Netflix’s most watched limited series to date! The thrilling novel of one young woman’s journey through the worlds of chess and drug addiction. When eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s parents are killed in an automobile accident, she’s placed in an orphanage in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though … prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more—and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother’s tranquilizers to which she is becoming addicted.
At thirteen, Beth wins the chess tournament. By the age of sixteen she is competing in the US Open Championship and, like Fast Eddie in The Hustler, she hates to lose. By eighteen she is the US champion—and Russia awaits . . .
Fast-paced and elegantly written, The Queen’s Gambit is a thriller masquerading as a chess novel—one that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
“The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” —Michael Ondaatje, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The English Patient
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I’m not a chess player but I really enjoyed this book. Great story.
I thought this book was really good, HOWEVER, I cannot recommend it because of its using the Lord’s name in vain, once coupled with my least favorite “f” word.
A Little Too Linear
I read The Queen’s Gambit because my eldest son was raving about it. I haven’t watched the TV show and had no idea what it was about until I picked up the book. My son, on the other hand, used to play chess for Lincolnshire county and also for his high school chess team (against Eton on several occasions), so he knew what he was getting into.
However, much like Benny, he gave up serious chess playing at an early age when he discovered he could make $300+ in an hour playing poker instead.
The Opening
The first few chapters are strong. They involve family deaths and establishing Beth’s place in the world. They very much reminded me of the opening of Jane Eyre, and the book as a whole reminded me of Charlotte Brontë’s life since Jane Eyre is simply an exploration of Brontë’s Self.
Much like Jane and Charlotte, Beth finds herself at an orphan’s boarding school where Christianity is taught as dogma rather than love and the discipline and punishments are unfair. And, like Charlotte, Beth finds a way to get her revenge before the end of this story.
The Characters
The characters are all engaging and well developed. This is a character driven story.
Beth is quickly established as a sympathetic character due to her parents’ deaths in the opening. She continues to draw sympathy because of her treatment at the school, the neglect of her adopted mother, and her long-term drug and alcohol issues.
I did like the way in which the author explores the exploitation of public figures for political gain. I liked how the feminist journalist was more interested in focusing on the fact that Beth was a female rather than her chess. I loved that Beth didn’t care that she was a girl and wished they would just recognize that she was the best.
Beth easily passes the Bechdel-Wallace Test through her eagerness to speak with other women about chess and her irritation when they want to speak about other issues. There is an element of frustration about misogynistic attitudes toward her in the chess world, but I wouldn’t call this novel feminist. Beth is good at chess because she is a good chess player and not because she is a woman. She hates it when critics focus on her gender rather than her playing.
I wasn’t particularly impressed at Beth’s habit of sleeping with every major hurdle chess master along the way. At least, that’s what it felt like as the book progressed. It sometimes felt as though her victory over her opponents wasn’t complete until she’d conquered them in bed as well as on the chequered board.
Jolene is my favorite character, and I was disappointed she didn’t feature more in the book. I wanted to see more of her, and I wanted more out of her relationship with Beth. Especially, I would have liked to have seen Beth drag Jolene into the limelight somewhat by, for example, posing with her for a magazine article or mentioning her as a mentor figure when she was speaking to journalists during this novel’s resolution.
I liked Benny’s role in this book a lot, and especially his part toward the end. I can’t say more without introducing spoilers, but his role was my favorite element of the resolution.
On the other hand, I was disappointed that Townes disappeared from the story. Given that they are both members of the small number of people involved in chess at a high level, Beth and he should have been able to meet again. I felt their relationship arc was incomplete.
The Plot
The plot and resolution were disappointing for me. I’d heard so much about how good it was, but much of the plot progression was cliche, and the main plot was too linear.
I don’t think it’s spoiling too much to say that the main element of this story is that Beth is good at chess and wants to prove that she’s the best in the world. The main conflict revolves around her addiction and the way it prevents her from doing her best. But the whole book just runs smoothly from A to Z.
