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Black Chalk
"This is the smart summer thriller you've been waiting for."--NPR's All Things Considered NAMED A MUST READ BY THE BOSTON GLOBE, BBC.COM, AND NEW YORK POST NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR A compulsively readable psychological thriller set in New York and at Oxford University in which a group of six students play an elaborate game of dares and consequences with tragic result It was only ever meant to be a game played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University; a game of consequences, silly forfeits, and childish dares. But then the game The stakes grew higher and the dares more personal and more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. Now, fourteen years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round. Who knows better than your best friends what would break you? A gripping psychological thriller partly inspired by the author's own time at Oxford University, Black Chalk is perfect for fans of the high tension and expert pacing of The Secret History and The Bellwether Revivals. Christopher J. Yates' background in puzzle writing and setting can clearly be seen in the plotting of this clever, tricky book that will keep you guessing to the very end.
356 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 19, 2013
966 people are currently reading
27871 people want to read
About the author
Christopher J. Yates
5 books440 followersChristopher J. Yates was born and raised in Kent and studied law at Oxford University before working as a puzzle editor in London. He now lives in New York City with his wife and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,653 reviews
June 26, 2020
dark academia will forever be the aesthetic of my soul buuuuut this book just doesnt quite pass the vibe check.
sure, the idea is great. not exactly original, but it has all the classic characteristics of the genre. however, an interesting idea is usually never enough.
i want world building - im still clueless about certain aspects of the game and why the students even play it.
i want characterisation - this is a psychological story, but the heavy focus on the plot leaves little room for much needed character development.
i want atmosphere - dark academia is supposed to be dark, but this story felt unimpressively dim in comparison.
however, i do like the writing and that the narrative structure alternates between past and present. its unreliable and gives a couple of good revealing moments.
but overall, this just feels like a bunch of wasted potential. go read ‘the secret history’ or ‘if we were villains’ instead.
↠ 2.5 stars
sure, the idea is great. not exactly original, but it has all the classic characteristics of the genre. however, an interesting idea is usually never enough.
i want world building - im still clueless about certain aspects of the game and why the students even play it.
i want characterisation - this is a psychological story, but the heavy focus on the plot leaves little room for much needed character development.
i want atmosphere - dark academia is supposed to be dark, but this story felt unimpressively dim in comparison.
however, i do like the writing and that the narrative structure alternates between past and present. its unreliable and gives a couple of good revealing moments.
but overall, this just feels like a bunch of wasted potential. go read ‘the secret history’ or ‘if we were villains’ instead.
↠ 2.5 stars
November 12, 2018
He would force himself to make friends with one British student at Pitt. Because any friendship was a path and paths always led elsewhere. To more paths and new places. Maybe even a better kind of life. And then, if he could only find a new world, Chad would skip down its lanes. Wherever they took him.
ahhhh, famous last words….
this is one of those cases where i feel i have to remind people that three stars from me is not a low rating. three is my broadest range of star-distribution, and this one falls on the higher end of the spectrum. there are a few things about it that frustrated the hell out of me, but is a true psychological suspense page-turner, and a hell of a mental ride.
the opening is great - we have a man living in hermitical squalor, trapped in a web of OCD-routines and a mental disturbance so profound he has had to develop physical mnemonic devices to remind himself to even put on clothes. or eat. he has not been outside of his new york apartment in three years beyond going to the bodega for necessary supplies. he receives a troubling phone call that reminds him of something he has willed himself to forget, and we’re off!
from there, the story flips between the narrator in present-day, and his experiences 14 years ago when he was a student at oxford. It’s a sort of The Secret History scenario:
smart, poorly adjusted kids on campus, who think they are better than everyone else, set apart from the herd with a dynamic charismatic boy at the group’s center, a seemingly “less-than-the-others” outsider boy latching on to the group’s chemistry, wanting inclusion, secret meetings and activities that eventually end in tragedy – textbook secret history.
this one offers a twist – a game of psychological manipulation that is devised by the group whose escalating dares and pranks and enforced secrecy are overseen by a shadow society offering a cash prize for the eventual winner.
the mechanics of the game itself are vague; cards, dice, folded pieces of paper in cups, but the consequences are not. not at all.
and they will ultimately rock the very foundation of the group, expose their insecurities, and go very dark.
the thing that secret history-ish books don’t always get is that one of the things that makes sh so good is how slowly it starts, how much of the beginning is character development. and while we get some highly detailed insight into two of the characters, many of the others are pretty stock: comic relief, dreamy damaged girl, beautiful tough girl, socially-challenged genius, bitter homosexual etc.
so while it is a psychological story at its core, it is much more plot-driven than character-driven, which leaves it a little lopsided.
its strength is in its structure. we have several layers of unreliability here. a purported narrator, telling the stories both of his time in college, playing the game, and his life today, which has been completely destroyed by the game’s fallout. within his own written narrative he inserts a “secret” narrative, which was not as cool a device as it could have been, as it was very one-note; focusing on only one particular drive. then, a sweet twist in the narrative adds on a whole other layer of unreliability, which was a very cool move, and made some of the reader head-scratching about the seeming om-narr stuff in the initial chapters make sense. but also makes its own “but, waits…”
still – pretty sweet.
some of my frustrations: the ominous role of the shadow society is strongly hinted at, but never fully explored, and the final “win” of the game is too easy. it has that feel of how vincent d’onofrio can always elicit a confession by just a couple of leading questions to the dramatic swelling of the l&o music – the person in question here breaks too easily, despite what we know about their background. it can’t come down to that. but it does.
and just a personal gripe: there is a sort of byron shout-out:
He passed Bethlehem College and then St. Christopher’s where a famous English poet had kept a bear in his room after the college had banned the keeping of dogs.
which i assume was meant to be byron, unless this is a common occurrence among british poets, but it actually happened at trinity college at cambridge, not oxford. but it’s not the worst ever byron-error in literature.
oh, and a super-minor gripe, but i stumbled over the name “jolyon” every single time. every time.
overall, a really solid read about psychological warfare and group dynamics and a new spin on a type of book i eat up like candy beans. worth the read.
come to my blog!
ahhhh, famous last words….
this is one of those cases where i feel i have to remind people that three stars from me is not a low rating. three is my broadest range of star-distribution, and this one falls on the higher end of the spectrum. there are a few things about it that frustrated the hell out of me, but is a true psychological suspense page-turner, and a hell of a mental ride.
the opening is great - we have a man living in hermitical squalor, trapped in a web of OCD-routines and a mental disturbance so profound he has had to develop physical mnemonic devices to remind himself to even put on clothes. or eat. he has not been outside of his new york apartment in three years beyond going to the bodega for necessary supplies. he receives a troubling phone call that reminds him of something he has willed himself to forget, and we’re off!
from there, the story flips between the narrator in present-day, and his experiences 14 years ago when he was a student at oxford. It’s a sort of The Secret History scenario:
smart, poorly adjusted kids on campus, who think they are better than everyone else, set apart from the herd with a dynamic charismatic boy at the group’s center, a seemingly “less-than-the-others” outsider boy latching on to the group’s chemistry, wanting inclusion, secret meetings and activities that eventually end in tragedy – textbook secret history.
this one offers a twist – a game of psychological manipulation that is devised by the group whose escalating dares and pranks and enforced secrecy are overseen by a shadow society offering a cash prize for the eventual winner.
the mechanics of the game itself are vague; cards, dice, folded pieces of paper in cups, but the consequences are not. not at all.
and they will ultimately rock the very foundation of the group, expose their insecurities, and go very dark.
the thing that secret history-ish books don’t always get is that one of the things that makes sh so good is how slowly it starts, how much of the beginning is character development. and while we get some highly detailed insight into two of the characters, many of the others are pretty stock: comic relief, dreamy damaged girl, beautiful tough girl, socially-challenged genius, bitter homosexual etc.
so while it is a psychological story at its core, it is much more plot-driven than character-driven, which leaves it a little lopsided.
its strength is in its structure. we have several layers of unreliability here. a purported narrator, telling the stories both of his time in college, playing the game, and his life today, which has been completely destroyed by the game’s fallout. within his own written narrative he inserts a “secret” narrative, which was not as cool a device as it could have been, as it was very one-note; focusing on only one particular drive. then, a sweet twist in the narrative adds on a whole other layer of unreliability, which was a very cool move, and made some of the reader head-scratching about the seeming om-narr stuff in the initial chapters make sense. but also makes its own “but, waits…”
still – pretty sweet.
some of my frustrations: the ominous role of the shadow society is strongly hinted at, but never fully explored, and the final “win” of the game is too easy. it has that feel of how vincent d’onofrio can always elicit a confession by just a couple of leading questions to the dramatic swelling of the l&o music – the person in question here breaks too easily, despite what we know about their background. it can’t come down to that. but it does.
and just a personal gripe: there is a sort of byron shout-out:
He passed Bethlehem College and then St. Christopher’s where a famous English poet had kept a bear in his room after the college had banned the keeping of dogs.
which i assume was meant to be byron, unless this is a common occurrence among british poets, but it actually happened at trinity college at cambridge, not oxford. but it’s not the worst ever byron-error in literature.
oh, and a super-minor gripe, but i stumbled over the name “jolyon” every single time. every time.
overall, a really solid read about psychological warfare and group dynamics and a new spin on a type of book i eat up like candy beans. worth the read.
come to my blog!
October 25, 2016
There’s an inherently difficult challenge in writing a taut thriller by simple virtue of the fact that, in the vast majority of cases, the revelation of a thing is always less scary/creepy/horrifying than the imagining of the thing prior to its revelation (insert joke here re: except in the case of the removal of my pants).
As a writer, then, you’re faced with three options, and it’s how you balance those options that determines success (or lack thereof) in terms of keeping readers riveted.
The first option is to acknowledge and accept that challenge, make your reveals early, and then focus your efforts on how characters deal with those revelations.
The second option is to hold readers in suspense as long as possible, taking advantage of the natural tension and buildup a reader’s imagination will create in the face of the unknown, and then make the big reveal at story’s end, hoping that the memory of that intense buildup will outweigh the inevitable letdown in the face of the revelation.
The third option is to never make the revelation at all, and simply let readers speculate in perpetuity—this option can, of course, preserve dramatic tension, but also risks infuriating those who seek answers (and, possibly, prompting those of a less stable mental and emotional bent to go Misery on you if you’re the author, which seems to me, not having a fetish particularly well suited to that potential outcome, suboptimal).
The best thrillers, which generally include multiple major revelations (or “gasp points,” as I like to think of them), deploy a combination of all three strategies, making minor reveals early to scratch the knowledge itch, holding a major revelation in reserve until the very last moment, and leaving some things to the imagination.
Black Chalk expertly mixes all three approaches; the only problem is that the underlying premise, the framework upon which all of those revelations are built, is relatively flimsy, meaning that if you can’t get past the fact that a very intriguing story depends on six bright but hormonal college-aged friends remaining psychotically committed to a game that not only tears them apart as friends, but puts their lifelong happiness at risk, then you’re not likely to enjoy it to the fullest possible degree.
Assuming, however, you can get past that trifling issue (and for many readers, willing suspension of disbelief truly is a trifling issue, because the entire thriller genre rests, by and large, on a reading public willing to lobotomize what is technically known to neurologists as the “Oh, COME ON” (or “bullus shittus,” if you want to use the Latin term) part of the brain for the duration of time spent reading a given story—note that I don’t say that critically (after all, I wrote an entire book about Arthurian magic being used in Victorian England, for Pete’s sake (that would be The Camelot Shadow, which you’d be a fool not to read if you love disengaging your brain from anything resembling rational thought); I simply note it as a prerequisite for full enjoyment of this sort of tale), Black Chalk is both an entertaining and rewarding read. The plot is, by and large, taut and twisty (even if the setting is not entirely original), and the execution admirable.
A few words of warning, or perhaps endorsement depending on your perspective: this is a story with an unreliable narrator, and multiple unreliable narrators at that. So, if you’re the kind of person who gets frustrated when you can’t trust anything anyone says (and finds changes in narrative voice jarring), this may not be your mug of Lipton (I didn’t have any issues with it, but can see how it would be frustrating for some). Also, pretty much every character has some reprehensible quality (or qualities), so there’s not really anyone worth rooting for—a situation I tend to find frustrating, though I didn’t mind it as much here because the plotting is strong.
In keeping with a recent, albeit inadvertent, reading theme for me, the bulk of the action in this story is set in a time and place when the interwebs and cell phones couldn’t affect the plot and, as in those prior instances, I continue to find this both refreshing and a huge relief. I know, I know, I’m a reactionary luddite, but there’s something so incredibly appealing to me about being able to slip back into a situation where answers weren’t a few keystrokes away, and where the outside world could not, for better or worse, easily intrude upon the story at hand.
Bottom line: if you’re looking for a twisty little thriller that will keep you deeply engaged and churning pages despite having some stylistic quirks and dropping a few minor plot threads here and there, this is a book well worth checking out.
(Thanks to Kelly (aka KAPOWSKI) for the buddy read—especially given the Herculean effort required to locate the book amidst the box-strewn aftermath of your move.)
As a writer, then, you’re faced with three options, and it’s how you balance those options that determines success (or lack thereof) in terms of keeping readers riveted.
The first option is to acknowledge and accept that challenge, make your reveals early, and then focus your efforts on how characters deal with those revelations.
The second option is to hold readers in suspense as long as possible, taking advantage of the natural tension and buildup a reader’s imagination will create in the face of the unknown, and then make the big reveal at story’s end, hoping that the memory of that intense buildup will outweigh the inevitable letdown in the face of the revelation.
The third option is to never make the revelation at all, and simply let readers speculate in perpetuity—this option can, of course, preserve dramatic tension, but also risks infuriating those who seek answers (and, possibly, prompting those of a less stable mental and emotional bent to go Misery on you if you’re the author, which seems to me, not having a fetish particularly well suited to that potential outcome, suboptimal).
The best thrillers, which generally include multiple major revelations (or “gasp points,” as I like to think of them), deploy a combination of all three strategies, making minor reveals early to scratch the knowledge itch, holding a major revelation in reserve until the very last moment, and leaving some things to the imagination.
Black Chalk expertly mixes all three approaches; the only problem is that the underlying premise, the framework upon which all of those revelations are built, is relatively flimsy, meaning that if you can’t get past the fact that a very intriguing story depends on six bright but hormonal college-aged friends remaining psychotically committed to a game that not only tears them apart as friends, but puts their lifelong happiness at risk, then you’re not likely to enjoy it to the fullest possible degree.
Assuming, however, you can get past that trifling issue (and for many readers, willing suspension of disbelief truly is a trifling issue, because the entire thriller genre rests, by and large, on a reading public willing to lobotomize what is technically known to neurologists as the “Oh, COME ON” (or “bullus shittus,” if you want to use the Latin term) part of the brain for the duration of time spent reading a given story—note that I don’t say that critically (after all, I wrote an entire book about Arthurian magic being used in Victorian England, for Pete’s sake (that would be The Camelot Shadow, which you’d be a fool not to read if you love disengaging your brain from anything resembling rational thought); I simply note it as a prerequisite for full enjoyment of this sort of tale), Black Chalk is both an entertaining and rewarding read. The plot is, by and large, taut and twisty (even if the setting is not entirely original), and the execution admirable.
A few words of warning, or perhaps endorsement depending on your perspective: this is a story with an unreliable narrator, and multiple unreliable narrators at that. So, if you’re the kind of person who gets frustrated when you can’t trust anything anyone says (and finds changes in narrative voice jarring), this may not be your mug of Lipton (I didn’t have any issues with it, but can see how it would be frustrating for some). Also, pretty much every character has some reprehensible quality (or qualities), so there’s not really anyone worth rooting for—a situation I tend to find frustrating, though I didn’t mind it as much here because the plotting is strong.
In keeping with a recent, albeit inadvertent, reading theme for me, the bulk of the action in this story is set in a time and place when the interwebs and cell phones couldn’t affect the plot and, as in those prior instances, I continue to find this both refreshing and a huge relief. I know, I know, I’m a reactionary luddite, but there’s something so incredibly appealing to me about being able to slip back into a situation where answers weren’t a few keystrokes away, and where the outside world could not, for better or worse, easily intrude upon the story at hand.
Bottom line: if you’re looking for a twisty little thriller that will keep you deeply engaged and churning pages despite having some stylistic quirks and dropping a few minor plot threads here and there, this is a book well worth checking out.
(Thanks to Kelly (aka KAPOWSKI) for the buddy read—especially given the Herculean effort required to locate the book amidst the box-strewn aftermath of your move.)
November 8, 2019
Anyone who doesn't see the danger in an "innocent" board-game played between loved ones- has never played Risk with my father and I. It wasn't pretty, and friends who occasionally joined in- would usually get to see a whoooooooooole new side to my family. Alliances were formed...there was sometimes yelling and pleading. And by the end- it was almost always down to me and my dad- both of us ignoring everyone around us- "It's just a game!", "I've had enough", "This is stupid" "I'm going to bed" "Can't we allllllll just get along?" "bleep this bleeping bleep!", "I am never playing this game with you two ever again!!!"... Eventually we had to take Risk off the list of suggestions for game night. Scruples was the next BIG mistake...and was only played ONCE before my mother hid it away FOREVEEEEER.
Set in the 1990s- Oxford University. Newly acquainted- Chad- a shy American student studying abroad and -Jolyon- a charismatic law student- meet and soon become inseparable. As the weeks go by an idea for a game forms, and four other friends are gathered to join in on the "fun". Jack- the sarcastic kidder, Emilia- the beautiful and sensitive love interest of both Chad and Jolyon, Mark- the clever sleepy "Mad Scientist", and Cassie/Dee- the odd suicidal poet.
The Game- a roll of the dice- dares and consequences, with a money prize for the last man/woman standing. £1000 put up by each player- £10,000 put up by three mysterious young men only known to the players- as tallest, medium, and shortest. It starts off as a lively amusing competition...but as the months pass- trust is broken, friendships are torn apart, and one of the six ends up dead.
Fourteen years later- New York City- One of the players is living a reclusive existence - only leaving his Manhattan apartment for the necessities- food, alcohol, and meds. OCD has taken over and he uses mnemonic devices to remind him of his daily routine....But that routine is broken when he receives a troubling phone call and learns that The Game is far from over...
BLACK CHALK flips between the narrator/present-day, and fourteen years ago when he and his friends were students at oxford- A clever psychological thriller- full of twists, turns and loads of suspense right to the very end.
*Received copy from Netgalley in exchange for review.
Set in the 1990s- Oxford University. Newly acquainted- Chad- a shy American student studying abroad and -Jolyon- a charismatic law student- meet and soon become inseparable. As the weeks go by an idea for a game forms, and four other friends are gathered to join in on the "fun". Jack- the sarcastic kidder, Emilia- the beautiful and sensitive love interest of both Chad and Jolyon, Mark- the clever sleepy "Mad Scientist", and Cassie/Dee- the odd suicidal poet.
The Game- a roll of the dice- dares and consequences, with a money prize for the last man/woman standing. £1000 put up by each player- £10,000 put up by three mysterious young men only known to the players- as tallest, medium, and shortest. It starts off as a lively amusing competition...but as the months pass- trust is broken, friendships are torn apart, and one of the six ends up dead.
Fourteen years later- New York City- One of the players is living a reclusive existence - only leaving his Manhattan apartment for the necessities- food, alcohol, and meds. OCD has taken over and he uses mnemonic devices to remind him of his daily routine....But that routine is broken when he receives a troubling phone call and learns that The Game is far from over...
BLACK CHALK flips between the narrator/present-day, and fourteen years ago when he and his friends were students at oxford- A clever psychological thriller- full of twists, turns and loads of suspense right to the very end.
*Received copy from Netgalley in exchange for review.
May 17, 2025
I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, many thanks for the opportunity.
One game. Six students. Five survivors.
It was only ever meant to be a game.
A game of consequences, of silly forfeits, childish dares. A game to be played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal, more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results.
Now, fourteen years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round.
I have had to let this book settle on me for a few hours before doing this review. I had such high hopes starting this book based on the synopsis, I thought it sounded psychologically fascinating and thrilling.
Sadly, it was anything but.
This book was just not a fit for me, I didn't get it, had read prior reviews to realise it seems a bit of a like/dislike book with clear lines.
It was slightly confusing at first as the narration kept switching from 1st person present, to 3rd person past, eventually I got into the swing of that. The characters that enter the book in early stages are VERY hard to connect with, they are all a bit untouchable, out of reach of me, one dimensional, flat and well.....just really boring. They all started to roll into one for me in different places of this book.
The game itself which was vaguely explained was not really that thrilling at all. College students, doing a lot of drinking, smoking pot and talking in dorm rooms get involved in a game that essentially involves a lot of mind-messing with each other, psychological manipulation, but it lacked the buzz, the thrill, the moments where you hold your breath in anticipation.
So much time was spent on what they did at college, it was too much, too wordy, too monotonous, we get the picture, or at least I did.
I didn't like the tone of the book either, it didn't resonate with me at all. I spent so much time in this book literally straining mentally to connect in with the plot and the characters and being unable to do so.
The game continues on (really not much is happening), until the last players are standing, that's when the two narrations connect, the past speaker and the present and the meeting of minds happens. Yay! At last I thought, the ending has got to be BRILLIANT right? But woe is me! It wasn't, it was just, well....disappointing.
This is one of the few books I have read in recent years that actually left me feeling irritated and frustrated whilst reading it and after, because I wanted to immerse myself in it and get it, I wanted it to be more, but I was left standing out in the cold looking in with a confused look on my face.
Look, some have loved this book, I have no idea why, but we all have different tastes in books, so maybe it's for you. It just certainly was not a memorable read or an enjoyable one for me.
Thanks so much for reading my review of this book. Join me as a friend or follower and feel free to browse my shelves for your next great book! I love to connect with other readers.
You can also find me on Amazon U.K. where I am a Top 500 Reviewer.
One game. Six students. Five survivors.
It was only ever meant to be a game.
A game of consequences, of silly forfeits, childish dares. A game to be played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal, more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results.
Now, fourteen years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round.
I have had to let this book settle on me for a few hours before doing this review. I had such high hopes starting this book based on the synopsis, I thought it sounded psychologically fascinating and thrilling.
Sadly, it was anything but.
This book was just not a fit for me, I didn't get it, had read prior reviews to realise it seems a bit of a like/dislike book with clear lines.
It was slightly confusing at first as the narration kept switching from 1st person present, to 3rd person past, eventually I got into the swing of that. The characters that enter the book in early stages are VERY hard to connect with, they are all a bit untouchable, out of reach of me, one dimensional, flat and well.....just really boring. They all started to roll into one for me in different places of this book.
The game itself which was vaguely explained was not really that thrilling at all. College students, doing a lot of drinking, smoking pot and talking in dorm rooms get involved in a game that essentially involves a lot of mind-messing with each other, psychological manipulation, but it lacked the buzz, the thrill, the moments where you hold your breath in anticipation.
So much time was spent on what they did at college, it was too much, too wordy, too monotonous, we get the picture, or at least I did.
I didn't like the tone of the book either, it didn't resonate with me at all. I spent so much time in this book literally straining mentally to connect in with the plot and the characters and being unable to do so.
The game continues on (really not much is happening), until the last players are standing, that's when the two narrations connect, the past speaker and the present and the meeting of minds happens. Yay! At last I thought, the ending has got to be BRILLIANT right? But woe is me! It wasn't, it was just, well....disappointing.
This is one of the few books I have read in recent years that actually left me feeling irritated and frustrated whilst reading it and after, because I wanted to immerse myself in it and get it, I wanted it to be more, but I was left standing out in the cold looking in with a confused look on my face.
Look, some have loved this book, I have no idea why, but we all have different tastes in books, so maybe it's for you. It just certainly was not a memorable read or an enjoyable one for me.
Thanks so much for reading my review of this book. Join me as a friend or follower and feel free to browse my shelves for your next great book! I love to connect with other readers.
You can also find me on Amazon U.K. where I am a Top 500 Reviewer.
September 1, 2015
Where to start with this disaster of a novel?
Black Chalk is about a game. The jacket and reviews will hint that the game is mysteriously dark and devious and will have a shocking conclusion.. If only. In truth, the game is never really described, despite the very long lead up to it and all the build up. The consequences are built up even more, they must be terrible, truly horrific and psychologically devastating, right?? I mean, that's what the book is about, right?? Nope. The consequences are boring and lame. Every kid in their 20's has embarrassing things happen to them, most of which are much worse than the ones dreamed up in this book.
The characters are flat and unlikeable. They vacillate between over-reacting and under-reacting to things that happen. The overall effect is just confusing. You never get a sense of satisfaction reading this book as you would with a book that gives you a deeper understanding of a character and their motivations.
The game is overseen by the 3 flattest characters in the book- Shortest, Middle and Tallest. I guess this group was meant to be a shadowy, mysterious and a somewhat scary force in the book, propelling the characters to stay in the game even when they don't want to. Instead, they have absolutely no dimension or gravitas,and therefore, cannot serve their purpose in any way.
The game itself takes a back seat to the lives of the kids at Pitt. Thier lives are exactly what you imagine life to be living in a dorm in college, drinking, sex and drama- and not very interesting drinking, sex and drama, either.
Perhaps the most unjust crime in this book is the build up leading to the loooooooong awaited end of the game. I wish I could say there was some payoff for getting through the muck of this book, sadly, I cannot. Like everything else in this book, the end came with a fizzle and an anticlimactic plop. Absolutely nothing interesting happened at the end. At all.
Such lost potential in this book, the idea is a great one. If only the idea matched the content.
Black Chalk is about a game. The jacket and reviews will hint that the game is mysteriously dark and devious and will have a shocking conclusion.. If only. In truth, the game is never really described, despite the very long lead up to it and all the build up. The consequences are built up even more, they must be terrible, truly horrific and psychologically devastating, right?? I mean, that's what the book is about, right?? Nope. The consequences are boring and lame. Every kid in their 20's has embarrassing things happen to them, most of which are much worse than the ones dreamed up in this book.
The characters are flat and unlikeable. They vacillate between over-reacting and under-reacting to things that happen. The overall effect is just confusing. You never get a sense of satisfaction reading this book as you would with a book that gives you a deeper understanding of a character and their motivations.
The game is overseen by the 3 flattest characters in the book- Shortest, Middle and Tallest. I guess this group was meant to be a shadowy, mysterious and a somewhat scary force in the book, propelling the characters to stay in the game even when they don't want to. Instead, they have absolutely no dimension or gravitas,and therefore, cannot serve their purpose in any way.
The game itself takes a back seat to the lives of the kids at Pitt. Thier lives are exactly what you imagine life to be living in a dorm in college, drinking, sex and drama- and not very interesting drinking, sex and drama, either.
Perhaps the most unjust crime in this book is the build up leading to the loooooooong awaited end of the game. I wish I could say there was some payoff for getting through the muck of this book, sadly, I cannot. Like everything else in this book, the end came with a fizzle and an anticlimactic plop. Absolutely nothing interesting happened at the end. At all.
Such lost potential in this book, the idea is a great one. If only the idea matched the content.
July 28, 2025
“The true gambler plays for the thrill, the sheer ecstasy of taking part. And the purest thrill comes not from the idea of winning but from the fear of defeat, from there being something real and valuable on the line. If there’s nothing to lose, then where’s the thrill? The true gambler does the opposite."
Christopher Yates-Black Chalk
I just do not get how anyone could give this under a 4. I first heard about Black Chalk when I read a review of it, not online, but in a magazine. I knew I had to have it. I read through the night, finished it in the wee hours and was immediately pissed off at finishing. I wanted more.
This is s spell binding book about a group of college students who participate in a game. It's sort of a test of all of them psychologically. They never expect the game to take hold of their whole utter being but that is precisely what happens. As the game goes on, the interest of all the students in winning it, spirals out of control. But there can be only one winner and out of that, is where darkness and tragedy strike.
This book has been compared to "The Secret History" but I actually like this better. It is a pounding intense dramatic piece of fiction that I just could not turn away from.
ENDING SPOILERS..STOP NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT READ:
I really would like to see a part two of this book. I think there is a story there just waiting to happen! Yet I could understand if the writer chooses not to. I have also read many a sequel that do not live up to the original book so I guess my feelings are a bit mixed on the subject.
I loved this book and found it intense, moving, powerful and unputdownable.
Christopher Yates-Black Chalk
I just do not get how anyone could give this under a 4. I first heard about Black Chalk when I read a review of it, not online, but in a magazine. I knew I had to have it. I read through the night, finished it in the wee hours and was immediately pissed off at finishing. I wanted more.
This is s spell binding book about a group of college students who participate in a game. It's sort of a test of all of them psychologically. They never expect the game to take hold of their whole utter being but that is precisely what happens. As the game goes on, the interest of all the students in winning it, spirals out of control. But there can be only one winner and out of that, is where darkness and tragedy strike.
This book has been compared to "The Secret History" but I actually like this better. It is a pounding intense dramatic piece of fiction that I just could not turn away from.
ENDING SPOILERS..STOP NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT READ:
I really would like to see a part two of this book. I think there is a story there just waiting to happen! Yet I could understand if the writer chooses not to. I have also read many a sequel that do not live up to the original book so I guess my feelings are a bit mixed on the subject.
I loved this book and found it intense, moving, powerful and unputdownable.
July 9, 2015
The premise of Black Chalk is fascinating. In the 1990s, a group of six friends at an Oxford University college invent an intense, secretive psychological game. This mainly consists of a series of increasingly humiliating and personal forfeits, which the player must carry out without letting anyone know they are dares. And the stakes are high, as after the intervention of a mysterious game society at the university, the victor stands to win £10,000. Back to the present day: one of the group (and it's not immediately clear which one, so I won't give it away) is still haunted by the results of what they called the Game, and is holed up in a New York apartment which he hasn't left for years. A phone call leads him to attempt to abandon his hermit lifestyle, and suggests that the Game is still being played.
I started off really quite disliking this book, then I got used to it and thought it was okay, then I got a lot more interested in it towards the end - resulting in a three-star, average rating overall. My main problem at the beginning was that I disliked all of the characters. There's Jolyon, who is reasonably interesting but not likeable; Chad, who is extremely bland; Jack, who can't seem to open his mouth without making some hideously offensive comment; Mark, who has no distinguishing characteristics other than being a physics genius; Emilia, who I didn't hate but can't think of anything much to say about; and Dee, who is a sort of manic pixie dream girl taken to extremes. Later, at least some of these characters do become somewhat likeable and are fleshed out into more believable people, but I felt it took too long for this to happen: I was halfway through the book before I was really committed to finding out what happened. Before this, I would probably have abandoned it if it hadn't been an advance copy.
Something I've learned from reading a lot of these Secret-History-alike books is that you can't just take a load of random characters, shove them together in a situation like this, and expect it to work. When I read these books, I'm often reminded of the teen high school series I used to love so much when I was younger, in which the loudest girl in the class, a shy tomboy, a vain airhead and a nerdy brainbox would all, implausibly, be the best of friends. For a long while I found it difficult to believe that Jolyon, who's supposed to be universally popular, would hang around with this group of people almost exclusively, or that Emilia would want to share oxygen with an idiot like Jack. My belief in this scenario only solidified when the remaining players became obsessed with the Game; however, I struggled with the idea that many of them would have been so drawn in by it in the first place, and I think this is the book's fundamental flaw. It doesn't feel like the characters develop naturally into what they end up becoming, it's more like the end-point came first and then the author tried to create a way for the characters to get there.
This isn't to say that Black Chalk is all bad. There's a lot of really intriguing stuff in it. One of my favourite things about it was the mysterious influence of Game Soc, and I was disappointed this wasn't explored in more detail. Again, it was an aspect of the plot that the author didn't quite seem to know what to do with. I liked the way the character of Jolyon developed, and Mark's revenge campaign, and Emilia's righteousness about her dad and her background. And the story certainly made for a better, more enjoyable and engrossing read than The Magic Circle, which was similar in that both are academic-elite novels in which playing games of some kind becomes an obsession of the characters.
Ultimately, I wouldn't say this book is one to avoid: it's worth a go, but I can't recommend it wholeheartedly. There is enough originality to make it fairly interesting, but this format is getting a little tired now (perhaps an unfair judgement from me as I have read so many of these stories - but the fact remains that there's a lot of them out there already) and it isn't innovative or daring enough to elevate it above the majority of similar efforts.
I started off really quite disliking this book, then I got used to it and thought it was okay, then I got a lot more interested in it towards the end - resulting in a three-star, average rating overall. My main problem at the beginning was that I disliked all of the characters. There's Jolyon, who is reasonably interesting but not likeable; Chad, who is extremely bland; Jack, who can't seem to open his mouth without making some hideously offensive comment; Mark, who has no distinguishing characteristics other than being a physics genius; Emilia, who I didn't hate but can't think of anything much to say about; and Dee, who is a sort of manic pixie dream girl taken to extremes. Later, at least some of these characters do become somewhat likeable and are fleshed out into more believable people, but I felt it took too long for this to happen: I was halfway through the book before I was really committed to finding out what happened. Before this, I would probably have abandoned it if it hadn't been an advance copy.
Something I've learned from reading a lot of these Secret-History-alike books is that you can't just take a load of random characters, shove them together in a situation like this, and expect it to work. When I read these books, I'm often reminded of the teen high school series I used to love so much when I was younger, in which the loudest girl in the class, a shy tomboy, a vain airhead and a nerdy brainbox would all, implausibly, be the best of friends. For a long while I found it difficult to believe that Jolyon, who's supposed to be universally popular, would hang around with this group of people almost exclusively, or that Emilia would want to share oxygen with an idiot like Jack. My belief in this scenario only solidified when the remaining players became obsessed with the Game; however, I struggled with the idea that many of them would have been so drawn in by it in the first place, and I think this is the book's fundamental flaw. It doesn't feel like the characters develop naturally into what they end up becoming, it's more like the end-point came first and then the author tried to create a way for the characters to get there.
This isn't to say that Black Chalk is all bad. There's a lot of really intriguing stuff in it. One of my favourite things about it was the mysterious influence of Game Soc, and I was disappointed this wasn't explored in more detail. Again, it was an aspect of the plot that the author didn't quite seem to know what to do with. I liked the way the character of Jolyon developed, and Mark's revenge campaign, and Emilia's righteousness about her dad and her background. And the story certainly made for a better, more enjoyable and engrossing read than The Magic Circle, which was similar in that both are academic-elite novels in which playing games of some kind becomes an obsession of the characters.
Ultimately, I wouldn't say this book is one to avoid: it's worth a go, but I can't recommend it wholeheartedly. There is enough originality to make it fairly interesting, but this format is getting a little tired now (perhaps an unfair judgement from me as I have read so many of these stories - but the fact remains that there's a lot of them out there already) and it isn't innovative or daring enough to elevate it above the majority of similar efforts.
June 11, 2016
This book held such promise from the initial synopsis. As soon as I read it on Amazon, I knew I had to have it; "...perfect for fans of the high tension and expert pacing of The Secret History..." Using my second favorite novel of all time in the premise of a book, and likening the two, how could I not want to read this? As you can probably tell, my expectations were sky high with the hopes of reading something on par with Ms. Donna Tartt.
And let me say this: Everything about this book fell flat.
The characters, the plot, the game itself... there was nothing that gripped me.
For one, the shifting POV of first person present to third person was an odd choice. It threw me off aburptly, and continued to do so throughout until both POVs finally came to the same place in time. The characters themselves were utterly forgettable. Four extremely bland, and two slightly less, people converge to play a game. Of course, I had high hopes the game would make everything more interesting. Instead, it was an annoyance. First off, it wasn't explicitly explained. If this is to take up a majority of the book I'm reading, I want to know the ins-and-outs back and front. We don't get that here, only a vague idea of how the game is played. Now, where's the fun in that? The game continued being lame, and the players managed to become even more boring as the plot "progressed," focusing more on their day-to-days and school life, than the mental mind games of a supposedly psychologically deranged game.
Everything was so utterly predicatble, too. The final players (mentioned within the first 50 pages) being revealed early on, the tricks and deceits all completely obvious. I truly expected the final face off to be a roaring extravaganza of the most brutal kind, but it was the exact antithesis of everything fun. Talk about anti-climactic. So disappointed in the way the climax was handled.
Lastly, the two "main" characters (if you want to look at it that way), I loathed; Absolutely HATED! Really, I could not find anything redeeming about either. As much as the author tried to portray them with good qualities, their attitudes and their actions outweighed any kind of connection with me. The fact that there was one particular character , who was portrayed as almost 'villainous' was absurd. .
I thought I was going to read something on par with my beloved The Secret History, but instead, I crawled through the sludge of another weak imitation of far superior works.
In the end, I can't say anything good about this book. I had to force myself to finish it, when I should never have even bothered in the first place.
And let me say this: Everything about this book fell flat.
The characters, the plot, the game itself... there was nothing that gripped me.
For one, the shifting POV of first person present to third person was an odd choice. It threw me off aburptly, and continued to do so throughout until both POVs finally came to the same place in time. The characters themselves were utterly forgettable. Four extremely bland, and two slightly less, people converge to play a game. Of course, I had high hopes the game would make everything more interesting. Instead, it was an annoyance. First off, it wasn't explicitly explained. If this is to take up a majority of the book I'm reading, I want to know the ins-and-outs back and front. We don't get that here, only a vague idea of how the game is played. Now, where's the fun in that? The game continued being lame, and the players managed to become even more boring as the plot "progressed," focusing more on their day-to-days and school life, than the mental mind games of a supposedly psychologically deranged game.
Everything was so utterly predicatble, too. The final players (mentioned within the first 50 pages) being revealed early on, the tricks and deceits all completely obvious. I truly expected the final face off to be a roaring extravaganza of the most brutal kind, but it was the exact antithesis of everything fun. Talk about anti-climactic. So disappointed in the way the climax was handled.
Lastly, the two "main" characters (if you want to look at it that way), I loathed; Absolutely HATED! Really, I could not find anything redeeming about either. As much as the author tried to portray them with good qualities, their attitudes and their actions outweighed any kind of connection with me. The fact that there was one particular character , who was portrayed as almost 'villainous' was absurd. .
I thought I was going to read something on par with my beloved The Secret History, but instead, I crawled through the sludge of another weak imitation of far superior works.
In the end, I can't say anything good about this book. I had to force myself to finish it, when I should never have even bothered in the first place.
January 29, 2014
I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I picked it up because the synopsis grabbed me. College, games, friends, someone mysteriously dies, it all sounded really interesting.
I liked the narration of the book as well. It was slightly confusing at first as it kept switching from 1st person present, to 3rd person past, to even an odd 2nd person (I may have to brush up on my grammar but I think this is right) sometimes, but it was clever and served the story and the reveals well.
What I didn't like was the tone of the book. To be honest, I had this feeling when I read one of Sebastian Faulks' books, and it was that the author's pretentious voice shone with every overwrought word. That I didn't enjoy and I think the book suffered for it to be honest.
There was also the fact that I didn't feel drawn to any of the characters at all, except for Jolyon. Every one of them were caricatures with one track minds and very little character development.
Lastly, the Game itself. I thought more of the book would be focused on it, and I wanted so much more explained about Game Soc and everything else. It explains things in riddles and in drips and drabs, but again I think it's the pretentious author's voice that's marring things here. There is a strong case of style over substance.
I liked the narration of the book as well. It was slightly confusing at first as it kept switching from 1st person present, to 3rd person past, to even an odd 2nd person (I may have to brush up on my grammar but I think this is right) sometimes, but it was clever and served the story and the reveals well.
What I didn't like was the tone of the book. To be honest, I had this feeling when I read one of Sebastian Faulks' books, and it was that the author's pretentious voice shone with every overwrought word. That I didn't enjoy and I think the book suffered for it to be honest.
There was also the fact that I didn't feel drawn to any of the characters at all, except for Jolyon. Every one of them were caricatures with one track minds and very little character development.
Lastly, the Game itself. I thought more of the book would be focused on it, and I wanted so much more explained about Game Soc and everything else. It explains things in riddles and in drips and drabs, but again I think it's the pretentious author's voice that's marring things here. There is a strong case of style over substance.
August 11, 2013
Coming September from Random House UK Vintage Publishing
Thank you kindly to the publisher and the author for the advance copy of this novel via Netgalley.
One game. Six students. Five survivors.
At University, six friends come together and play a game. Its a silly little game imagined by two of their number – a game of actions followed by consequences growing ever more intricate in nature…with one winner to remain standing at the end. Fun. Oh yes. Or no. As the game becomes ever more involved, the stakes higher, the opponents becoming ever more competitive and adversarial, friendships will be destroyed and tragedy will strike. Watched over by the ever mysterious Game Soc, the players are pushed to their limits….just how far will they go and how much of their future will they sacrifice?
This story will sink into your subconcious…..written in a clever and compelling way the lines between fantasy and reality blur and you will never be quite sure where you are. The game itself is brilliantly imagined – it seems so innocuous and yet its insidious…when is the game being played exactly…and just how serious will the consequences be?
Another extremely clever aspect of this novel for me, is the way that the usual “twists” you would be expecting to come at the end, or as game changers somewhere in the middle are all over the place and intricately placed. In a way this is very much a character driven novel…Jolyon stands out as perhaps one of the most enthralling and unusual characters you will find in fiction – and the rest of the students in their own way are just as fascinating. Any one of them can walk away at any moment…but will they? Psychologically speaking they are all captivating – are any of them quite as they appear? Its very cunning writing…Insidious indeed.
As a mystery, it works on several levels. It will keep you guessing but not about the usual things perhaps. You will want to work out what is going on but every time you think you do, something changes. Someone talks, someone else listens and the whole playing field shifts…if you were to ask me to sum up this novel in a sentence I would perhaps say “The Twilight Zone on Acid” and yet it is all very much grounded in reality. After all, we all play mind games…don’t we?
I will say without a doubt this is one of the best books I have read this year. It will be going into Highly Recommended. As Sherlock Holmes might say. Come Watson….The Game is Afoot.
Happy Reading Folks!
Thank you kindly to the publisher and the author for the advance copy of this novel via Netgalley.
One game. Six students. Five survivors.
At University, six friends come together and play a game. Its a silly little game imagined by two of their number – a game of actions followed by consequences growing ever more intricate in nature…with one winner to remain standing at the end. Fun. Oh yes. Or no. As the game becomes ever more involved, the stakes higher, the opponents becoming ever more competitive and adversarial, friendships will be destroyed and tragedy will strike. Watched over by the ever mysterious Game Soc, the players are pushed to their limits….just how far will they go and how much of their future will they sacrifice?
This story will sink into your subconcious…..written in a clever and compelling way the lines between fantasy and reality blur and you will never be quite sure where you are. The game itself is brilliantly imagined – it seems so innocuous and yet its insidious…when is the game being played exactly…and just how serious will the consequences be?
Another extremely clever aspect of this novel for me, is the way that the usual “twists” you would be expecting to come at the end, or as game changers somewhere in the middle are all over the place and intricately placed. In a way this is very much a character driven novel…Jolyon stands out as perhaps one of the most enthralling and unusual characters you will find in fiction – and the rest of the students in their own way are just as fascinating. Any one of them can walk away at any moment…but will they? Psychologically speaking they are all captivating – are any of them quite as they appear? Its very cunning writing…Insidious indeed.
As a mystery, it works on several levels. It will keep you guessing but not about the usual things perhaps. You will want to work out what is going on but every time you think you do, something changes. Someone talks, someone else listens and the whole playing field shifts…if you were to ask me to sum up this novel in a sentence I would perhaps say “The Twilight Zone on Acid” and yet it is all very much grounded in reality. After all, we all play mind games…don’t we?
I will say without a doubt this is one of the best books I have read this year. It will be going into Highly Recommended. As Sherlock Holmes might say. Come Watson….The Game is Afoot.
Happy Reading Folks!
August 30, 2015
I can't believe I kept reading this thing until the end. A cast of unlikable characters play adult versions of mean-spirited junior high school pranks on each other as part of a game to which they are totally committed for no apparent reason. I kept hoping for a slam-bang ending, but the finish was an unsurprising slow fade.
August 3, 2025
Extremely disappointing. Six friends, freshmen at Oxford, decide to join a secret society called "Game Soc" and play a high-stakes game, wherein one of them could win a LOT of money. The rules of the game are never explained, but the loser of each round has to perform a "consequence" designed to humiliate him or her, the idea being that at some point each player will say "enough" and drop out until only one remains. As the game progresses, these degrading acts become more and more disturbing, friendships and reputations are ruined, and the ultimate result is the violent death of one of the players.
The story actually begins 14 years later. Somehow, we are supposed to believe, the game is STILL going on after all this time and years of inactivity. The evil Game Soc has been biding its time. (At least, we assume Game Soc is evil. And wealthy. And powerful. All that is implied, but never explicitly confirmed.) So after 14 years, the final two players must now finish it. Besides being unbelievable, long stretches of this story were less interesting than watching paint dry.
I kept hoping there would be a last minute bombshell revelation that would cleverly turn the story on it's head, but that was not the case at all - it ended with a silly whimper, not a bang. It's a shame, because this had real potential. The author went to great lengths to construct the mother of all "unreliable narrator" stories…and then did absolutely nothing with it.
The story actually begins 14 years later. Somehow, we are supposed to believe, the game is STILL going on after all this time and years of inactivity. The evil Game Soc has been biding its time. (At least, we assume Game Soc is evil. And wealthy. And powerful. All that is implied, but never explicitly confirmed.) So after 14 years, the final two players must now finish it. Besides being unbelievable, long stretches of this story were less interesting than watching paint dry.
I kept hoping there would be a last minute bombshell revelation that would cleverly turn the story on it's head, but that was not the case at all - it ended with a silly whimper, not a bang. It's a shame, because this had real potential. The author went to great lengths to construct the mother of all "unreliable narrator" stories…and then did absolutely nothing with it.
Read
May 16, 2018Oy-I don't know how to rate this book. It was cleverly plotted, although requiring some suspension of disbelief. You are introduced to some nice, seemingly normal, civilized people and watch four of them slowly ( a lot too slowly) devolve into vicious, remorseless, savage, merciless monsters. Sort of like a hardcore intense psychological Lord of the Flies.
I really enjoyed Grist Mill Road by this author, and I think that is why I persevered and why I am reluctant to 2* this one. Ihated did not enjoy spending time with these people, and I most def didn't enjoy having to spray Fabreeze on my brain (it's wet and cold) every time I stopped listening.
I really enjoyed Grist Mill Road by this author, and I think that is why I persevered and why I am reluctant to 2* this one. I
January 5, 2019
Six friends come together at Oxford University - one American, five British; four male and two female. As we get to know Chad, Jolyon, Mike, Emilia, Dee and Jack, we discover how they began to play a game - 'the game' - whose consequences went too far and the implications of which are still felt fourteen years later when one of the characters looks back on what happened. The game begins in earnest when some of the students are at the freshers fair and come across the 'Game soc'. The stall is manned by three young men - Tallest, Middle and Shortest. When the game is outlined to them, they agree to offer a cash prize to the winner. What results is the friends becoming more and more insulated and apart, their lives becoming ruled by the rules of the game which takes over their lives.
This really is a stunning read, full of twists and turns (the first major twist took me totally by surprise and not many authors really manage to pull off the totally unexpected successfully). Often you have no idea of what, or who, to believe or trust. What happened all those years ago to cause our narrator to be holed up in a small apartment in New York, surrounded by bizarre obsessions and rituals? Who were those who ran the game society and what was the part they played in the tragedy which left a group of friends torn apart and one lost forever? This is a very clever novel, well realised and plotted and absolutely unputdownable. I loved it and recommend it highly.
