The Queen's gambit

by Walter Tevis

Hardcover, 243 pages

English language

Published Nov. 3, 1983 by Random House.

ISBN:: 978-0-394-52801-4

(8 reviews)

Beth Harmon, an orphan by eight years old, is unremarkable. She is plain and she knows it. In the Kentucky orphanage, she hordes the tranquilizers handed to the children daily to quell the ache of dullness and routine.

A formidable math student, she is allowed to clean the blackboard erasers in the basement where she find the janitor playing chess daily. He is a sour old man and pays her no mind until she suggests a move he could have made. She learned the basics of the game by watching and he slowly teaches her the intricacies as she earns the right to learn them. Throughout the process her mind races and her dull, plain existence is replaced by the realization of prodigy.

By the age of sixteen she is competing, under the new freedom of adoption, for the US Open and is on her way to international stardom if …

By the age of sixteen she is competing, under the new freedom of adoption, for the US Open and is on her way to international stardom if she learns to prioritize her chess, her addictions, and the distractions of youth.

11 editions

LizAndra reviewed The Queen's gambit by Walter Tevis

Wonderful story, terrible narrator (spoiler in final paragraph)

4 stars

I should say up front that I've never played chess. And yet, this is still a ripping good story even with all the chess talk. The author does a masterful job of making sure that you will enjoy the story even if you know nothing about chess at all. That in itself is an amazing feat.

In fact, even though this narrator is highly annoying, I still loved the book. I had to crank up the speed to get past her deadpan delivery. Oh, I yearn to hear this book read by a skilled narrator, one who can bring emotional nuance to a complex character such as Elizabeth. Instead, we have a narrator who sounds like she takes as many downers as Elizabeth does.

Back to the writing. The story maintains tension with a degree of substance use that is quite frightening in places. We end the book with Elizabeth …

Back to the writing. The story maintains tension with a degree of substance use that is quite frightening in places. We end the book with Elizabeth achieving her chess goals, but still dependent on pills. It feels... unfinished. I hope that means that there is a sequel in the offing. And I hope they'll hire a better narrator.