Dima Novak has skillfully woven the world of chess with the challenges of urban life. “Pushing Pawns” is the first book in The Chess Club series. Can't wait for the first sequel of the promised series and further adventures of "Grandmaster Fleisch and the Furious Five." Chess sequences are written with a pulse-elevating verve that reminded me of the thrill of Patrick O'Brian writing his sea battles or describing music. Miyagi," former Soviet grandmaster Viktor Fleischmann. In a witty and really gracefully contrived teenager's style, Moses Middleton narrates his life and adventures as a high school freshman in rapidly gentrifying Jackson Heights, Queens, NY, steering his friends against a tide of obstacles (sex, race and class, folks, but definitely sick of fake woke) from atomized half assery to solidarity and commitment under the guidance of "their Mr. Recommend it for kids maybe 8 to 15, but I'm giving it to my friends in the retiree rocking chairs too because it's such a pleasure. BEST YA novel ever, would have been my fave when I was young - commie, touching, real and yet hopeful in these anxious dark times, and beautifully written.
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