BOOK REVIEW: THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT BY WALTER TEVIS

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: The Queen's Gambit
Author: Walter Tevis
Published: 1983
Language: English
Pages: 243
Rating: 3/5

Summary:

Sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth discovers two ways of escaping her surroundings; by playing chess and by taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to subdue them. It soon becomes apparent that she has an incredible talent for chess and is able to forge a new life for herself, but struggles with the addiction that keeps following her. 

Review:

I read this book because I wanted to read it before I watched the series adaptation, and although I quite enjoyed this, I didn't love it.

My favorite thing about this book is the main character; I loved following her throughout these years and see her career, her wins and her struggles. This is in big parts a coming of age story and I always love those, especially when we're following these types of characters. I was really rooting for Beth from very early on and was intrigued to see where she would end up. 

I think that this book starts off stronger than it finishes; towards the end we get caught up in pages upon pages of chess games, which should be filled with tension, but really just end up being kind of dry and dull. There were also some parts, like the romantic bits, that I was not interested in and felt no connection to, and there were some things that happens in the book that are very disturbing but nothing really comes of it, which I thought was odd. 

Overall though, I'm glad I read this. It was very interesting to compare it to the adaptation (which I, in the end, would say I prefer over the book, which is rare).

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