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miles_prower 's review for:
The Queen's Gambit
by Walter Tevis
3 out of 5 stars
"When she advanced the pawn to the seventh rank, she heard a soft grunt from him as though she had punched him in the stomach."
Note: I have not seen the Netflix series, so this review is purely based on the book without anything else involved.
Hmm, I am kind of mixed on this one. On the one hand, the story was pretty good and was mostly executed well, but on the other hand, I still feel like I am missing something. A lot of ideas from this book actually reminded me of the novel "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine", and unfortunately, I think that book handled those elements better. Here, I felt like I was left hanging with a lot of things by the end of the book and way too many plot points were neatly wrapped up and didn't feel like they had much consequence.
However, I still mostly enjoyed "The Queens Gambit" regardless. As a fan of chess myself, the chess elements were obviously a pretty big draw for me. It was fun reading about how Beth planned out her moves and such, but I was only able to visualize a few of the positions in my head with what information was given. It also didn't help that the chess notation used in the book follows "descriptive notation" instead of the modern "algebraic notation" which most chess players are familiar with nowadays. I guess the author wanted to make sure that things were accurate for the time period (the cold war era)? I found it to be disorienting, and like I said earlier, I had a harder time imagining what sort of chess positions were in play. Either way, the chess positions aren't what really matter in the story, they are just a fun inclusion for chess nerds.
The only other thing I wasn't a huge fan of was
Ultimately, I think the story here is worth a read for chess and non-chess players alike. It is crafted pretty well, but as stated earlier in the review, I simply have a few critiques about it.
"When she advanced the pawn to the seventh rank, she heard a soft grunt from him as though she had punched him in the stomach."
Note: I have not seen the Netflix series, so this review is purely based on the book without anything else involved.
Hmm, I am kind of mixed on this one. On the one hand, the story was pretty good and was mostly executed well, but on the other hand, I still feel like I am missing something. A lot of ideas from this book actually reminded me of the novel "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine", and unfortunately, I think that book handled those elements better. Here, I felt like I was left hanging with a lot of things by the end of the book and way too many plot points were neatly wrapped up and didn't feel like they had much consequence.
However, I still mostly enjoyed "The Queens Gambit" regardless. As a fan of chess myself, the chess elements were obviously a pretty big draw for me. It was fun reading about how Beth planned out her moves and such, but I was only able to visualize a few of the positions in my head with what information was given. It also didn't help that the chess notation used in the book follows "descriptive notation" instead of the modern "algebraic notation" which most chess players are familiar with nowadays. I guess the author wanted to make sure that things were accurate for the time period (the cold war era)? I found it to be disorienting, and like I said earlier, I had a harder time imagining what sort of chess positions were in play. Either way, the chess positions aren't what really matter in the story, they are just a fun inclusion for chess nerds.
The only other thing I wasn't a huge fan of was
Spoiler
the fact that Beth basically wins pretty much every game she plays in the story. Even real-life chess prodigies lose their fair share of games, but this book seemingly ignored this fact. Sure, she lost a few games to world champions, but what about when she was working her way up to US champion? Are you trying to tell me that she barely ever lost? That's not very believable.Ultimately, I think the story here is worth a read for chess and non-chess players alike. It is crafted pretty well, but as stated earlier in the review, I simply have a few critiques about it.