This really is a stunning read, full of twists and turns (the first major twist took me totally by surprise and not many authors really manage to pull off the totally unexpected successfully). Often you have no idea of what, or who, to believe or trust. What happened all those years ago to cause our narrator to be holed up in a small apartment in New York, surrounded by bizarre obsessions and rituals? Who were those who ran the game society and what was the part they played in the tragedy which left a group of friends torn apart and one lost forever? This is a very clever novel, well realised and plotted and absolutely unputdownable. I loved it and recommend it highly.
June 20, 2014
Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates is one interesting ride down memory lane with a character named Jolyon who recounts how his life changed dramatically 14 years earlier. Six friends decide to embark on a game where after a series of rounds, consequences will be given in gradual escalation in order to prevent elimination if one of those rounds are lost. The game is meant to be strictly psychological. A game of the mind. But of course, with all good things, the game costs more than these six can pay, even resulting in an unforeseen death.
It is clear that the game has taken its toll on at least one player. Part of Black Chalk is narrated by a person who has completely lost his marbles. At one time this player was the nucleus to his social circle only to have it all taken away by the game. With the impending reunion of the remaining players, we are taken on a journey to regain strength for this broken player. Their life consists of mnemonics, notes, solitude, whiskey, and fear. Oh we mustn't forget the pills. All this in order to go on day to day without dealing with the guilt of the game.
Black Chalk explores the fragility of friendships, competition, and the human mind. What would you do to win? At some point, the jackpot didn't even matter, it was purely all about winning. Yates had me hooked wanting to see what, and why the narrator was a shell of himself. What could be so damning about this game that it cost so much for so little?
Sadly, my biggest gripe with this novel is that I never found the answer to the question. It seemed like jealousy and bitterness kept something going so long that should have ended long before it did. And sadly, there was no character I ever seemed to really like. The only redeeming characters were the ones who had the courage to walk away.
One other thing I couldn't quite get was the actual game. It's unclear what it is. Is it a mixture of poker? Gin rummy? Go Fish? What? The answer never comes. And the consequences seemed to be performed off-screen, but judging by the story in the story, it tears their lives apart. I don't know.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed reading Christopher J. Yates debut Black Chalk. It's an interesting look into the world of what guilt can do to someone; anyone for that matter. I hope this won't be the last we hear of Yates as I think he's got quite some good writing chops. I won't need any mnemonics to remember to look for any future works by him.
Copy provided by Random House UK via Netgalley
It is clear that the game has taken its toll on at least one player. Part of Black Chalk is narrated by a person who has completely lost his marbles. At one time this player was the nucleus to his social circle only to have it all taken away by the game. With the impending reunion of the remaining players, we are taken on a journey to regain strength for this broken player. Their life consists of mnemonics, notes, solitude, whiskey, and fear. Oh we mustn't forget the pills. All this in order to go on day to day without dealing with the guilt of the game.
Black Chalk explores the fragility of friendships, competition, and the human mind. What would you do to win? At some point, the jackpot didn't even matter, it was purely all about winning. Yates had me hooked wanting to see what, and why the narrator was a shell of himself. What could be so damning about this game that it cost so much for so little?
Sadly, my biggest gripe with this novel is that I never found the answer to the question. It seemed like jealousy and bitterness kept something going so long that should have ended long before it did. And sadly, there was no character I ever seemed to really like. The only redeeming characters were the ones who had the courage to walk away.
One other thing I couldn't quite get was the actual game. It's unclear what it is. Is it a mixture of poker? Gin rummy? Go Fish? What? The answer never comes. And the consequences seemed to be performed off-screen, but judging by the story in the story, it tears their lives apart. I don't know.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed reading Christopher J. Yates debut Black Chalk. It's an interesting look into the world of what guilt can do to someone; anyone for that matter. I hope this won't be the last we hear of Yates as I think he's got quite some good writing chops. I won't need any mnemonics to remember to look for any future works by him.
Copy provided by Random House UK via Netgalley
June 18, 2014
There needs to be a way on Goodreads of recording why you added a book onto your "to read" shelf. I probably saw a review of it somewhere. Looking at other reviews, it mentions that its like "a secret history", which would explain why I added it.
This is one of those books where I lost any idea about the characters. Who they were, what motivated them, what their interactions with each other. I had no idea.
The split time line didn't help. The weak characterisation didn't help. I hope to god I never read another book where Jolyon is a main character.
Back in the day - students invent a game, based around daring each other to put themselves in uncomfortable positions. This could have worked, if only it was written with a bit of panache.
All we know is someone died as a result of one of the games.
14 years on, one person is living a life of sorts - suffering from OCD, self medicating, drinking whiskey.
And the game starts again.
Hopelessly lost on me. The struggle increased until I triumphantly posted it back through the library letter box. The library was closed and I was desperate to get it off my hands.
Onwards and upwards.
This is one of those books where I lost any idea about the characters. Who they were, what motivated them, what their interactions with each other. I had no idea.
The split time line didn't help. The weak characterisation didn't help. I hope to god I never read another book where Jolyon is a main character.
Back in the day - students invent a game, based around daring each other to put themselves in uncomfortable positions. This could have worked, if only it was written with a bit of panache.
All we know is someone died as a result of one of the games.
14 years on, one person is living a life of sorts - suffering from OCD, self medicating, drinking whiskey.
And the game starts again.
Hopelessly lost on me. The struggle increased until I triumphantly posted it back through the library letter box. The library was closed and I was desperate to get it off my hands.
Onwards and upwards.
November 17, 2013
Don't be fooled by the whole 'you'll like this if you like The Secret History' marketing. As with many other books which are lazily given this epitaph in the hope that it will shift copies, the only thing Black Chalk has in common with The Secret History is that it's (mainly) set in a university. Other than that the two books have nothing in common, with Black Chalk suffering from two-dimensional unsympathetic characters, a plot which isn't as clever as it thinks it is and 'twists' which you can see coming a mile-off. If I had picked this up of the shelf and read it without any preconceptions it may have fared better, but as the marketing directly invites comparison with far superior books I have no choice but to benchmark it against them. Disappointing.
February 8, 2017
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.
September 7, 2019
A diverting enough thriller that ultimately promises more than it can deliver. 6 Oxford students play a very dangerous game, the consequences rendered over a number of years. The machinations of Yates' game are somewhat muddled to a point to where the reader is either confused or left not caring. The characters are reasonably well-drawn and you're never bored. But you're also never really enthralled. Mild recommendation.
May 2, 2021
2,5 stars. I thought this'd be getting a 3 from me throughout the book, but the finale was so ridiculously anticlimactic I HAD to bump it down. It's not unreadable trash, it's decently entertaining but
-the characters are weak
-it's lowkey misogynistic (like most books written by men; the women are just there to be love interests and create relationship drama, little more than pawns in the mind games the men play, I don't think it even passes the Bechdel test)
-ridiculously vague (the author never even bothers to think up how the oh-so-serious Game is played, we just get a vague description of cards and dice being used and several hollow sentences about it being heavily reliant on strategy and the players' psychological state. He even makes sure to put in a "the Game doesn't matter, though, it's all about the players" Incorrect. The Game is everything to these characters so yes, it matters. Not to mention how heavily hyped Game Soc is, without ever actually exploring any of that potential, they're just there lurking in the shadows and being vaguely menacing)
-the past-narrated-in-the-present gimmick didn't work, I hate it when books have to rely on someone narrating stuff instead of seeing it unfold myself
-and, again, the finale is stupidly anticlimactic after being hyped up for the entire book. The author tries to throw some major twists at us but by that point, nobody cares.
Also, I don't think this is ~dark academia~ at all. Dark, yes, kinda, but where was the "academia" part? These people never, ever bothered to study and none of them were passionate about university even though they're going to fucking Oxford. Just because the book is set in a school doesn't make it academic. The Game has nothing to do with academia, either, the university is just a backdrop for everything.
Honestly, the book isn't terrible, I didn't have a bad time with it. It's just that all the issues kept piling up instead of it ever getting better.
