Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

53 reviews

antonia_schuro's review against another edition

Too much sexualized stuff with no purpose. Men writing women. Cant relate to main character, seems stilted and artificial. Feels like auther didn’t know at times how to continue and made
Main character think about sex. No real connection to story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Car accident, and Child abuse

lindseythelibrarian's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense

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

3.5

I know for a FACT I would not have loved this book that much had I not watched the Netflix series first and would have probably given it 4-4.5 stars. The series, for me, was probably deserving of five-stars! After listening to this title, it was definitely interesting, but I found the show to be more iconic. I liked the narrator and I thought they perfectly encapsulated the generally reserved but driven Beth Harmon. 

Even though I know little to nothing about chess, I still found the many parts of this book that reference chess to be interesting and found that I was still able to understand what was happening enough to stay intrigued.

While this book follows Beth Harmon who ends up at 19 at the end of the book, this is not a YA title; this book almost read like a nonfiction title. I would recommend this book for people who liked the show, enjoy stories about women's empowerment, and would enjoy reading about 1960's society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Sexism

lalu's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

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

5.0

Beth learns how to play chess from the janitor of the orphanage. After being adopted as a teen, a stellar career as a professional chess player at tournaments begins, streaked by drugs, alcohol and difficult relationships.

An intensive writing style and a remarkable and authentic protagonist! And even with little knowledge about chess, the games are extremely gripping!
I honestly felt a bit forlorn when I finished the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexism

ellainalisa's review

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

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

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

abyssalice's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

evenstarwen's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Car accident, and Sexism

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

boobies's review against another edition

dark inspiring tense fast-paced

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

3.0

ughh I love it but I hate it.
its a fast paced, easy read book that anyone could get into, it was a bit dark but I think that was Teviss' goal, the themes of mental illness, addiction, adoption and feminism are well done in my eyes. I dont know if anyone else thought that Beth was autistic but that was a strong vibe I was getting. However :( , this book is soo obviously written by a man who has no clue about young women, tbh it was a bit annoying. plus all the characters had deep flaws which make most of them unlikeable and the ending was predictable. ♡

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Racial slurs

Minor: Car accident, Cursing, and Death of parent