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A review by jessicaesquire
The Chalk Artist by Allegra Goodman
3.0
I have enjoyed several of Goodman's previous novels deeply but this is the second miss in a row for me. Goodman is insightful and wise, she portrays characters in a way that feels absolutely real and intimate. But the story here lacked momentum, the stakes never solidified.
There are several narratives here, and Goodman is talented as ever at allowing each character's personality and emotions to come through, to let you see them as very different people. Many of them are stereotypes: Collin the artist who lacks drive; Nina the rich girl who wants to do good; Aidan the teen obsessed by virtual worlds to the extent that he loses the real one. The characters were quite real but they didn't ever transcend their stereotypes or move the story in unexpected directions.
At the center of everything are the two stories of Collin and Nina falling in love and trying to build a relationship together, and that of Underworld, a miraculous new video game from a disruptive gaming company run by Nina's father. I struggled with the technology around the game, it was beautifully written but in a very realistic story I just couldn't believe in it as a real thing and I couldn't picture in my head how it would actually be to play it even though Goodman would pontificate for paragraphs and paragraphs on the beauty of the scene it didn't become visible. It's also tricky to really engage with Collin's art, also described in passionate paragraphs, but that you never really get to see. It is hard to accept a character as a true artist or a genius just because other characters think so, which isn't a fault just with this novel but with many novels that consider art in different forms.
Ultimately there was no answer to my question of why Goodman wrote this and what she wanted to do. What is the question she's answering? What is the purpose of the world she's exploring? I ended it feeling very unsatisfied.
And one short note: I read The Cookbook Collector shortly after moving to Boston and remember noticing just how much it referenced the city and its landmarks to the extent that I commented on it to my partner, who told me I only noticed it because now I lived there and it wasn't really anything different. The Chalk Artist is also set there, mostly in Cambridge, and reading it gave me some very belated vindication. Goodman's references to places, streets, businesses, etc. is constant to the point that it's distracting to a reader who's familiar with the area because you stop paying attention to the narrative and start asking yourself, "Wait which intersection on Huron Ave is that?" If you are not a local, you probably won't notice it as you read, but people familiar with the Cambridge area may find it grating as I did.
There are several narratives here, and Goodman is talented as ever at allowing each character's personality and emotions to come through, to let you see them as very different people. Many of them are stereotypes: Collin the artist who lacks drive; Nina the rich girl who wants to do good; Aidan the teen obsessed by virtual worlds to the extent that he loses the real one. The characters were quite real but they didn't ever transcend their stereotypes or move the story in unexpected directions.
At the center of everything are the two stories of Collin and Nina falling in love and trying to build a relationship together, and that of Underworld, a miraculous new video game from a disruptive gaming company run by Nina's father. I struggled with the technology around the game, it was beautifully written but in a very realistic story I just couldn't believe in it as a real thing and I couldn't picture in my head how it would actually be to play it even though Goodman would pontificate for paragraphs and paragraphs on the beauty of the scene it didn't become visible. It's also tricky to really engage with Collin's art, also described in passionate paragraphs, but that you never really get to see. It is hard to accept a character as a true artist or a genius just because other characters think so, which isn't a fault just with this novel but with many novels that consider art in different forms.
Ultimately there was no answer to my question of why Goodman wrote this and what she wanted to do. What is the question she's answering? What is the purpose of the world she's exploring? I ended it feeling very unsatisfied.
And one short note: I read The Cookbook Collector shortly after moving to Boston and remember noticing just how much it referenced the city and its landmarks to the extent that I commented on it to my partner, who told me I only noticed it because now I lived there and it wasn't really anything different. The Chalk Artist is also set there, mostly in Cambridge, and reading it gave me some very belated vindication. Goodman's references to places, streets, businesses, etc. is constant to the point that it's distracting to a reader who's familiar with the area because you stop paying attention to the narrative and start asking yourself, "Wait which intersection on Huron Ave is that?" If you are not a local, you probably won't notice it as you read, but people familiar with the Cambridge area may find it grating as I did.