Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Queen's Gambit: A Novel by Walter Tevis

165 reviews

kbeucler's review against another edition

3.5

To be honest, I think the Netflix show was better. Is this blasphemy? The show is a really faithful adaptation and all the best parts of the book are in the show. The biggest difference is probably the character of Jolene, who in the show is a really great female character and a good friend to Beth. (The next part of this review I don’t consider a spoiler because the event is not important to the main plot, but stop reading now if you don’t want to know.)

In the book Jolene sexually assaults Beth in the orphanage when they are children and then this is never addressed again. Not only was it entirely unnecessary to the plot, it also is never resolved. Beth never realizes what happened to her and she and Jolene continue to be good friends.

I wish Beth had had other female friends in the book. I also felt like Tevis was really hung up on how attractive every character was and seemed like he went out of his way to make Beth a sexual character. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, it seemed unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

rachaelbunny's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexism, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Bullying, Vomit, and Abandonment

sarafultz's review against another edition

dark informative relaxing fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

sarah2438's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

2.5

This is a book about chess, more than anything else, which is why I struggled with it. Of course I knew that would be a major piece, but I expected (and spend the whole book hoping) that we could focus on some of the other themes that were in the background. Beth being pretty clearly not neurotypical, her processing the deaths of her parents, the nitty gritty of her addiction. But just like Beth herself, this book just... didn't really care about any of that. I kept waiting for some real introspection on Beth's part, or a contemplation of her life beyond chess, but it just never happened. I respect the amount of research the author put into creating this book, but there is just so much time spent using technical jargon of chess that is never actually explained to the reader. It got to the point where I was skimming through the paragraph  and paragraphs of actual gameplay. I think this book is fine but you really need to be a chess fan to enjoy it, and unfortunately that's just not me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent

chiqui's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry

annaf1tz's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault and Racism

bubblyfemme's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-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

4.0

I read this book because of the Netflix show, which I absolutely adore. 
The show kept very true to the story, which I enjoyed because I felt as if I was doing my normal rewatch of the show. I loved getting to see a little more of Beth’s internal thoughts, and a little bit more about her time in the orphanage.
However, there was a scene taken out in the show (rightfully, in my opinion.) of childhood sexual assault, which is completely brushed over, something I that I think was really irresponsible of the author. Plus the racial slurs which may have been ‘historically accurate’, but were unneeded. the story was written by a white man, so I don't think it was his place to write racism into a story like this. 
This is why the story in my opinion does not warrant five stars despite the rest of story, being one of my all-time favourites. 

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Content Warnings

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

gwrhyr's review against another edition

emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

The Queen's Gambit is a genuine masterpiece. This book had me crying and laughing with the protagonist.
Never before have I read a man write a woman so well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Bullying

aguattery's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It was good but I probably wouldn't read it again. If I didn't have the visuals from tv show I would have had a pretty difficult time following it. 

I did like that the author was able to almost write this like a thriller. Each game has me at the edge of my seat. It was also a bit of an emotional roller coaster with some really high high and some really low lows. 

Also it's not listed high in the trigger warnings so there are racial slurs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexism