JULY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Orlagh Cassidy conjures vivid descriptions of both the everyday and the fantastical. Goodman’s novel explores the conflicts between real life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the virtual reality of sophisticated multiplayer video games. Cassidy paints convincing vocal character portraits of the earnest teacher, the charming underachiever with whom she begins a relationship, the impudent video gamer, and various impassive teenagers. One challenging aspect of the audiobook, however, is that it can be difficult to keep track of the many different character names. Nonetheless, Cassidy's narration of the otherworldly creatures and settings that comprise the imaginative virtual realities helps listeners imagine being enveloped by these extraordinary worlds. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
04/24/2017
Goodman (The Cookbook Collector) probes the meaning and place of art in contemporary culture in her intricate and empathic novel. When artist and actor Collin is first drawn to Nina in a Harvard Square bar, he has no idea that the attractive young high school English teacher has no financial need to work at all. Her father is the head of Arkadia, a local gaming company at the leading edge of virtual reality technology. Convinced that Collin is squandering his talents, Nina encourages him to show his art to her father and his business partner, Nina’s cruelly perfectionist uncle. The novel then shifts its emotional focus to the struggles of one of Nina’s students and her increasingly troubled twin brother, who has become obsessed with Arkadia’s newest game. Exploring not only the varying ephemerality and permanence of both art and relationships, this richly textured novel also considers the commodification of art and art as a means to salvation. With its strong Boston setting, the novel also offers opportunities to consider the contrasts between local and virtual communities and the authenticity of the relationships each fosters. (June)
From the Publisher
Advance praise for The Chalk Artist
“Allegra Goodman creates suspense where you might least expect to find it.”—The Atlantic
“All the characters in The Chalk Artist are questers. An inexperienced English teacher yearns to inspire her students, an artist learns to embrace his talent and a gaming addict finds an unexpected connection to the non-virtual world. This deft novel is filled with the exquisite pleasures one expects from Allegra Goodman, richly layered and emotionally resonant. I absolutely devoured it.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of March and People of the Book
“What begins as a sparkling love story of an idealistic young teacher, Nina, and artist Collin, who works only in chalk, becomes a stunning, rich exploration of whether love, art, literature, and nature can compete with breathtaking virtual worlds.”—Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Summer Before the War
“Once again Allegra Goodman displays her extraordinary talent, range, and reach. Who else could write such a tender, soulful novel about love and speculative virtual realities?”—Lily King, author of Euphoria and Father of the Rain
“What do you do when ambition collides with love? Goodman answers this messy question with nuance in this heartfelt story about class.”—Booklist
“Richly textured . . . Goodman probes the meaning and place of art in contemporary culture in her intricate and empathic novel.”—Publishers Weekly
“Goodman’s eighth novel takes place in two skillfully evoked worlds that are at war for the hearts and minds of young people: video games versus education. . . . . A very relevant love story with strong crossover possibilities.”—Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal
05/01/2017
The chalk artist of the title is Collin, a 23-year-old who works variously as a waiter, a bicycle mechanic, and a scenic designer and actor in an itinerant theater company. He is content with his freewheeling lifestyle until he gets involved with Nina, a serious-minded high school teacher struggling to control and engage her students in her first year on the job. Wanting to offer Collin more stability, Nina gets him a position at her father's video game company, Arkadia, working as an artist for an immersive game called UnderWorld. We also follow a search for identity by two of Nina's students, the twins Diana and Aidan. Diana explores body issues and sexuality, while Aidan becomes increasingly immersed in UnderWorld. One needn't be a gamer to follow the descriptions of the various aspects of the universe depicted, from the design and marketing processes within Arkadia to fan culture and the playing experience. VERDICT Aidan's addiction to gaming and the sometimes nefarious behavior resulting from it is a bit clichéd, and the multitude of plot lines and characters make it difficult to find the novel's center. Finally, though, each character's arc is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. [See Prepub Alert, 12/19/16.]—Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
JULY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Orlagh Cassidy conjures vivid descriptions of both the everyday and the fantastical. Goodman’s novel explores the conflicts between real life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the virtual reality of sophisticated multiplayer video games. Cassidy paints convincing vocal character portraits of the earnest teacher, the charming underachiever with whom she begins a relationship, the impudent video gamer, and various impassive teenagers. One challenging aspect of the audiobook, however, is that it can be difficult to keep track of the many different character names. Nonetheless, Cassidy's narration of the otherworldly creatures and settings that comprise the imaginative virtual realities helps listeners imagine being enveloped by these extraordinary worlds. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-02-21
In Boston, an idealistic schoolteacher gets her artist boyfriend a job with her father's video game company even as she's losing a promising student to the addiction of gaming.Goodman's (The Cookbook Collector, 2010, etc.) eighth novel takes place in two skillfully evoked worlds that are at war for the hearts and minds of young people: video games versus education, specifically high school English classes. Nina is the only child of the rich and powerful man behind Arkadia, a virtual-reality game company. Just out of college, she has taken a position with TeacherCorps and is now somewhat desperately attempting to communicate the joys of Emerson and Shakespeare to the ethnically diverse but universally bored students of Emerson High. Collin, the "chalk artist" of the title, is a 23-year-old dropout who works in a bar and can draw like an angel. Soon after the two fall in love, he finds himself designing horses on a high-tech tablet at the Arkadia image factory. Twins Aidan and Diana are Nina's students, but Aidan is not doing his homework. He is deeply lost in the world of "EverWhen," where his avatar meets and falls in love with a sexy Tree Elf named Riyah who says she can get him a pre-release of "Underworld," Arkadia's hotly awaited next game, if he will perform a real-world promotional task that crosses the line into criminality. The language and details of the games—sparkling aeroflakes, epic qwests, diamond flasks "filled with a hatchling dragon's blood"—are the strongest and most original elements of the book: in fact, nongaming readers may be surprised to find themselves wondering if they are missing out on something. On the other hand, some of the plot developments relating to Aidan feel forced, and his twin almost seems to be living in a different novel with her weight problems and sexuality issues. A very relevant love story with strong crossover possibilities for teen readers.
