Mar 11, 2023
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Okay, so after rereading the book and everything I know about the themes and the author, I realized that despite the show being almost identical, there was one significant deviation that changed the entire tone of the ending. Some background on the man who wrote Beth Harmon and The Queens Gambit, Walter Tevis, is necessary to understanding Beth herself. Beth, like most of his characters, is his self-insert. He describes his characters as losers and loners, people who have strong wills that don't always overcome the odds. His protagonists, from grounded and somewhat realistic Eddie Felson and Beth Harmon to outer space Alien Jerome Newton (known as Thomas in the David Bowie movie), all feel intensely human in their struggles and challenges. That's because Tevis inserted so much of his life in them, particularly with Beth.
Like Beth, he was a struggling addict who was hooked on pills at an early age and was an alcoholic. Beth felt personal and human to so many readers because her life was so real. It didn't matter that she’s a pill-popping functional drinker or that men respect her in a notoriously misogynistic period because, at her core, all she wants from life is the same thing everyone else wants, to be seen and accepted. The book, due to its nature, is focused entirely on Beth and her internal struggles; she can't connect with people because emotional intimacy frightens her and has her entire sense of self-validation tied to chess and winning. Beth always goes after things that she thinks will give her satisfaction, only for it to be temporary or unsatisfying.
The Queens Gambit was planned for a sequel that never happened due to Tevis passing away a year after The Queens Gambit was published. The Netflix show writers faced this problem and tried to solve it the best way they could, and they did that by changing Beth’s central struggle. Show Beth gains a happy ending by having all the people she's pushed away in the series come back to help show her she's not alone and has people she can rely on. Also, her addiction is cured by sheer force of will and the power of friendship. Book Beth’s ending is far more ambiguous and open. She is still taking tranquilizers and doesn't have the same extensive support system her which version has, but is implied to possibly begin a journey where she can one day be satisfied with herself as a person.
Personally, the book ending resonated with me more just because it felt in line with a character as flawed and human as Beth. It's not clear cut, and we don't know whether Beth will succeed or succumb to her self destructive tendencies, and I remember how real that felt. Life is messy, and tortured geniuses and troubled addicts don't always have a happy ending. Walter Tevis never overcame his alcoholism because the hard truth about addiction is that there never is a cure. You just have to keep trying and struggling, and that's the beauty of Book Beth’s ending for me. I love the show, and there is no one better to bring Beth to life and Anya Taylor Joy, and I understand the choice in ending. This is really a me problem as everyone else loves episode 7s ending, but I profoundly love how book Beth ends. You don’t know where she’s going, but you can't help but feel like she’s going to be okay. She's alone, but both the reader and Beth are left with a lingering feeling that she will be enough.