I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13155316

This story spans generations, but the protagonist is in the present. Is it Marne, the bitter young woman who has come home for a while? Or her mother Jane? It seems that Jane figures most in the actions, so I'll call it for her.

Marne has returned home from California and doesn't know what her next move will be. She is irritated by her mother, as she has been for years, and is again finding herself attracted to her brother Alex's best friend Ray. Resistant to anything too intimate, Marne nevertheless decides to try him on.

Meanwhile, Jane has been playing chess with Ray's grandmother Ada. Ada may have the key to a mystery Jane has been mulling over since she was a child: what happened to her father. Ada's father Luce had been seeing Ada on the sly when one day he disappeared. As the chess games continue, Jane pumps Ada.

This isn't a straightforward mystery, in which the characters clearly state what they want or what they want to know. They may not know. There are a few odd bits that had me wondering about the timeline. For example, Marne mentions being a teen "thirty years ago" in one place, and then later notes that she is in her thirties. Also, Ray is Ada's son while Marne is Luce's grandson. Possible of course, just a little confusing.

I found it absorbing but wished it hadn't jumped around quite so much, from character to character. I wanted to spend a bit more time with just one. ( )

I know I would've enjoyed this better if I hadn't been under the strange misapprehension that this was a whodunit type murder mystery that hinged on a game of scrabble. Yes, there is an unsolved murder which is unraveled through the course of the book, but there is no real investigation, no questioning of suspects, and clues to try to keep track of (unless the reader does this him/herself).

Instead this is a beautifully written, character-driven novel that delves into the sad yet breath-takingly realistic relationships of a few families in a small New England town, using the game of scrabble as in inroad into the minds of the important central characters. If I had realized this from the get-go I would've enjoyed the novel much, much more, but such as it was, I kept waiting for more tension, more plot which never arrived, not realizing until halfway through that this wasn't that kind of book. ( )

An emotionally woven wooden roller coaster ride.

As you partake in Game of Secrets you awaken your senses to a place and time that feels familiar as if you yourself have been there before. The characters in this novel feel frozen in time as emotions ripple through with every turned of the page. The main characters have so much in common yet they keep those emotions encased within themselves as if waiting for someone to come along and crack their shells. As the story unfolds it weaves back and forth between not only different characters but also the past and present, as different characters are place into the limelight.

The main characters consist of three women Jane, Marne her daughter and Ada Varick the former mistress of Jane's father. Jane meets weekly with Ada for a game of scrabble as the past unravels between them. While Marne, Jane's daughter who is in her 30's and now back living at home with mom and dad has given in to old feelings for Ray the son of Ada.

This prose is quite unique and not like I have ever come across before in a book. At first I was not even sure if I even liked this story as it took a few chapters for me to get used to the authors style. This is one book one needs to read slowly, if not you will surely miss the clues within the story and the meanings of the secrets brought together between past and present. It reinforced for me that sense that we are all somehow connected, each and every thought, emotion, word spoken has meaning no matter how insignificant each one may feel. Like a word on a scrabble board we are all woven in between place, time and others. ( )