Reviews

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

Only show reviews with written explanations

galihoffman's review against another edition

4.0

I think I would have liked this book more if I hadn’t seen the show!!! The show was a pretty good reflection of the book so there weren’t many surprises or new scenes. I still overall liked it and was entertained, but it was also hard to picture the long chess game descriptions because I barely know how to play chess…

I also don’t love reading about people hitting rock bottom because then I get stressed, and Beth hit rock bottom a lot. The show made her story seem more feel-good and girl boss-ish, but the book was mostly just cool chess moves and her feeling overwhelmed. Still good though!! I would definitely recommend reading this BEFORE watching the show though.

aleuvita's review against another edition

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5.0

Indiscutiblemente, una gran obra de walter.

De principio a fin me mantuvo enganchada al libro, beth es un personaje entrañable con el cual me pude identificar y no porque tuviéramos cosas similares que realizáramos, si no mas bien, el deseo de querer ganar a costa de todo. No entiendo la gran cosa del ajedrez pero incluso con eso, me mantuve al tanto en todo el libro y para nada me pareció aburrido ni algo similar, un gran libro con grandes personajes, sin duda de lo mejor que he leído.

liestef's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s extremely rare that I give a book five stars, but I couldn’t give this any less!

I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish, and it’s even better than the Netflix adaptation (which I admit to seeing first).

It is enthralling in places, and made the game of chess - which I know absolutely nothing about - interesting to me, to the point that I now want to learn it!

I got so engrossed in this that I forgot all my troubles, and for me, that is what a book should do.

I listened to the audiobook version, and while the narrator was truly awful, I sped it up to a comfortable speed.

bouldermimi's review against another edition

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5.0

Read 5/28/2021 - Audiobook

Watched the Netflix series a few months back and loved it. Just finished listening to the audiobook, and I don't know which I loved more. The show was so true to the book, that I could picture it as I listened, and it all fit. I will never understand chess, but both the show and the audiobook made it seem more exciting than I ever thought it could be. Even knowing the outcome of the story, I was still breathless at the end.

zsommers's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

cdicara17's review against another edition

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3.0

I somewhat ironically chose to read this immediately after MYORAR. The show really was shot for shot for a lot of the book, but I liked the end of the book where Benny just up and calls her. Not a fan of too much sap in the ending, I prefer painful realism. Gentle read despite some horrible plots that happen with drug and sexual abuse. Beth, dump all of them girl. Damn she is so smart. I enjoyed listening to the chess games being played. I know nothing about chess, nor do I have any desire to learn, but I appreciate the art of the game. A relatively simple but quite effective story of a badass prodigy. Written by a man

mainecharacter's review against another edition

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3.0

i only understood the very very basics of chess before reading this and yet was still able to enjoy and understand the thrill of chess (although i think it would've been more enjoyable and appreciate it if i understood the plays). i enjoyed following along beth's journey as a prodigy and how she coped with it all together with her struggles with addiction.

the characters were naturally mostly into chess and didn't have any development other than that so if you're looking for in-dept characters this might not be the book for you.

i have not watched the series (yet) so i can't comment on how it compares to the book

overall: 3/5