Author Spotlight: Walter Tevis

I’ve been working my way through the works of Kentucky author Walter Tevis, who had a remarkable number of novels turned into films. I like to think that I'm pretty well versed in Kentucky literature, but I will admit that I didn't know about Tevis until coming across a KET documentary about his life. I would encourage you to watch the documentary because it helps you understand his books a lot better.

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The Hustler​

The Hustler is a really well done 50’s/60’s teenage anti-establishment, angst book that I would put right up there with the other classics of that genre. I especially liked how the story deals with self-sabotage and the ways people try to build mental frameworks to deal with potential defeats instead of doing what is necessary to win. Paul Newman is great in the movie, and Jackie Gleason is a perfect fit for Minnesota Fats.

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The Color of Money

​I didn't really enjoy this sequel to The Hustler. I thought Tevis left the main character in an interesting place at the end of his first book. However, in this story he completely changed the narrative and then proceeded to meander around the rest of the book. I also think its funny that the movie is completely different than the book, but since the book wasn't that great, I was more than okay with the changes. 

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The Man who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth was good, and I kept thinking that he had to have written it with Bowie in mind, who ends up playing the lead in the movie, but it was written well before Bowie became a star. Knowing Tevis’s own struggles after early brilliance, it’s kind of sad to see his own descent and struggles in the story. This novel was written in the early 60's after the The Hustler, but it wouldn't be until the 1980's that Tevis is able to return to form, after struggling with alcoholism, producing most of this other books. 

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The Queen's Gambit

​By far the best of his books that I've read. He makes the chess scenes action packed without getting lost in the weeds. The characters are complex and evolve in interesting ways (with the glaring exception of Jolene which disappointed me). I especially thought Tevis wrote the perspective of a woman operating in a traditionally male dominated game in ways that were really ahead of its time in the 1980's. I highly recommend this one.