The Queen's Gambit in Reading with Style

Nov 28, 2021 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-reads, late-20th-century

The book opens as Beth Harmon is told her mother has been killed in a car accident. There are no flasbacks to her younger years and we know nothing about her home life. It is as if she is born at age 8 and fully formed. Sent to live in an orphanage, she is an excellent student. As a reward, she goes to the basement to clean erasers. I think most of us would not see this as a reward, but as it happens, on these trips to the basement she sees the janitor poring over a chessboard. Mr. Shaibel is no The book opens as Beth Harmon is told her mother has been killed in a car accident. There are no flasbacks to her younger years and we know nothing about her home life. It is as if she is born at age 8 and fully formed. Sent to live in an orphanage, she is an excellent student. As a reward, she goes to the basement to clean erasers. I think most of us would not see this as a reward, but as it happens, on these trips to the basement she sees the janitor poring over a chessboard. Mr. Shaibel is not a willing teacher, but teach her he does. Chess becomes her reason to live.

I have mentioned this book to two of my backgammon friends who I know are also chess players. Each offered the information that this was a Netflix series last year. Apparently it was well-received. I will never see it, but I am skeptical how it could have faithfully followed the book. I make no bones about the fact that I no longer watch movies, so my skepticism is both general as to most books and specific as to this one. How can it show fear without facial expressions? Beth was careful not to let her opponents see it, but it was there. Can it show how Beth played chess in her mind? Just two examples of my skepticism.

I loved this book. Although I have sat at a chess board and moved pieces around, this book shows clearly that I never really played the game. There are *lots* of chess moves that I did not follow. What I did follow was how hard the very top players work to continue to be the very top players. I could be a good backgammon player should I decide to work so hard, but I would never be a top player no matter how hard I worked. I do not possess brilliance. And I don't work that hard - not even at reading!

I remember there was a film with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason (I was in high school!) and I'll be happy to now instead read The Hustler. Yesterday another title by Walter Tevis was on one of the kindle deals emails. I snapped it up, even though I have no business adding more books when I already have so many. I like the way Tevis writes and his characterizations are excellent. I'm not in the least shy about giving this title 5-stars. ...more

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Feb 08, 2021 Joanna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2021-read, rws-2020-winter

I had already watched the Netflix series, which very closely tracks the book. Since I let my children watch the series, I also let them listen to the audiobook with me. Note to parents: this is not children's literature--there is drug use, sex, and some bad decision-making. But my son loves chess and he really wanted to watch the series.

I loved the book. Even if you don't understand the details of the chess (which I mostly don't), the tension of the tournaments prickles with electricity. The sto ...more

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Jun 06, 2022 Faith rated it it was amazing

Beautiful. As beautiful as the show.

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Jun 19, 2022 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, audio, school, historical-fiction, coming-of-age, ky, contemporary, literary-fiction

I purchased this from Audible a few years ago, but didn't get around to listening to it until now. I really enjoyed it, hearing about her journey to become world champion. I kept waiting for her to flame out, and was glad that she didn't. Now I might have to see if I can find the limited series that came out a few years ago and watch that, too. ...more

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