The Chalk Artist The Chalk Artist

The Chalk Artist

A Novel

    • 4.3 • 10 Ratings
    • $8.99
    • $8.99

Publisher Description

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. Collin’s art captivates passersby with its vibrant colors and intricate lines—until the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collin’s 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 teacher—but her students won’t listen to her. When Collin enters her world, he inspires her to think bigger. Nina wants to return the favor—even 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, who’s addicted to the games produced by Nina’s 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. Lewis’s 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 can’t 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 Nina’s students very real.”People

“Goodman’s 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
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2017
June 13
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
352
Pages
PUBLISHER
Random House Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
4.4
MB

More Books Like This

Fiction River: Christmas Ghosts Fiction River: Christmas Ghosts
2013
The Children's Bach The Children's Bach
2023
A Twisted Ladder A Twisted Ladder
2009
What You Can't See What You Can't See
2007
Lurkers Lurkers
2021
Buzz Books 2017: Romance Buzz Books 2017: Romance
2017

More Books by Allegra Goodman

Sam Sam
2023
The Cookbook Collector The Cookbook Collector
2010
Kaaterskill Falls Kaaterskill Falls
1998
Intuition Intuition
2006
The Family Markowitz The Family Markowitz
2017
Paradise Park Paradise Park
2001

Customers Also Bought

The English Teacher The English Teacher
2007
Free Love Free Love
2022
Want Want
2020
After Annie After Annie
2024
Count the Ways Count the Ways
2021
Happiness Falls (Good Morning America Book Club) Happiness Falls (Good Morning America Book Club)
2023