A novel about chess, set in the 1960s? How good could that even be?

Turns out: fairly good.

Although (and this isn’t that common for me) I did enjoy the TV show more.

It’s an entire world of just 64 squares. I feel safe in it. I can control it; I can dominate it. And it’s predictable. So, if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame.

In a nutshell, we follow orphan Beth Harmon as she discovers chess–but also drugs–gets adopted, really gets into chess, wins a bunch of games, loses a few, faces addition and loss, and ends up playing the best in the world.

It’s a strange, intense story for a strange, intense girl.

She had flirted with alcohol for years. Now it was time to consummate the relationship.

There’s an interesting contrast between the parts of the stories about Beth’s relationships and addiction and the descriptions of the chess game. Honestly, I’ve no idea how accurate they are, but they certainly feel chesslike!

Personally, I think if you’re only going to do one or the other, I would recommend the show, but really, I think I enjoyed both for different reasons.

And what did being women have to do with it? She was better than any male player in America. She remembered the Life interviewer and the questions about her being a woman in a man’s world. To hell with her; it wouldn’t be a man’s world when she finished with it.