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ajtye 's review for:
The Queen's Gambit
by Walter Tevis
Reads like the work of a born storyteller, moving relentlessly through its story, eliminating all the excess.
A lot of other reviewers have talked about how hard the book is to put down. I didn’t have that experience, though the writing does draw you in through its sheer ease and confidence. At first I thought that this difference was due to watching the TV show first, which seems to be a near paragraph-by-paragraph retelling of the source material. On further reflection, I think this story just doesn’t do a whole lot for me.
There’s a lot of energy that Trevis mines from the theme of using victory and gamesmanship to triumph over trauma, and the power-fantasy of Beth going from strength to strength is appealing. But I didn’t take much from it in the way of atmosphere or any greater ideas, and for as brilliantly as Trevis turns the act of chess-playing into satisfying action, the sheer volume of it eventually made my eyes glaze over.
I will always admire this novel for the way it is written, but that precision of prose also highlights my disconnect. It’s an obviously consummate work: strong and confident; neat and mechanical.
A lot of other reviewers have talked about how hard the book is to put down. I didn’t have that experience, though the writing does draw you in through its sheer ease and confidence. At first I thought that this difference was due to watching the TV show first, which seems to be a near paragraph-by-paragraph retelling of the source material. On further reflection, I think this story just doesn’t do a whole lot for me.
There’s a lot of energy that Trevis mines from the theme of using victory and gamesmanship to triumph over trauma, and the power-fantasy of Beth going from strength to strength is appealing. But I didn’t take much from it in the way of atmosphere or any greater ideas, and for as brilliantly as Trevis turns the act of chess-playing into satisfying action, the sheer volume of it eventually made my eyes glaze over.
I will always admire this novel for the way it is written, but that precision of prose also highlights my disconnect. It’s an obviously consummate work: strong and confident; neat and mechanical.