Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

55 reviews

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

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

Minor: Cursing, Car accident, and Death of parent

pastry's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

3.25

So, I loved the show, and the adaption is very close to the book, so overall, I did enjoy, however, there's some very unnecessary racism in this books, which they didn't put into the show (thank god), so that definitely bumps my rating. Sure, this book is from the 80s, but I just don't think that's a good enough excuse anymore. Plenty of people from old times didn't put racism into their books, so why should I excuse the ones that do because that's what the times were like. So nah. The story overall is fascinating and I really need to learn chess so I can fully appreciate it, but just go watch the show, it's basically the same thing bit with Anja Taylor-Joy and without the unnecessary bits of racism.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

bright_eyed_and_bookish's review against another edition

challenging relaxing tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I read this book without having watched the show or understanding how to play chess. I liked how the first half of the story followed Beth rising as a chess prodigy and rising in the ranks. The second half sees the return of her former competitors into her life in other ways. This book had a great balancing tense chess competition with Beth’s journey through volatile relationships and emotions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

farricoco's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death and Racial slurs

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

in the early pages (page 15 in some editions) there is a graphic description of CSA - this scene is not relevant to the plot/narrative of the book. should anyone need to skip it, it starts on the sentence "sometime in the middle of the night she was awakened." and ends just before the sentence "The next day in the cafeteria, Beth felt wretched from not sleeping."

flordemaga's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I’ve never read a book that was written so straightforwardly, I think. I like it. 

I diagnose Beth Harmon as autistic. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, and Grief

ekmoore11's review

inspiring reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

merricatblackwood's review

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

nickoliver's review against another edition

inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I absolutely adored the TV adaptation and had been close to buying the book several times, so when I found it by chance at the library, I was very excited to pick it up immediately! And while it wasn't the best thing I've ever read, I'm definitely happy to finally having done so.

First of all, the book just reminded me how faithful the adaptation was. I pretty much had the show play in my mind while I was reading, which was pretty nice (and also a bit surprising, since it's been almost six months since I had actually seen it). There were only a few differences to the show as far as I could tell, and most of them were either so minor they didn't matter, or they were positive. For example, Townes being gay and Beth being bisexual weren't book-canon. And even more importantly, in the book, Jolene sexually assaulted Beth when she was eight, and Beth retaliated by calling her the N-word. Both were things that they didn't have on the show.

Just like the adaptation, the book also had its boring moments. The chess games often could be easily skipped. As a matter of fact, they were even more tedious in the book because on the show, I at least got to watch it and didn't have to just merely read it. (Though to be fair, I'm saying this as someone who likes chess enough to know how to play it, but not enough to understand all the phrases.) Towards the end of the book, I actually did skip a lot because I just wanted to be done with it and it was hard. The font was small and the paragraphs long; I just didn't have the concentration or the interest to read every single word.

Character-wise, I definitely enjoyed Beth's voice. I had loved her on the show, because Anya had done such a good job at portraying her, so it was interesting to me to actually get to dive deeper into her psyche. Beth had a very single-minded focus on chess and an absolute trust in her abilities, which was fascinating and admirable. She knew exactly what she wanted and tried everything she could to achieve said goal. At the same time, you could also see that her utter concentration on the game made her appear a bit cold sometimes, since nothing else seemingly mattered. Also, I really liked the way Tevis portrayed her alcoholism and drug addiction, and the way it both helped Beth at playing chess but also hindered her. Personally, I headcanoned her as asexual too, just because she didn't seem to care about sex at all. And the few times she wanted to have it, it was with specific people and only after she knew them for a while. So maybe demi?

Moreover, I really loved Benny. I had also loved him on the show, but here, it was a bit clearer how frustrating he found to be around Beth, who only thought about chess. It showed that being someone who loved her wouldn't be an easy task. I do wish we got to see a less ambiguous ending to their relationship, though.

Overall, it was a bit exhausting and tedious to read this, and I do have to say I probably would have liked it a lot less if I hadn't had the show in my mind at the same time. But I liked delving into Beth's character more and to see her thoughts that the show obviously couldn't show on the same level, and it excited me to see how faithful (to my eyes) the adaptation was.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs

oliverlang's review against another edition

challenging tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent