The Solitaire Mystery

No cover

Jostein Gaarder: The Solitaire Mystery (Paperback, 2000, Phoenix Press)

Paperback, 352 pages

English language

Published Sept. 6, 2000 by Phoenix Press.

ISBN:
978-0-7538-0963-1
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
59430487

View on OpenLibrary

Twelve-year-old Hans Thomas and his father are driving from Norway to Greece in search of Hans Thomas's mother, who left them many years before. Along the way, the boy receives a mysterious miniature book - the fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards has come to life. But what does the sailor's journey have to do with that of Hans Thomas? And what can both their journeys tell us about our own quest to understand life?

18 editions

Review of 'The Solitaire Mystery: A Novel About Family and Destiny' on 'Goodreads'

I may never look at a deck of cards the same way again. The Solitaire Mystery is another imaginative, clever, and thought-provoking philosophical tale by Jostein Gaarder. This time, the protagonist is a 12-year-old boy named Hans Thomas, a bright boy who is quickly exiting childhood and trying to make sense of the world around him.

This story does not have too much in common with Sophie's World--it's much more like a fairy tale. I did not expect this, and yet--I enjoyed it very much, and thought it worked very well, in its own way. Eventually, I'd like to read more of Gaarder's novels.

Excuse me, may I have your Joker?

Good read!

avatar for nitschenby

rated it

Subjects

  • Modern fiction