Thank you for the opportunity it to read this but I am not connecting. Not a gamer and hence feel lost throughout much of this book.

This is a really interesting book that focuses on a few different characters - but all are connected to Arkadia, a company that makes MMORPGs (think Blizzard and World of Warcraft). As someone who loves video games, this book was very interesting to me, and it was very well-written. I was hooked early on and eagerly awaited the pay-off. However, I felt that the ending just kind of happened... I wanted more - not necessarily a resolution, but it felt like the climax of the book just never really happened. I would still rate it at 3.5 stars and would recommend it to others.

I've read all of Allegra Goodman's novels and their subject matter has varied widely. I found this one most interesting for the insight into the virtual reality/gaming world and how obsessed people can become with it. The characters- Nina, Collin, Daphne, Diana, Aidan, and so on- are all well drawn and believable. Sometimes they are quite exasperating; this is a novel of young people who don't always make the most thoughtful decisions. There is some romance here but it's not the focus of the plot. It's a smart book and one I admired. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved the Cookbook Collector but what was this? I could not get into this.

I thought I was going to love The Chalk Artist. However, I did not. I could not really relate to any of the characters and did not love the varying story lines.

An unexpectedly light, romantic new work from Goodman. It's readable, it's charming, it's unreal, it's a passing cloud. Goodman can do this, but she can also do a great deal more. Or is this for YA readers?

This was one of the most unique and intriguing books I've ever read. I'm still not even sure what happened in it. The blurb is, mostly, correct but it doesn't tell you anywhere close to all of the facets in this book. Nor does the blurb detail these very important if stringent magical realism chapters of the book that take place as if you were playing a highly realized video game. It was an odd sensation and I didn't know where it was going at first; I may still not know where it is going. This book had a lot of parts and I didn't care about them equally and I'm not sure that all of them worked. What did work for me was Collin and Nina - not just together but apart - These characters were the kind I could read about all day because they were so well developed and complex. However, I didn't always love the chapters in the game - these were easy to skim even if highly (overly?) descriptive. The way the author tried to make various parts of the book come together fell a bit short to me but I still count this book as a success because it was weird and so different. Definitely going to check out this author's past and future works.

The Chalk Artist comes out later this month on June 13, 2017, and you can purchase HERE. This book intrigued me enough to want to read more from this author!

A stranger had been telling his secrets, publishing his dreams before he was born.

A fascinating journey into the world of video-gaming, the gamers and the artists who create the games. Along the way, Allegra Goodman takes us into the lives and hearts of teenagers, young adults, and the people who love them. This was a lovely, light-filled book.

I'll post to Goodreads and Amazon on publication date.

I was a big fan of The Cookbook Collector, so I was anxious to read The Chalk Artist. Goodman’s writing has a bit of the poetic to it. Gorgeous descriptions.

The story involves the love of two disparate souls. Collin is a talented artist but he doesn't have much in the way of ambition. Happy to hold down jobs that barely pay the way he drifts along. Nina is a first year teacher. She comes from a well to do background; her father owns a company that creates popular online fantasy games. She wants to make a difference, including helping Collin land a real, meaningful job. Be careful what you wish for.

Along with these two, we are introduced to a variety of other characters, including twins that are students of Nina’s. These other characters are primarily used to pursue the whole gaming world. Is it an addiction, no different than drugs or alcohol? I have to admit that while the segments on the gaming were beautifully written, they didn't hold my interest. I'm too old to have ever been involved in any sort of online game, so it's probably just my age. Plus, these segments have a twinge of fantasy to them, and I am not a fan of fantasy.

At the beginning, I had trouble relating to any of the characters. Then, midway through the book, the plot changes and my interest piqued. Goodman’s writing soars as much as Collin’s artwork. Overall, a mixed bag. I loved the writing, but felt at a distance to the characters and only vaguely interested on one of the storylines.

My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Allegra Goodman is on my auto-buy list. I really, really liked The Cookbook Collector about a pair of sisters in California, a bit of a taking down of dot com business culture, a bit of a love story with smart characters. I like her for the same reasons as I like Meg Wolitzer: sweeping drama, smart people, over a lengthy period of time. The Chalk Artist, unfortunately, didn't quite work for me.

