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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First, an admission: I watched the show before reading the novel.
I found both very good AND different. I think the show tightened the story a bit, making it stronger in some respects. But the book felt more immersive. Even as I knew how the story played out as I was reading it, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book.
So in summary — somethings were better in the book, some were better in the show.
Not being a chess player I found myself skipping over many parts.
I was so enthralled by the Netflix series based on “The Queen’s Gambit” by Walter Tevis, I had to read the book. It’s such a great, unique premise—a young orphan girl being instinctively drawn into a chess obsession after watching the orphanage’s janitor reenacting games in the basement.
Sometimes books don’t translate well into film versions, but having seen the series first, I can say I wasn’t disappointed in either medium. The series was very faithful to the book, and the writing was every bit as compelling as the film version, which had the benefit of showing, as opposed to just telling.
Beth Harmon is an unlikely heroine, but her strengths are what I found so compelling. She’s got everything stacked against her, but she discovers she possesses a talent and a skill that set her apart from everyone else. She’s a masterful creation, a character that stirs our emotions while taking us on a cerebral and physically taxing, breakneck ride. Whatever Beth was going through, whatever highs she felt and whatever depths she plumbed, the reader gets to experience it all in a way that rings true. It’s an awesome tale, and very inspiring.
I had seen the film and enjoyed it. The book showing up on Book Bub was a given. I have been a chess player since school and the game has always fascinated me. I did not learn from the caretaker but other children, maybe I would have been a better player if I had learned from the caretaker. The film follows the book quite closely and even if one cannot play chess it is still a great read
Long and tedious. Especially if you don’t understand chess
Although I know almost nothing about chess, I really enjoyed the book. The characters were great and the story telling.
I watched the Netflex series first, then read the book. I must say that both are fantastic– but the book is a bit more informative of her thought process. Chess is not my thing, but the reader doesn’t need to know anything about chess to be drawn into its world and the time period the story is set in. A true “feel good” read.
Loved this book!
I loved this book because chess fascinates me by its mathematical influence.
Not for everyone.
Rarely does a book qualify as one I can’t put down, but this one did.
I saw the Netflicks series first. Of course the screenwriters added things to fill out the story to make up a whole series. The book is more compact, but a well-written and engrossing work.
Interesting characters, but page after page describing the various chess moves and the “what if I made this move instead”, or replaying the tournament games from years before as she studied them in books. I found myself skipping these parts which took up half the book because I was much more interested in the characters and storyline. Maybe a more advanced chess player would appreciate it more. I will watch the series, however.
This was a very interesting book about a young girl coping quite well with a bum lot in life. She’s let down by a lot of very immature adults and not well educated, but manages to se of-educate herself to become a world class chess master.
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