pickChess as a metaphor for anything can be a heavy-handed cliche, but this is Nabokov, so you know he'll make it work. An outcast child who finds solace, and eventually great success, in chess rises through the ranks before suffering a mental breakdown when his intricate defense falters in an important match. Vowing to give up the game, he soon begins seeing life as one large chess game, consisting of repetitive "moves" from which he can't escape.
so-soNabokov‘s 3rd novel is about Alexsandr Ivanovich Luzhin, a man so obsessed with Chess that everything in life becomes a Chess game.
It had its moments, but it also dragged for me. Had I read this in 1930 (in Russian?) I might have been excited by it and wondering what this author would do next. But 90 years later, it‘s just ok. The insight into the Soviet and Russian exile mindsets of the time was really interesting.
It‘s been a while, (thanks to Ducks) but tonight I‘m starting a book.
The Luzhin Defense | 