The Chalk Artist deals with a group of teenagers and a group of adults all somehow connected to Arkadia Systems, a videogame company. Goodman is so sympathetic towards her characters, and in that way it reminds me of My So-Called Life or other Herkowitz show. But I didn't love the story because I'm not really into fantasy or video games, and while I was impressed by a couple of the scenes describing the immersive gaming-in-the-round universe of UnderWorld, I ultimately didn't love it.

Another thing that sort of annoyed me is that the young-teacher storyline turned a bit into a teacher-as-savior story, which I loved when I was say, under 25 years old, but I don't now.

My criticisms are because I loved other parts of the book. An intelligent take on young love was great- it's what was missing from say, Eugenides's The Marriage Plot. The art stuff was very cool and very vivid. The technology part was sort of cool but I felt distanced because gaming is not my thing.

Not so crazy about this book. Preferred the Cookbook Collector much more. Maybe if I were into video games I would have liked it better

I received this as an ARC through Netgalley. Firstly, I was a little hesitant to read this. I tried reading "The Cookbook Collector" a couple of years ago and couldn't get into it. I have kept hearing though that I needed to give Goodman's work a chance. Overall, I enjoyed this. The main characters were believable and human. There was a good balance too between the number of characters stories we heard too, not too much not too little. I think the weakest link in the story is actually Arkadia. It allowed Collin to grow a bit as a character, but I don't think it lent as much to the story as Goodman was hoping. It was the conflict in a way, but it was also a detraction from parts of the story that were much more interesting. I also felt the ending wasn't complete. There was more work that the characters needed at the end of the Arkadian vein. I think though after finishing this, I may give "The Cookbook Collector" another shot.

This is a novel about obsessions, love, art, video gaming, teaching and family. Quite a lot to pack into one book! Allegra Goodman first focuses on Collin, the chalk artist and Nina, the daughter of a well-known media game mogul. Nina is struggling to give back and “do good” for students in an underserved Boston high school. Collin is an actor, artist and waiter drifting along on his talent and occasional romantic whims. When Collin meets Nina he is instantly captivated. But Nina can only focus on her teaching and students. He pursues her through his art and she quickly recognizes his extraordinary talent. So of course she must introduce her to her father and uncle, the geniuses behind Arkadia. As expected, this “good deed” to help Collin realize his potential does not go unpunished. Romance may be in jeopardy.

A secondary plot (but integral part) involves twin students in Nina’s school. Although Aiden and Diane have been close, they are now drifting apart. Aiden is obsessed with a role-playing game made by Arkadia, Diane is focused on her changing relationships with her friends and family. So to recap, Aiden is Nina’s student and an eventual player of a game partially created by Collin. The twins’ mother is also friends/neighbors with Collin’s mother. What starts as a book of many threads, soon becomes a whole cloth.

Risky behavior, poor communication and misunderstandings move the plot and characters towards an ending that could easily provide discussion for a book group. What happens next…..after the book ends? But only go there after discussing the implications of virtual reality, what makes a good teacher, how are relationships balanced, etc.

I have read other titles by Goodman and feel she is going after a younger demographic here with more contemporary themes. Good for her! Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

This was not my favorite book by this author, but her characters were well portrayed. Although I know little about gaming, the plot rings true especially regarding today' s technology, teachers and students.

I was able to read this book early through Netgalley.
I just "found" this author last month and I just love her writing style. It feels like a very unique voice.

This book tells the story of Collin "the chalk artist", Nina who meets and falls in love with Collin and Aiden who is a very intelligent student of Nina's who is addicted to an online video game.

When Nina meets Collin, she is incredibly impressed by his artistic skill and passion about his art. He is a modern day starving artist. Nina herself is from a very wealthy family. Her father created the video game that people are obsessed with. Nina has felt guilty about her association with the game and is trying to create good in the world to counteract her father's creation. Nina feels the best way to make an impact of this size is to be a teacher.
She is at the beginning of her career as a teacher of gifted, occasionally difficult students. Aiden is one of her students and he is so smart, but so lazy. She takes him on as a personal project.

Aiden is addicted to the game Nina's father has created. It has continued to pull him away from his studies, it has caused distance with his family and his friends, and it has caused him to make some bad decisions.
I felt like Nina was practically in a battle to save Aiden's soul. I'm not trying to be dramatic on that, but everyone was clearly trying to help Aiden with his addiction. His addiction just happens to be videogames rather than drugs, but it is still a serious of an addiction.

