A sprawling and ambitious story of a suburban Boston neighborhood of intertwined characters. It was a vivid peek into the universe of teenagers and how their problems don't and do intercept with those of adults, as well as a video game universe that one primary character helped design and another became obsessed with. If anything, I felt like I was meeting the whole neighborhood at once and it was hard to keep the minor characters straight. Still, there were compelling plot points on dating across class lines, finding meaning in jobs, and how your neighbors can be a true part of your family. ( )

Long periods of just gaming without substantial plot or real character development. ( )

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 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. ( )

The voice of the novel started as so spontaneous, youthful and fresh that I wanted it never to end. The images of the gaming world were magical and researched very well and covered 3/4 of the novel but I personally have no interest in these games, so they were lost on me. I do try to read novels about unfamiliar worlds and lifestyles but some just don't hold my attention. There was hardly a plot here, the characters were developed as best as they could in 1/4 of the novel but still they seemed not to be given much space to develop. ( )

In The Chalk Artist a young teacher struggles to find her footing in a classroom of students who engage in typical teen behavior when she is not able to effectively establish control. She falls in love with an artist who is not gainfully employed but tremendously talented. It turns out that the teacher is the daughter of the leader of a very successful video gaming company and thus wealthy. She persuades her father to hire the artist and persuades the artist to take the job. Corporate rivalries ensue.

Another thread of the story focuses on a set of teenaged twins, one of whom is caught up in the immersive universe of the beta version of a highly anticipated new video game being developed by the company of the teacher's father. The other twin struggles with her self image and ultimately finds a way to craft an identity that feels right to her.

The immersive video game is a key feature of the story. The effect of the game is intriguing and mesmeric, however the science of how that 3-D immersion is achieved was not well thought out or believable.

This is a well written story and would have received four stars if not for the distracting bias toward whiteness. The beauty of various women is always attributed explicitly to the whiteness of their skin. The literature that the teacher focuses on celebrates white skin. No other skin colors are mentioned except one student whose skin is described as darker than all others in the class and he is tasked with reading aloud an unpleasant piece of literature.

I also found it puzzling that the teacher, who is pretty abject most of the time, finds only one student, one of the twins, to shower with lots of extra attention (daily tutoring). She does this in order to save him from a downward academic spiral but that student is smart, privileged and white. His chief problem is his self imposed willingness to devote his energies to the immersive video game and acts of vandalism rather than do his school work.

She puts no energy into learning more about the other students. She is not at all curious about the pregnant teen who is in what seems to be a predatory and abusive relationship. She puts no energy into learning more about the other students who exhibit various behavior patterns that should be red flags. She doesn't seem to value the other students except for how they respond to her own performance or lack thereof. ( )