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mlrio 's review for:
Black Chalk
by Christopher J. Yates
Disclaimer: I think my initial reading of this was slightly marred by the bizarre Kindle formatting. Lines broke off in the middle of sentences, paragraph and chapter breaks were not at all clear, et cetera. So, I think I found it more confusing than it actually is. But to the actual review:
Black Chalk is at once fascinating and frustrating. The premise is at once reminiscent of The Secret History or Gentlemen and Players but the mechanics of the deadly 'game' are never entirely clear. We know there are cards and dice involved and we know the consequences of losing--humiliation that escalates so rapidly as to become life-threatening--but we never learn how the game itself actually works, which seems a significant aspect of the story to omit/overlook. Similarly, the incentive to keep playing (or to start playing in the first place) feels underdeveloped. Money does not seem like it would be a strong enough motivator for these particular people, who spend hours arguing about who is the least privileged and ergo, the most enlightened/deserving/whatever.
What does work is the trap Yates expertly sets for his narrator--and by extension, his reader. The story is misleading from the start, but instead of leaving the reader with a feeling of being duped (the pitfall of many a plot twist), Yates slowly unravels the tapestry he initially presented. By the halfway point, you know better than to believe that anything--or anyone--is what they seem. The gameplayers themselves are a colorful and in some instances, delightful, cast of characters whose personalities blossom and clash when they're all closeted together in Jolyon's room. There are no clear heroes and no clear villains: only six peculiar, entirely plausible people. My only complaint against Yates's characterization has to do with the women. Dee and Emilia are two halves of one Oxfordian Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and they serve little function in the story except to act as prizes awarded or taken away from the men in the group (not unlike Donna Tartt's Camilla in the sausage-fest that is The Secret History--Why is it that women are so grossly under-represented in this sub-genre of academic novels? I don't know).
All in all, Black Chalk is a smart and compelling (if imperfect) read.
Black Chalk is at once fascinating and frustrating. The premise is at once reminiscent of The Secret History or Gentlemen and Players but the mechanics of the deadly 'game' are never entirely clear. We know there are cards and dice involved and we know the consequences of losing--humiliation that escalates so rapidly as to become life-threatening--but we never learn how the game itself actually works, which seems a significant aspect of the story to omit/overlook. Similarly, the incentive to keep playing (or to start playing in the first place) feels underdeveloped. Money does not seem like it would be a strong enough motivator for these particular people, who spend hours arguing about who is the least privileged and ergo, the most enlightened/deserving/whatever.
What does work is the trap Yates expertly sets for his narrator--and by extension, his reader. The story is misleading from the start, but instead of leaving the reader with a feeling of being duped (the pitfall of many a plot twist), Yates slowly unravels the tapestry he initially presented. By the halfway point, you know better than to believe that anything--or anyone--is what they seem. The gameplayers themselves are a colorful and in some instances, delightful, cast of characters whose personalities blossom and clash when they're all closeted together in Jolyon's room. There are no clear heroes and no clear villains: only six peculiar, entirely plausible people. My only complaint against Yates's characterization has to do with the women. Dee and Emilia are two halves of one Oxfordian Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and they serve little function in the story except to act as prizes awarded or taken away from the men in the group (not unlike Donna Tartt's Camilla in the sausage-fest that is The Secret History--Why is it that women are so grossly under-represented in this sub-genre of academic novels? I don't know).
All in all, Black Chalk is a smart and compelling (if imperfect) read.