Also, Nina makes a decision early on to help her boyfriend Collin with his career. She helps him get his foot in the door to be an illustrator for her father's games. This leads their relationship into some serious drama.

I have to admit that the videogame portion of the book was definitely more interesting than I expected at first. When the author described the world within the game, it made me picture something similar to Avatar. It was a very vivid description.

I enjoyed this story, the characters, and how unique the storyline was. How many books could possibly feature a storyline about a chalk artist? It felt totally new and fresh to me.
I will definitely continue to look for this author's books in the future.

This is such a beautiful book! I loved every sentence. It's rich and satisfying, and I feel connected to each character and as if I'm living happily in the setting, so vivid is the writing. I've read other books by Allegra Goodman, and until now, The Cookbook Collector was my favorite. The Chalk Artist is my new favorite, and I intend to recommend it to my students, friends, and colleagues who are looking for a wonderful novel to read next.

Whether she intended it or not, I feel like Allegra Goodman's newest novel, The Chalk Artist, is two books in one.

It's a love story of sorts between two dreamers who come from different backgrounds and share different perspectives on how to make their dreams come true. At the same time, it's also a look at the world of video gaming and virtual reality, and the way it pulls all different types of people into its wake. On the surface you wouldn't think that these two disparate halves could make a whole, but the end result is a tremendously compelling, beautifully written, slightly imperfect book.

Collin is a tremendously talented artist who never felt like he belonged in art school. His preferred medium is chalk, and he's all too happy to create beautiful pictures and images to captivate viewers, only to erase them and start again. It's a philosophy he follows in life, too—nothing is really permanent. He's really biding his time, waiting tables, acting and designing in a theater company he and his roommate founded, and trying to figure out what the future holds.

When Nina walks into his restaurant, he's immediately smitten. A Harvard graduate who is teaching as part of Teacher Corps, she wants to dazzle her students so they love literature and poetry as much as she does, but she can't seem to reach them or get them to pay attention to her. Although it takes her a while to let her guard down with Collin, she loves how his creativity and fearlessness has awakened her, and she hopes her practical nature will inspire him to do something real with his artistic talent.

Nina is the daughter of a gaming and technology mogul whose video games are tremendously popular. His soon-to-be released game is revolutionizing the world of virtual reality, so in an effort to help Collin harness his talent in a practical way, she convinces her father to give Collin a try at his company, Arkadia. It's a move which energizes him but creates barriers—both real and artificial—in their relationship.

Meanwhile, Arkadia is using some slightly questionable marketing tactics to raise the anticipation for its newest game, and a student at Nina's school, Aidan, gets caught up in both the game's incredibly dazzling magic and the painful realities that his obsession causes. It could prove dangerous not only to him, but to his twin sister, Diana, a student in Nina's class, and others.

When I started reading The Chalk Artist, I couldn't understand why Goodman would want to muddy the waters of Collin and Nina's story with a completely unrelated thread about a teenage boy obsessed with virtual reality. But the more I read, the more I realized how this virtual world really served as a counterpoint to Nina's need for permanence and real reality, and there was so much more to this plotline than I first thought.

Goodman's writing practically sings when she describes UnderWorld and Collin's art. Her imagery really felt as if it would be right at home in any fantasy novel, and it was unlike anything I've seen from her work to date. While Collin and Nina's story is definitely one you've seen before (and depending on your personality, you'll definitely prefer one character over the other), it still is compelling, and you hope that neither will do something stupid.

Not everything works in the book—I felt that Aidan's sister was a little superfluous, and felt like the plot shifted back and forth a little too abruptly at times. But overall, I enjoyed this a great deal. I'm a big fan of books that embrace the power of dreams of all kinds. This book really solidified Goodman as a favorite author of mine, one whose deft hand has created some truly memorable characters through the years.

NetGalley and Random House/The Dial Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Dreamers. Do you have a dreamer in your family? I hope so; I'm lucky to have several, mostly artists and musicians. They can be frustrating, intelligent, sometimes dropping out of college, but oh so talented. Our chalk artist is like that, Collin can draw anything, but he's not sure what to do with it. He meets Nina who's trying to make her mark as a high school English teacher. Her father is the brilliant, wealthy and owner of the most popular gaming software in the world. One of Nina's student's, Aidan, is obsessed with this fantasy world. Their lives converge bringing their talents and intelligence on a whirlwind course, barely and breathlessly to a winning finish. Recommend!