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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mcconnor losing all his money to czentovic is the kind of enemies to lovers trope that still needs to be written
Learning to see chess as a prisoner's game, a flattened imitation of life, is both disturbing and profound.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
unexpectedly enthralling exploration of the psychological aspect of chess. wish this was longer
Zweig's final novel Chess Story is about two men having a chess match. Wow! who'd a thought. But wait, there's more... Yes, actually, there is more than just two men playing chess. This book goes deeper than just the match, in fact, it rarely mentions the actions of the game and primarily focuses on the psychological aspects of the players, including the two men's backstory's, past experiences with chess, and attitudes in match.
The narrator concentrates on the obsession of chess between the two men, with Czentovic (antagonist?) being an idiot-savant who is unexplainably god at chess but terrible at anything else, and Dr. B, a lawyer who was captured by Nazis and forced into isolation for an extremely long period of time, where he studied a chess book for the time being, memorizing and mastering every match provided in the book.
The part describing B's time in confinement is the longest part in the novel, which I think helps in portraying the effects of prolonged solitude, isolation, and loneliness, as well as showing what the human mind is resorts to when under the same conditions for days, weeks, years on end: obsession ad madness. B literally gets 'chess fever' by fixating on the chess book for so long, and falls into a nervous attack one night in bed and proceeds to spew out algebraic chess notation, which the hospital staff can't hardly explain.
This novella presents us with a fascinating view into the psychology of the human mind, especially the topics of obsession and loneliness, which I think gives the most realistic and impressive portrayal of loneliness I've seen in a while besides from Kate Gompert's story in Infinite Jest. Must read, and it won't even take you a day to read this.
The narrator concentrates on the obsession of chess between the two men, with Czentovic (antagonist?) being an idiot-savant who is unexplainably god at chess but terrible at anything else, and Dr. B, a lawyer who was captured by Nazis and forced into isolation for an extremely long period of time, where he studied a chess book for the time being, memorizing and mastering every match provided in the book.
The part describing B's time in confinement is the longest part in the novel, which I think helps in portraying the effects of prolonged solitude, isolation, and loneliness, as well as showing what the human mind is resorts to when under the same conditions for days, weeks, years on end: obsession ad madness. B literally gets 'chess fever' by fixating on the chess book for so long, and falls into a nervous attack one night in bed and proceeds to spew out algebraic chess notation, which the hospital staff can't hardly explain.
This novella presents us with a fascinating view into the psychology of the human mind, especially the topics of obsession and loneliness, which I think gives the most realistic and impressive portrayal of loneliness I've seen in a while besides from Kate Gompert's story in Infinite Jest. Must read, and it won't even take you a day to read this.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
i liked both chess players back story and Dr. B seems like a great man
“And I knew with a shiver that in his pacing he was unconsciously tracing the dimensions of his cell; during his months of incarceration he must have paced in just this way, like a caged animal, his hands clenched and his shoulders hunched precisely as they were now; this, just this must have been the way he had walked up and down, thousands of times, the red light of madness in his blank yet feverish gaze.”
I find it hard to believe that many people could read this and not walk away feeling that Zweig is a master of the novella. His final work before his suicide in 1942, Zweig captures so much here in so little time. This book is about human psychology, descent into madness, and the madness of the world during the reign of Nazi Germany. Conveyed through a game of chess aboard a passenger boat, this book is immensely readable and compelling. One of the best examples of what short fiction is capable of.
I am already excited to read this for a second time.
I find it hard to believe that many people could read this and not walk away feeling that Zweig is a master of the novella. His final work before his suicide in 1942, Zweig captures so much here in so little time. This book is about human psychology, descent into madness, and the madness of the world during the reign of Nazi Germany. Conveyed through a game of chess aboard a passenger boat, this book is immensely readable and compelling. One of the best examples of what short fiction is capable of.
I am already excited to read this for a second time.