Customer Reviews

The Gypsy Game

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I read The Egypt Game and I really loved that book, so I read this book right away since it is the sequal. That was a bad decision. This is one of the most terrible books I have ever, ever read! I really liked the characters in The Egypt Game because they were so realistic and likable. The characters in The Gypsy Game are supposedly the same, but it seems that very unrealistic and unlikable characters jumped into the book and called themselves April, Toby, and the rest of them.

Also, because of the title, I thought this book was actually going to be about a gypsy game. If that's what you're hoping, you might as well read The Egypt Game again. This book is all about Toby and his miserable life and it's not at all about a game. I enjoyed reading about the game in The Egypt Game, and was very disappointed that The Gypsy Game didn't have one. That's why the title doesn't make sense. It should be retitled "Toby and his Problems." It would be much more accurate.

I really didn't like the ending. It seemed as if the author didn't care what she wrote as long as she got the book done.

If you haven't read either of these books, read The Egypt Game. It's not worth it reading The Gypsy Game.

Wow. It's downright depressing when an author rejects her own instincts, and I really get a sense that Snyder rejected a part of herself to write this book. She wrote something the felt she OUGHT to write, not something that she genuinely wanted to write, and as a consequence, this book is about what kids ought to do, rather then what they actually do, or what is truely important to them. I can really tell that the Egypt Game was inspired. But Snyder has since decided that her first book was too frivolous. Or at least it seems like she has. In The Gypsy Game, Snyder tries to capture the essence of growing up. The kids move away from imaginative play and assume responsibility in the real world. But this is a ham-handed, teen-lit sort of way to finish things, and it truly devalues the original Egypt Game. It's as if the author believes that the children's game, and by extension the children's lives, were mere precursors to real life, and adult life. She says that imagination should give way to obligation. This is a great way to describe the story, but it is also applies to the series itself. The imaginative Egypt Game gives way to the Gypsy Game, which is a book Snyder thought she ought to write, just to educate the nippers. Edifying fiction is rarely good fiction.
I think imaginative play does lead to adult responsibility, but it's effects are subtle. In fact, extended, consistent imaginative play usually produces a lot of artists, and...writers. Snyder condemns herself with her own book. She forgets that things don't have to have a moral to be enriching. A children's game can slowly help kids become responsible adults. A book for the sake of itself can help kids grow. In most cases, it's imagination that makes kids responsible and compassionate. They can't reject one to find the other. Imagination and responsibility must both occur simultaneously. GRRR.

'The Egypt Game' is one of the best books I've ever read. So naturally, I was anxious to see what was next for the kids. If anyone knows their pop music history, this is like 'Bad' following 'Thriller'. It just isn't in the same class as its predecessor. It took the author about 30 years to release this "book", and the time span is painfully obvious. It's like looking at different people. And this whole deal with Toby running away? And when do they ever play the game? My edition of 'The Egypt Game' gives two sample chapters from the Gypsy game, and it looked good to me. I was sorely disappointed. This book places with 'Gigli', 'Star Wars Attack of the Clones', and 'Bad' as one of the most pointless pieces of garbage on the face of this Earth!!! But judge for yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I usually like Zilpha Keatley Snyder's books, and I absolutely LOVED The Egypt Game, so I thought that this book would be good. It was absolutely TERRIBLE.

First of all, the characters didn't act like the same people. April and Toby, my favorite characters in the Egypt Game, must have been abducted by aliens or something. Toby especially was badly done.

They never actually PLAY the game, which makes me wonder exactly WHY this book is named the Gypsy Game. I think the story would have worked better if she hadn't written it as a sequel to the Egypt Game, because it was obvious that she didn't really understand these characters anymore. Not that it would have worked very well then either, but at least it wouldn't have been such an enormous letdown.

She also needs to work on the build-up in this story. First and foremost, have built up the whole thing with Toby so much for so long, the only thing that would have been worth that would be watching his entire family commit suicide or something. Also, even if the build-up had been MUCH shorter, the "surprise" really wasn't worth it. It's rare to find a good build-up--the only one that was worth all of the suspense and more was in The Outsiders--but this one really takes the cake as ...

I also detested the ending. In the Egypt Game, the ending was wonderful and perfectly in tune with the book, but in the Gypsy Game...it was what made me absolutely loath this book. The ending she had CAN be pulled off, but it has to be MUCH more subtle than this, which sounded like she just wanted to finish the book and teach a moral lesson at the same time. Ick.