There is never any strong feeling that she can’t achieve her goals. The resolution is predictable. I kept hoping that something surprising would happen near the end, but it doesn’t. Her handling of some of her issues seemed too easy. She didn’t struggle as much as I would have liked.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I really enjoyed reading Beth’s struggles, and the resolution is very satisfying. It’s just that I expected the unexpected, and that was not delivered.
I sometimes wondered if the author had read a book about literary fiction and then tried to tick all the boxes. There are all the elements you might expect in literary fiction, such as the basement as a metaphor for hidden and forbidden learning and the whole return to the beginning of the story thing, with Beth’s return to the orphanage and her sitting down to play chess with a grumpy old stranger at the end.
I can’t list the cliches because they would become spoilers. I will tell you one of the earliest ones because it won’t spoil this story. On p. 72, chapter 4, Beth is reaching the climax of her first important chess tournament, the first involving money and a ranking. Then she begins to menstruate for the first time.
This is a moment you see in so many coming of age stories with a female athlete who is just about to prove how good she is, and then she gets thrown off her game by biology.
Although much of the story revolves around chess, you don’t need to be an expert or even to like the game to enjoy this book. I know little about chess myself, but I still enjoyed the story. However, I feel that chess enthusiasts would enjoy it even more.
The Setting
The cold war setting is fabulous. I loved every part of the descriptions, especially Beth’s house during its period of maximum neglect.
The Prose
The author’s writing style is faultless. The prose is immersive and the story is shown rather than told.
My Opinion
The Queen’s Gambit is a delightful book that I enjoyed reading. I was disappointed by the predictable ending, but the resolution was satisfying anyway. I wish Jolene had featured more, but we can’t all get what we want out of a story.
I am going to rate this story as 8 out of 10. If Jolene had played more of a part or if the ending had involved a twist, I would have rated it higher. This will translate to 4 out of 5 on Goodreads and Amazon.
There is clearly something fundamentally different about the way Ms. Harmon’s (the protagonist’s) brain works. Her ability to segment her issues, her dispassionate rationality, and especially her analytic ability. Yet, all we ordinary readers find bits and pieces of ourselves in her. Yielding to temptations, reforming ourselves, disallowing people to get close to us, experiencing needs like loneliness but helpless to make changes. It’s as if we have had these problems in small enough doses to develop some immunity, while she is overwhelmed by the full dose exposure. I am greatful to the author for finding a way to depict this that is suspenseful and sympathetic.
I was surprised by how captivating this story is, not being a particular fan of chess. The characters were all interesting and the story moved along at a steady pace. By half way through I could barely put it down.
Can’t give this anything less than 5 stars, it inspired one of my favorite shows to date. That being said, it was a little hard to read because:
1. The show follows the book very closely so it was a little boring since I already knew what to expect.
2. I do not understand chess at a level where I can comprehend what is going on when the moves/squares on the board are written out. I need visuals!!!
There are a few differences from the show but I honestly prefer the route the show went for all of them. I do feel like I could’ve just watched the show and skipped out on reading the book entirely, but still enjoyed seeing where it came from.
Great story about chess world. Loved it
I enjoyed the strong female characters in this book. I know nothing about chess but still found the book to entertaining and lively. When I was forced to put the book down, I always wanted to go back to it and read.
After watching the superb NETFLIX adaptation of this book, I was curious about the book. The adaptation adheres very closely to the novel, with the exception of building more backstory than Tevis gives us; the scenes between Beth and her mother, in particular, are developed more fully than in the book. For those who have not seen the NETFLIX version, it’s a great read, with spare, direct prose, and a quick pace. I had already seen the end of the series, and I knew how it ended, and I STILL found myself racing through the last quarter of the book, in a good way. That’s a measure of the suspense Tevis builds into the story.
