A tender affair and the redemptive power of art are at the core of this compelling novel from National Book Award finalist Allegra Goodman, a romantic realist who dazzles with wit [and] compassion (The Wall Street Journal).
Collin James is young, creative, and unhappy. A college dropout, he waits tables and spends his free time beautifying the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his medium of choice: chalk. Collins art captivates passersby with its vibrant colors and intricate linesuntil the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collins life is meant to last. Then he meets Nina. . . .
The daughter of a tech mogul who is revolutionizing virtual reality, Nina Lazare is trying to give back as a high school teacherbut her students wont listen to her. When Collin enters her world, he inspires her to think bigger. Nina wants to return the favoreven if it means losing him.
Against this poignant backdrop, Allegra Goodman paints a tableau of students, neighbors, and colleagues: Diana, a teenage girl trying to make herself invisible; her twin brother, Aidan, whos addicted to the games produced by Ninas father; and Daphne, a viral-marketing trickster who unites them all, for better or worse.
Wise, warm, and enchanting, The Chalk Artist is both a finely rendered portrait of modern love and a celebration of all the realms we inhabit: real and imagined, visual and virtual, seemingly independent yet hopelessly tangled.
Praise for The Chalk Artist
The virtual world Goodman conjures is as feverishly vivid as it is mysterious and alluring. Not since I pushed my way through C. S. Lewiss fusty mothballed wardrobe and stepped out into the frozen, pine-scented forests of Narnia can I remember being so effectively transported into a viscerally, sometimes terrifyingly plausible alternate universe. . . . This is a novel full of wit and spark. . . . Irresistible and arresting.The New York Times Book Review
Enjoyably sharp dialogue and convincing portraits of multiple mindsets and terrains . . . One cant help but marvel at how Goodman has captured the atmosphere of this virtual fantasy land so effectively in words.NPR
Mesmerizing depictions of virtual-reality landscapes of Neverwhen and Underworld make the games dangerous power over one of Ninas students very real.People
Goodmans latest combines fantastical flourishes (an imagined video game called Underworld) and realistic Cambridge details . . . in a narrative about art and ambition.The Boston Globe
Allegra Goodman creates suspense where you might least expect to find it.The Atlantic
Genre: Literary Fiction
Collin James is young, creative, and unhappy. A college dropout, he waits tables and spends his free time beautifying the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his medium of choice: chalk. Collins art captivates passersby with its vibrant colors and intricate linesuntil the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collins life is meant to last. Then he meets Nina. . . .
The daughter of a tech mogul who is revolutionizing virtual reality, Nina Lazare is trying to give back as a high school teacherbut her students wont listen to her. When Collin enters her world, he inspires her to think bigger. Nina wants to return the favoreven if it means losing him.
Against this poignant backdrop, Allegra Goodman paints a tableau of students, neighbors, and colleagues: Diana, a teenage girl trying to make herself invisible; her twin brother, Aidan, whos addicted to the games produced by Ninas father; and Daphne, a viral-marketing trickster who unites them all, for better or worse.
Wise, warm, and enchanting, The Chalk Artist is both a finely rendered portrait of modern love and a celebration of all the realms we inhabit: real and imagined, visual and virtual, seemingly independent yet hopelessly tangled.
Praise for The Chalk Artist
The virtual world Goodman conjures is as feverishly vivid as it is mysterious and alluring. Not since I pushed my way through C. S. Lewiss fusty mothballed wardrobe and stepped out into the frozen, pine-scented forests of Narnia can I remember being so effectively transported into a viscerally, sometimes terrifyingly plausible alternate universe. . . . This is a novel full of wit and spark. . . . Irresistible and arresting.The New York Times Book Review
Enjoyably sharp dialogue and convincing portraits of multiple mindsets and terrains . . . One cant help but marvel at how Goodman has captured the atmosphere of this virtual fantasy land so effectively in words.NPR
Mesmerizing depictions of virtual-reality landscapes of Neverwhen and Underworld make the games dangerous power over one of Ninas students very real.People
Goodmans latest combines fantastical flourishes (an imagined video game called Underworld) and realistic Cambridge details . . . in a narrative about art and ambition.The Boston Globe
Allegra Goodman creates suspense where you might least expect to find it.The Atlantic
Genre: Literary Fiction
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