There was one good thing about the book: when I got it, I realized it was the sequel to another book, so I got and read that book first. If I HADN'T gotten The Egypt Game first, I never would have read it, or probably anything else by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.

Ah, little sis skips home from school, a book order clutched tightly in her hand. Such orders have I missed since passing on to highschool. Eager for a chance to reminisce, I pear over the paper. Such delightful looking titles, so many choices. my eye catches something. COuld it be? The sequel to the famous novel? I find a pen. Several weeks later, sis skips home from school, lugging an armload of books that I ordered. Included in their midst is the Gyspy Game. I read it. I burst into tears at the utter horror of stupidity and lack of point. All the magic of the Egypt Game has disappeared, leaving us with an utterly disappointing novel that concludes with a cheesy, Barney-and-Friends, lets-be-nice-to-society plan in the making. Curse the day I wasted money on such filth! Curse whoever limits us to a minimum of one star, instead of freeing us to the negativity beyond zero!

I was absoulutly apalled with this book. I loved the Egypt Game and so I ordered this book. What a mistake that was. This book has no plot except Feel Sorry For Toby. The characters never actually play the game and all the mystery and suspense that was shown in The Egypt Game was lost. The whole book is loaded with sorrow for Toby, who runs away from his life and is generally sorry for himself. I personally found everthing in the Egypt Game much more exciting and interesting then The Gypsy Game. What is the point of calling it the Gypsy Game when they don't even play the game? There was no depth in this story and I did not care what happend to Toby because all he did was mope around. If you read the Egypt Game don't spoil the magic by reading this novel. The only thing bearable about this book is the great children's novel it is the sequel to.

This was not a sequel to the egypt game it did not have any of the same story. they didn't even play a game. the book was good but should not have gone under the pretenses of being the sequel to the egypt game. snyder should have written this book on it's own identity and then i think it would have been better.

Long-time favorite Zilpha Keatley Snyder has finally written a sequel to her critical and popular success The Egypt Game, but she seems to have lost her interest in the characters and the subject. Instead, readers hoping for another interesting "game" mixing history and ceremony and fun will be disappointed by the lack of any real "game" here. Instead, a rather unbelievable mystery plot and a lot of depressed kids dominate the book. As Snyder's other recent books (Cat Running, for example) are lively and interesting, it was perhaps a mistake for her to decide to write a sequel at all.

I ordered the "Egypt Game" waay back in Grade 3 or so and have read it a million times. I loved the character development, the sneaking around, April's melodramatic flares, and the rituals of the Egypt Game.

Two days ago I found out that Zilpha Keatley Snyder had written "Gypsy Game" as a sequel. I read the Amazon.com reviews and was surprised to see that it received such poor ratings. However, based on my love for "The Egypt Game" and my love of Roma (Gypsy culture) I bought it and have just finished it. Here is my verdict:

I liked the fact that Toby was part Gypsy and had a shawl and jewellery that his Rom grandmother had left him, plus the fact that Toby's dad chipped in and provided a caravan.
I also liked how April and Melanie started practicing palmistry and showed some enthusiasm...that seemed more like the old gang. A major disappointment was that the plot really had nothing to do with the Gypsy game although it was a decent mystery by itself.

The character development is sadly lacking, and April doesn't seem like the same person at all. All she seems to do is fight with Melanie and everyone else sits around arguing. No one can agree and the game is never played. Toby as the protagonist is a fresh new voice but not enough to successfully keep the reader's attention for 218 pages.

I could definitely feel both the changed writing style and the 30-year gap between the books...it felt like the 1990's even though the story was supposed to take place directly after the Egypt Game.

The book was extremely depressing: the story of Toby's mom, the persecution of the Gypsies in Europe, Toby's hunger and loneliness, and the plight of the homeless Garbo, Vince and Mickey. The first two chapters made it seem like the Gypsy Game would once again be magical, but the magic quickly disappeared.

I won't say that this book is a complete waste of time, but it does seem to drag on, dwell on dark subjects, and is lacking all the mystery and excitement of The Egypt Game. It is a decent mystery on its own but I was expecting a sequel that followed the lines of the original, especially with a title as promising as "The Gypsy Game."

This is much, much worse than The Egypt Game. Do Not Buy This!!