That said, when I went back and reread sections (when I wasn’t reading for plot), I realized (to my great enjoyment) how subtly Tevis had woven in some suggestive, nuanced themes. For example, here are the opening lines: “Beth learned of her mother’s death from a woman with a clipboard. The next day her picture appeared in the Herald-Leader. … A legend under her picture read: ‘Orphaned by yesterday’s pile-up on New Circle Road, Elizaeth harmon surveys a troubled future.'” So from the first lines, he suggests that Beth apprehends her life not as her own lived experience but mediated through the eyes of others, through words and photographs about her, and in the company of someone with a [clip]board. The plot propels the story along, but it was with pleasure that I went back to the beginning and thought about chess as the central metaphor, with all its multiple meanings. I’ll be adding his other books to my TBR.
This book deals with the effects of isolation, addiction and sexism on a girl born with an amazing ability. Orphaned at an early age, Beth is given tranquilizers (along with all the other orphanage inmates) to keep her calm and manageable. This begins an addictive pattern that continues into alcohol abuse. Chess is the one shining thing that helps Beth rise above her circumstances. But even in the chess world she is regarded as an anomaly–a female chess player in the midst of male “masters.” Her journey and hopefully ultimate triumph are an inspiration as are the author’s descriptions of her ability to visualize the games. Oddly, since I don’t know chess, these descriptions were my favorite parts of the book, a testament to the power of this unique human mind. Also inspirational is Beth’s ability to create a supportive community despite her veery real sense of isolation and loneliness.
Understated writing makes for a remarkably compelling read … or in my case listen.
It is a chess-heavy story but don’t let that deter you. I have no interest in chess but I was enthralled. Who would have thought a story about chess could create such tension?
Amy Landon did an excellent job with her narration.
Excellent all round.
My god, what a wonderful book. The story follows the life of Beth Harmon, a young girl, orphaned as a child after the death of her mother and sent to a state orphanage. There, Beth will be introduced to three things that will define her life. The first is the institution’s practice of sedating the children in its charge to keep them “manageable,” beginning Beth’s dependency on sedatives. The second is her friendship with an older girl, Jolene, forming a bond that would help Beth survive the orphanage and later in life, recover from decisions she regrets. But the third and most important is her introduction, by the school’s janitor, to the game of chess. It quickly becomes apparent that young Beth is a prodigy. What follows is a fascinating story of a young girl journey to become an adult, and her battles both over the chess board as she rises to the top of the chess world, and with herself, as she fights the fears and the temptations to medicate them away. Tevis’s mastery of storytelling and character development never falters, and the reader is quickly rooting for Beth, with all her humanity and fears and strengths and weaknesses, hoping she will find a way to win both her battles. I *think* this book will appeal to even non-chess players, but if you’re a chess player like me and ever played the game seriously, you will appreciate the chess as much as the story. The positions and moves are accurate and true to the game. Highly recommended.
Even if you watched the series, this book is worth a read.
I recently watched the recently released Netflix series by the same name, and I was impressed. The acting, direction, pacing, and attention to detail are worth watching. Of course, after reading the book, I can see why the show did so well.
The book, though, is a masterpiece of writing, in my opinion. Tevis’s pacing and ability to capture a scene is interesting to study and a joy to read. It is interesting to see the game of chess, in my view, become a character itself. Beth, the main character, not only struggles with her own internal and external conflicts, but she has conflicts with chess. How to get better. How to overcome its seemingly infinite possibilities to see cracks in her own weaknesses and her opponents’ weaknesses or mistakes.
Even if you don’t enjoy chess (or even games) you’ll likely enjoy this story. It is a story that can resonate with anyone – how to overcome life’s challenges, despite being knocked down on occasion. How to learn how to ask for help and accept help that is offered in order to become a better person. To see how much time it takes to become better a something, and that no matter how much natural talent someone has, any skill requires many hours of singular focus.
