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A review by okiecozyreader
The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Last night I finished The World Played Chess for my local bookclub. I didn’t realize it was a Vietnam story… which is coincidental, bc I need to start The Women. I started this one a couple years ago on audio and I wasn’t able to follow it. The kindle version was a lot easier to follow. Dugoni is so good at telling these human stories. I kept thinking about Good Morning Vietnam as I was reading this one. Curious how it will compare to The Women.
That is my second book by Robert Dugoni. He is so good at character development and story telling. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell is also so good. This one alternated between a person telling his story during the Vietnam war in a journal, then the same person sharing some of his story with an 18 year old guy who he’s working with on a construction crew, and then the 18 year old guy grown up with his own high school children as he receives the journal in the mail from the vet, and remembers that summer. The author spent a summer himself working with a couple of Vietnam veterans and wanted to tell the story of growing up.
“The world, it seemed, had been busy playing chess, While I had played checkers . . . and ignored the rest.”
Prologue
“Growing old is a privilege, not a right, Shutter. You learn that quickly here in Nam, and the sooner the better. What happened today is over. You’re here. You still got a job to do. Comprende?” April 7, 1968
“I was trained not to think about consequences. I was trained to fight whoever was there.” Ch 14
“… if you learn just one thing from his death, if you learn that life is fragile at any age, and that every day is a gift. His death won’t be for nothing if you learn to celebrate each morning that you wake, take a breath, and realize you’re still alive and the day is filled with endless potential.” Ch 20
“I intended to write about that critical moment in every boy’s life when he goes from being a boy to being a man.” Authors note
“The world played chess while I played checkers.” I had never heard it, so I looked it up. Sometimes we know so little, we are not even playing the same game everyone else is playing. Chess is complex and strategic and requires that we think several moves ahead of our opponent. We need to map out our future and be prepared to make unexpected deviations when necessary. In 1979, I was still deciding whether to jump the checker in front of me and get crowned. That summer changed me.” Authors note
That is my second book by Robert Dugoni. He is so good at character development and story telling. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell is also so good. This one alternated between a person telling his story during the Vietnam war in a journal, then the same person sharing some of his story with an 18 year old guy who he’s working with on a construction crew, and then the 18 year old guy grown up with his own high school children as he receives the journal in the mail from the vet, and remembers that summer. The author spent a summer himself working with a couple of Vietnam veterans and wanted to tell the story of growing up.
“The world, it seemed, had been busy playing chess, While I had played checkers . . . and ignored the rest.”
Prologue
“Growing old is a privilege, not a right, Shutter. You learn that quickly here in Nam, and the sooner the better. What happened today is over. You’re here. You still got a job to do. Comprende?” April 7, 1968
“I was trained not to think about consequences. I was trained to fight whoever was there.” Ch 14
“… if you learn just one thing from his death, if you learn that life is fragile at any age, and that every day is a gift. His death won’t be for nothing if you learn to celebrate each morning that you wake, take a breath, and realize you’re still alive and the day is filled with endless potential.” Ch 20
“I intended to write about that critical moment in every boy’s life when he goes from being a boy to being a man.” Authors note
“The world played chess while I played checkers.” I had never heard it, so I looked it up. Sometimes we know so little, we are not even playing the same game everyone else is playing. Chess is complex and strategic and requires that we think several moves ahead of our opponent. We need to map out our future and be prepared to make unexpected deviations when necessary. In 1979, I was still deciding whether to jump the checker in front of me and get crowned. That summer changed me.” Authors note
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Racial slurs