Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

If you've seen the Netflix show (and if you haven't, do!) this book is about 95% similar. There are a few minor differences on transfer to a different medium: the BBC commentator at the climax of the show is just the narrator here, chess games are described more. The most significant difference is the change to the character of Jolene.

In the show, Jolene is the stereotypical Selfless Black Best Friend, a fairy godmother who teaches Beth the ropes, disappears, then shows up again to donate thousands to Beth, asking for nothing in return. In the book, she's a much more complex and real character. It's Beth who seeks out Jolene at her lowest point, they become friends again and Jolene helps her exercise (the money for the trip comes from the Chess Federation).

However, early on in the orphanage, there's a scene where Jolene sexually assaults Beth: tries to get them to masturbate each other, Beth resists, then in the morning calls Beth ugly (which Beth accepts). This scene (and racist language which is appropriate to the 50s setting) has caused some other reviewers to DNF. The scene doesn't get mentioned again, the girls become friends and Beth wishes Jolene was being adopted with her (it's made clear that her adoptive parents wouldn't adopt a black girl). It's an interesting question, which is better? Black orphan as fairy godmother, or black orphan as very messed up? The latter to me felt realistic to the setting. It's an orphanage for kids whose parents died, Jolene is the only black girl - and we're in the 50s. What happened felt like something which would happen.

The book is generally excellent, although it does drag at times. The descriptions of chess matches melt into one, and several characters like Watts and Beltik could probably be combined for the sake of pacing. Virtually every chess game ends in a resignation (sometimes after only a few moves), it would have been more exciting to have a few checkmates and stalemates to keep things unpredictable. I could imagine some players refusing to give up till the bitter end when they're checkmated, or Beth craftily being down but forcing a stalemate. There are a few too many games which could be skipped over as they all end the same to give this 5*, but it's generally a great book.