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Liz Phair recommended The God of Small Things in Books (curated)

"I’m a big fan of writers who emphasize the importance of personal interaction. I’d rather guess at a plot by accumulating minute observation of the behaviors of characters than be driven down a straight road with predictable lefts and rights. In her debut novel, Roy writes like a human microscope, moving her focus in and out of different time periods and opening up the petals of language to reveal ever more tightly coiled insights. Fraternal twins Rahel and Estha Kochamma share a devastating secret that’s tainted their lives, mirroring the corruption at the heart of India’s ruling system that has exploited and polluted the country for decades. Untangling effects from causes is never more exquisitely wrought than in this masterful and sensitive opus. Roy is one of those rare authors who has the power to trick you into believing her stories are your own."

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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Queen's Gambit in TV

Jan 20, 2021

Lavish drama based on Walter Tevis' novel about a female chess prodigy. What sounds like fairly unpromising material - a young orphan discovers an immense talent for chess and rises to take on the world champion in Moscow, confronting her personal demons along the way - is elevated to something really special by the simple method of having a fantastic script, direction, acting and production values.

Looks fantastic, and Anya Taylor-Joy deserves all the accolades coming her way, but the show's real achievement for me is that it manages to capture the excitement and fascination of chess without becoming bogged down in details like the difference between the Orangutan and the Grob openings. The chess sequences are genuinely thrilling: you almost get a sense of what it feels like to have that kind of effortless talent in something. Brilliant TV aimed at people with brains.