Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

100 reviews

hannahs_literatur's review against another edition

3.5

I really love Beth’s story.
But there are two problematic scenes at the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

ellainalisa's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Sexual content

seren's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

sofiya's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm not exactly sure how I want to rate this book, in complete honesty. I think it is a generally well-written (not always, but usually) book with an interesting plotline. I watched parts of the show before reading this book, and I think I'm on the side where it's not that worth it to read the book with/rather than watching the show. The book was written by a middle-aged man in the 1980s and that shows, particularly with how the author portrays Beth's inner monologue (considering she is 8-19 years old in the book). I didn't find the tone exactly right for who she was, but it wasn't awful.

What was awful was

a SA scene that happens in one of the first few chapters (when Beth is 8 years old). It's so unnecessary and doesn't get brought up again or shown to have repercussions. The author actually uses it as a way to build a bond between two characters and it made me sick and disappointed to read. After finishing the book, I still have no idea what the purpose was.

An additional problem I had was how quickly Beth seemed to overcome her addiction. Maybe I'm thinking about how addiction is dramatized in media, but it felt too simple. We hear her thoughts while she's struggling a bit, but she doesn't really fall off the bandwagon at any point.

Overall, interesting book, but I wouldn't really recommend anyone reading it over watching the show unless they're more interested in the chess details themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, and Sexism

kaylee1957's review against another edition

dark inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, and Death of parent

More tense than any of the thriller I've read in a long time. Finished in a day. Would read again. Better than the show.

thehappylittleelf's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Any time an author makes me interested in learning a thing I have no interest in learning, they did a great job! The rabbit holes I fell into looking into the rules of chess was fun and also distracting, hahahaha. 
I did enjoy Beth as a main character, and I was rooting for her in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

lkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

angelaaaa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Racial slurs

vvsmydiamonds's review against another edition

informative inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

merle98's review against another edition

dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Shamefully I must admit that I did not know the Netflix show I watched and loved was based on a book, but when I found out I knew I had to read it. Even after watching the show which surprisingly closely follows the plot of the book, the book was captivating from start to finish and, as my lovely book vendor told me, goes much deeper into the psyche of Beth which massively improves the story. I do feel that the start of the book is a little stronger than the end and there was a lot of fascinating but incomprehensible chess speak (to an outsider like me) but these are just minor grievances: Would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Terminal illness