Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wintermute47 's review for:
Black Chalk
by Christopher J. Yates
My opinion on this book is mixed. On the one hand, it was an effective page turner. The plot alternates between an unreliable narrator writing a story in first person in the 'present day' (circa 2005) and a third person narrative describing the events that happened to him as a freshman at Oxford University, where he and a group of friends developed a game of escalating humiliating punishments which ended in tragedy. The present-day narrator was sufficiently shattered by the events of his youth that his memory is unreliable, and he's unable or unwilling to discuss some of the events too directly. It kept me moving forward, wanting to know what happened in the past.
Having said that, upon reaching the end of the book, the bifurcated structure felt a bit gimmicky. Without entering spoiler territory, I found myself having a hard time believing the narrator could have been reduced so completely to the wretched figure he was in the present day. And the denouement felt a little bit too tidy--if the rest of the book felt entirely believable, the ending felt like a string of miraculously luck and preternatural planning. The book also ends with a significant mystery unanswered--by design--which was teased so well that I really wanted more. Alas.
The supporting characters felt a bit flat, but the two main characters were well fleshed out and interesting. In short, I don't know if this is something I would read again, but it's a decent little thriller for the dog days of summer.
Having said that, upon reaching the end of the book, the bifurcated structure felt a bit gimmicky. Without entering spoiler territory, I found myself having a hard time believing the narrator could have been reduced so completely to the wretched figure he was in the present day. And the denouement felt a little bit too tidy--if the rest of the book felt entirely believable, the ending felt like a string of miraculously luck and preternatural planning. The book also ends with a significant mystery unanswered--by design--which was teased so well that I really wanted more. Alas.
The supporting characters felt a bit flat, but the two main characters were well fleshed out and interesting. In short, I don't know if this is something I would read again, but it's a decent little thriller for the dog days of summer.