Friday 14 May 2021

The Queen's Gambit - Book Review by Gilbert

 

The Queen's Gambit
by Walter Tevis

What is it about:
An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
When she is sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth Harmon soon discovers two ways to escape her surroundings, albeit fleetingly: playing chess and taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to keep them subdued. Before long, it becomes apparent that hers is a prodigious talent, and as she progresses to the top of the US chess rankings she is able to forge a new life for herself. But she can never quite overcome her urge to self-destruct. For Beth, there's more at stake than merely winning and losing.

What did Gilbert think of it:
A lot of people seemed to like the Netflix series that was made based on this book, so I got curious and picked this up.

Even though this book is at times written in a detached way I was hooked from the start. I didn't particularly care for Beth ( I actually loathed her for one particular thing), but still I was curious to see if she could make it in the world of chess. 

I know enough about chess that I could follow some of it, but there were chess moves and talks that went completely over my head. Still the matches Beth plays are written in a way that it didn't get boring for me. 

All in all an interesting read. I might try more by Tevis in the future.

Why should you read it:
It's an interesting read about the competitive world of chess.


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