#Queen of spades professional#

Photograph by Catherine AshmoreД®va-Maria Westbroek as Liza in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Photograph by Catherine AshmoreД®va-Maria Westbroek as Liza and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Gherman in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Photograph by Catherine AshmoreД®va-Maria Westbroek as Liza and Vladimir Stoyanov as Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Vladimir Stoyanov as Yeletsky and Jacquelyn Stucker as Prilepa in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Photograph by Catherine AshmoreДЄnna Goryachova as Paulina, Vladimir Stoyanov as Yeletsky and Jacquelyn Stucker as Prilepa in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Vladimir Stoyanov as Yeletsky and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Liza in The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade CommissionвЂ™s 16 CFR, Part 255.Production photo of The Queen of Spades, The Royal Opera В© 2019 ROH. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review.

#Queen of spades professional#

The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Though the fates of certain characters remain intriguingly elusive, as Chan reflects, there is indeed a fascinating power to вЂњthe unknowability of the world, and its sweetness.вЂќДisclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. With quirky yet compelling intelligence, Queen of Spades creates its own small, interconnected universe, including those who want to escape the seductive lure of gambling, those who think they can outsmart Lady Luck, or those who simply put on a name tag and uniform and offer casino chips, cards, and drinks. And then there is the elderly Countess-mysterious, foreign, and a tenacious Faro player-always making a grand entrance at the Royal with her chauffeur and silver Rolls Royce. Casino Manager Gabriela keeps a shrewd eye on surveillance videotapes, watching for cheating players or employees. Eccleston, a spiritual counselor helping Mannheim accept his terminal illness, is assisted by Theo, her preternaturally clairvoyant young nephew. Beyond Chan, Chimsky, and Mannheim, the characters broaden further to Barbara, ChimskyвЂ™s ex-wife and a recovering gambler, who sits through support-group meetings that manage to be both tiresome and unnerving.Дr. Pairing smooth and polished writing with keenly detached compassion, Queen of Spades explores the power of a simple deck of cards and its ability to control fates. The day-to-day, behind-the-scenes workings of the Royal are well detailed and as integral to the plot as the nightly games of Blackjack, Baccarat, and, of course, Faro. The novel instead eases into the casino through the employee entrance, focusing on Arturo Chan, a newly hired card dealer, along with another dealer, Sam Chimsky, and Pit Boss Stephen Mannheim.Д¬han lives his life and deals his cards with mystical purpose Chimsky has a serious gambling compulsion, and Mannheim is gravely yet secretly ill. While gambling is the primary theme of Queen of Spades, Shum avoids making his characters too slick or worldly, or too hackneyed and streetwise. The year is 1984, and the Royal is one of the last casinos still hosting the venerable card game of Faro, held in the RoyalвЂ™s elegant High Limit salon.

Michael Shou-Yung ShumвЂ™s entrancing Queen of Spades enters the fictional realm of the Royal Casino, located on the outskirts of Seattle amid the вЂњpines and shadowsвЂќ of the Pacific Northwest.

With quirky yet compelling intelligence, Queen of Spades creates its own small, interconnected universe. Honorable Mention, Literary (Adult Fiction)