Word Freak
One of the last things my husband and I bought before moving to New York City after a 3½ year stay in Sweden was a Swedish scrabble set. Why? So that we would have something to play with Swedes who came to visit or new Swedish friends we may make in the U.S. Scrabble is the ultimate mix of skill and luck. Since I am a linguaphile with a competitive streak it rates as one of my favorite games. Because of this, I've been wanting to read Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis ever since I heard it existed. The book did not disappoint.
Subtitled, "Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players," this book was more than I had bargained for. I expected a basic non-fiction book about the history of Scrabble and competition among the elite players. What I got was a very intense description of the myriad of personalities of Scrabble players at all levels, as well as a thorough documentation of the author's own journey from hobby player to obsessed competitor. Interspersed throughout the engaging narrative were words, wordlists, and references to many publications and dictionaries that I had never heard of in my years as a librarian. There is an entire Scrabble subculture out there, and Fatsis takes the reader on a tour of it. He also becomes part of it.
Fatsis, a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal and contributor to National Public Radio, quickly moves from playing pick-up games at a park in New York to traveling the country, memorizing wordlists, and obsessing over his own official Scrabble ranking. Along the way he meets many colorful characters on the professional circuit and describes them in vivid detail. The book is so humorous and haunting at the same time that it is impossible to put down. There are a few parts where he gets into the mathematics of Scrabble and the probability of certain letter combinations that I can admit to quickly skimming over, but otherwise the book was as gripping as any mystery I've ever read.
Whether you enjoy a game of Scrabble or are just a fan of good writing, Word Freak is an excellent read that will surprise and entertain.