Considering how closely the show used the book, that alone should be enough of an indication to the book’s quality. Adaptations are hard – they usually fail in many cases, especially in the book to movie/show format. Things that are changed for the sake of the show’s needs, etc.; however, this book’s quality needed very few changes.
You’d think a book about chess, a game where often players sit staring at the board for half an hour, then move a pawn one space, would not be a gripping novel. But this one is. It was originally published in the 1980s and was the basis of the recent TV series (which I have not seen).
The story is really about not the game of chess so much as about Beth Harmon (who could have been a real person, though she wasn’t), orphaned on the first page, sent to an orphanage, eventually adopted by a dysfunctional couple, having to make her own way as a teenager, a girl who seemed to have everything going against her, except she was a chess prodigy.
The book’s focus is on her, stubborn, often making what are now called poor choices, having difficulty relating to people, yet carried along by her love of chess. It comes easily to her when she’s very young, but the book makes it clear you have to train and practice and prepare and work just as much to succeed at the game as you do for an athletic competition.
It helps to know at least the rudiments of chess, but you don’t have to be a master to get caught up in the story and keep turning the pages to find out if Beth can ever beat one of the formidable Russian players. This is a story that will stay with you.
I listened to this book on Audible. I thought this was a great story! This book is about a girl who started out in an orphanage and found something she was good at. She was looked down upon and was told she couldn’t do it, but did it. However, it would have been better if she didn’t have to depend on drugs and alcohol. But that is part of life. I do like the part of it empowering young girls though. Now I am going to watch the show on Netflix to compare. I definitely recommend this to read/listen to.
Loved it even though I had already seen the show!
Even though I understand the rudiments of chess, the descriptions of the chess games were not only over my head, but too detailed. I could also have done without the drugs.
The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis was given to me as a gift. It is also a Netflix series which I knew nothing about when I received this book. I can honestly say I probably wouldn’t have chosen this book on my own. But I can also honestly say that it’s this book that I will still remember and think about months from now.
Elizabeth (Beth) Harmon became an orphan at age eight. With no relatives, she was sent to Methuen Home, an orphanage in Kentucky. She was alone and scared. The orphanage used little green pills to calm the children and Beth began to depend on those pills a little too much. It was the orphanage’s janitor that introduced Beth to the game of chess. A game she would soon discover she had a talent for.
It would be about five years before Beth was able to leave the orphanage. Now Beth was able to truly study chess and at age thirteen entered her first tournament. This event began both the rise and the fall of Beth Harmon. She was indeed a prodigy. She had a natural intuition for the game. But she also struggled with anxiety. With a feeling of not belonging. A feeling that those little green pills helped to ease. And later, she discovered alcohol did as well.
I can honestly say that this book haunted me. Last night I had to stop around eighty percent because it was late. But found I couldn’t sleep, thinking about Beth and what would happen with the particular situation she was in. I also want to say that some may think of Beth as being weak due to her dependencies. But I think she was unbelievably strong. She was completely alone. She clawed and fought her way up in the chess world. She studied all the players, read books, memorized past matches. She had one goal, to beat the best player of all at the biggest match of all, in Russia.
I pretty much went into this blind. I knew it was about chess and that it had become a television series. I did not expect the impact it would have. It’s obvious that the author did a lot of research regarding chess, chess players, and play strategies. There was a lot of detail of Beth’s chess plays and I did end up skimming a little bit through some of these since I’m not a chess player and I didn’t understand them. I just needed to know the outcome for Beth and what was going to happen next.
During the time’s I needed to set this book down for whatever reason, I thought constantly about Beth. And it’s Beth that I’ll be thinking about months from now. This is one of those books that stays with you. If at some future time I become a Netflix subscriber, I’ll definitely watch the series. But for now, perhaps the book or series will initiate new interest in the game of chess.
I’m not surprised that it was made into a show. Her character wasn’t warm and relatable, in fact the opposite, but I wanted her to succeed.