get brief glimpses into their minds as they accuse or suspect one another as the bomber, the thief, or the murder, or all three at once. What this does is create a palpable sense of terror and paranoia in Sunset Towers, and it’s brilliant. It also reads like those logic puzzles that nanceoir is posting in the comments each day. Some of what these characters think is just a rumor, but some of it is them trying to process what little clues they do know.
- Why the hell does Crow call Angela “her blessed”??? THAT SEEMED REALLY STRANGE.
- Otis Amber limps. Oh god, was he the one who went into the Westing House that first day and set a fire???
- BUT THIS IS NOTHING COMPARED WITH THE UNBELIEVABLE TWIST AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER: ANGELA PUT THE BOMB IN HER OWN GIFT. WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK! WHY. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT? Did she plant the other two bombs??? WHAT DOES SHE GAIN FROM THIS?
- I’M SO LOST.
Please note that the original text/videos contain use of the words “mad,” “crazy,” “insane,” and “dumb.”
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
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