Madeline
When The Queen’s Gambit became Netflix’s number one show about the greatest chess player female of her age, not only did it make it to my “To Watch” list but also made it to my “To Read” list. As is with many other readers who enjoy movies, the book had to come first. I had to have my own ideas of what the main character Beth was like, and what all the other events accumulated to be. Also, in theme with other readers seem to think, the book was better.
The Premise Of The Queen’s Gambit
Made an orphan at a young age by a car accident that killed her mother, Beth Harmon, lived in a house for girls. While being sent to the basement to clean erasers as a punishment, she discovers the old janitor playing chess and she gets him to teach her how to play and the strategy.
To add to the story, in order to keep the girls under control, they were given tranquilizers, that she kept in a stock pile to take a few at a time at night. Between her new love of chess and her tranquilizers, she is able to see the game in a way she would not otherwise be able to and eventually makes her one of the greatest chess players.
The Book vs. The Show
After reading the book and watching the show back to back, there were a few things that stuck out at me as not being part of the book but being a big theme of the show. The decisions were clearly a deliberate way to make more people interested in a show that may otherwise appear boring due to being about the greatest chess player of her time.
First, is Beth’s struggle with substance abuse. Although it is clear in the book that she takes a lot of substances, it is never an internal struggle for her. It is something she does for days on end and then may stop to focus on her chess playing. There is never anyone giving her ultimatums or her flat out deciding she needs to stay away for the sake of chess playing. This felt as though the show was trying to avoid the possibility of bad reviews or not being released due to glorifying drugs and alcohol.
The other thing that stood out to me is her fashion sense. The show gave us something to look at. A well dressed girl from a previous era. In the book, there are mentions of her cloths, but they are just that: mentions. She is only known as a young girl becoming the greatest chess player.
Final Thoughts
The Queen’s Gambit is a book and a show I would recommend to any adult that likes stories of the unlikely of characters growing up to be the best. Overcoming being female, or an orphan, or being young and rising above the rest.