P.S. This is petty, but I hated Jolyon's name and I kept reading it as "Joe-lee-on" even though it's supposed to be "Jolly-un"
-the characters are weak
-it's lowkey misogynistic (like most books written by men; the women are just there to be love interests and create relationship drama, little more than pawns in the mind games the men play, I don't think it even passes the Bechdel test)
-ridiculously vague (the author never even bothers to think up how the oh-so-serious Game is played, we just get a vague description of cards and dice being used and several hollow sentences about it being heavily reliant on strategy and the players' psychological state. He even makes sure to put in a "the Game doesn't matter, though, it's all about the players" Incorrect. The Game is everything to these characters so yes, it matters. Not to mention how heavily hyped Game Soc is, without ever actually exploring any of that potential, they're just there lurking in the shadows and being vaguely menacing)
-the past-narrated-in-the-present gimmick didn't work, I hate it when books have to rely on someone narrating stuff instead of seeing it unfold myself
-and, again, the finale is stupidly anticlimactic after being hyped up for the entire book. The author tries to throw some major twists at us but by that point, nobody cares.
Also, I don't think this is ~dark academia~ at all. Dark, yes, kinda, but where was the "academia" part? These people never, ever bothered to study and none of them were passionate about university even though they're going to fucking Oxford. Just because the book is set in a school doesn't make it academic. The Game has nothing to do with academia, either, the university is just a backdrop for everything.
Honestly, the book isn't terrible, I didn't have a bad time with it. It's just that all the issues kept piling up instead of it ever getting better.
P.S. This is petty, but I hated Jolyon's name and I kept reading it as "Joe-lee-on" even though it's supposed to be "Jolly-un"
September 18, 2013
Black Chalk is a thriller with a great hook: a group of students at Oxford begin playing a high-stakes Game, daring each other to bear ever deeper levels of humiliation as the rounds continue and the pay-off grows closer. This hook plays adeptly with the social niceties so embedded in English society, wryly raising the question: how can doing benign things cause us such anguish when we have to go against social norms?
Indeed, the scenes that dramatise the Game’s dares are by far its best: squirmy and awful, but with a satisfying punch. However, far too much of the Game is told in summary narrative. Instead, we spend a bewildering amount of narrative time accompanying our young students as they loll around in pubs and halls of residence, getting drunk and talking about nothing. Realistic? Sure. Dramatically engaging? Not so much.
Even less forgivable is the choice to use a very heavy-handed “unreliable narrator” to illustrate that the Game has wreaked havoc on at least one of its players, years after graduation. Sections of the novel which deal with the characters as jaded, world-weary adults – still intent on playing the Game, no matter the cost – are almost cartoonish.
I think this is a classic case of a first novel that’s trying to do too many things at once and, in the process, squandering the potential of its premise. If it had been reined in as a darkly-tinted campus novel, Black Chalk might have served as an above-average thriller. Instead, the misdirected literary elements add unnecessary layers to the novel. These layers didn’t increase my interest in the story, but rather decreased it.
Indeed, the scenes that dramatise the Game’s dares are by far its best: squirmy and awful, but with a satisfying punch. However, far too much of the Game is told in summary narrative. Instead, we spend a bewildering amount of narrative time accompanying our young students as they loll around in pubs and halls of residence, getting drunk and talking about nothing. Realistic? Sure. Dramatically engaging? Not so much.
Even less forgivable is the choice to use a very heavy-handed “unreliable narrator” to illustrate that the Game has wreaked havoc on at least one of its players, years after graduation. Sections of the novel which deal with the characters as jaded, world-weary adults – still intent on playing the Game, no matter the cost – are almost cartoonish.
I think this is a classic case of a first novel that’s trying to do too many things at once and, in the process, squandering the potential of its premise. If it had been reined in as a darkly-tinted campus novel, Black Chalk might have served as an above-average thriller. Instead, the misdirected literary elements add unnecessary layers to the novel. These layers didn’t increase my interest in the story, but rather decreased it.
March 11, 2020
"Black Chalk is perfect for fans of the high tension and expert pacing of The Secret History." this gave me trust issues
October 30, 2017
This is a book of psychological suspense about six friends in their first year at Oxford. The four male and two female students invent a game, under the sponsorship of a mysterious club. In this diabolical game, the participants must perform increasingly more embarrassing (but not illegal or dangerous) acts. If they fail or withdraw from the game they forfeit their cash deposits. The ultimate winner takes the entire prize. These people are not after the prize however. It is the "win" that drives them.
The narration is told in chapters that alternate between the story of the game at Oxford 14 years ago and the present day story of some of the game players.
"Black Chalk" is a clever, imaginative and well written book and is almost compulsively readable. However I can't say that I really enjoyed reading it. That is because the participants in the game were uniformly mean spirited, narcissistic, sociopathic bullies. They were completely selfish and felt superior to everyone else. It wasn't enough that they only tormented each other, but each challenge in the game had to be performed in public and thus involve non-participants in their game. I was not happy while in the company of these people. It isn't necessary that I find characters in a book to be likable, but their unrelenting meanness wore me down.
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher.
The narration is told in chapters that alternate between the story of the game at Oxford 14 years ago and the present day story of some of the game players.
"Black Chalk" is a clever, imaginative and well written book and is almost compulsively readable. However I can't say that I really enjoyed reading it. That is because the participants in the game were uniformly mean spirited, narcissistic, sociopathic bullies. They were completely selfish and felt superior to everyone else. It wasn't enough that they only tormented each other, but each challenge in the game had to be performed in public and thus involve non-participants in their game. I was not happy while in the company of these people. It isn't necessary that I find characters in a book to be likable, but their unrelenting meanness wore me down.
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher.
April 21, 2021
Giving up on Christopher J. Yates’s Black Chalk. The premise is interesting, but the plot unfolds way too slowly and the main characters are worse than unlikeable—they are boring.
Oxford University students, feeling disenchanted and distanced from their fellow students, create a game with psychologically embarrassing consequences. However, that game goes awry and messes up their lives forever.
The novel flips back and forth between present day narration and fourteen years ago when the game between these university friends began. I didn’t mind that, although the constant references to the mind prompts that the present day narrator needs got tiresome. The plot initially sounds intriguing and the novel’s setting is the Oxford University campus and I love a good British setting. However, by page 100, I’ve had enough. I have no personal connection to the characters. They are immature and their attitude of “we’re too cool for our privileged peers because we come from troubled, financially-struggling backgrounds” is annoying. There are pages and pages of descriptions of their lame, mean-spirited jokes (directed at each other), their drinking, their pot-smoking, their sex lives (real and imaginary) and I find none of it interesting. They’re all boring and unlikeable, probably because there’s so little character development beyond establishing stereotypes.
The plot depends heavily on the Game they come up with—and the tragedy of the Game comes to fruition because they are supposedly friends who turn on each other. I see no evidence they are actually friends. Other than Jolyon (hate this stupid name) and Chad who spend a lot of time together (which doesn’t make them friends), I see no genuine connection between the other characters. The last person to join their group, Cassie/Dee, is picked because she’s a weirdo—not because they actually know her. If the people in this group are really nothing other than acquaintances who get together to drink, get high and insult each other, how can the consequences of this Game be so severe? What do they care about turning on each other? If they had been close friends since primary school, I could understand that. But they aren’t.
The Game itself is extremely lame. The Game hangs heavily over everything in this book (or at least, until I quit sometime after reaching page 100). The present day narrator had his life destroyed by it. One member of the group died. I don’t think any of them completed their first year at Oxford. All of this because of the Game. With something this weighty, you’d think the rules and consequences of the Game would be elaborately spelled out for the reader. They aren’t. This is the vague description given by the author:
There’s no description (at least not for their first session) of how the Game plays out. Just: “the first session of the Game finished with neither clear winners nor losers” and then a description of how they select consequences from three pots (93). The consequences themselves are so incredibly silly I kept thinking I was reading about children: Chad has to wear a Pitt College scarf for a week (ooooh, burn); Mark has to dress up in the official school outfit worn to important events and display a humorous “seeking money for beer” sign (wow) and then he has to write a column for the college paper arguing against financial grants for college students (whose evil mind thought of this! The horror!); and (most childish of all) Emilia had to raise her hand in the middle of a lecture and request permission to go to the toilet for “a number 2.” These consequences are so lame I’m embarrassed for the author. Reassuring me that they get darker and more serious as the Game proceeds means nothing to me. I don’t care.
Supposedly one of the motivations for the characters to join up in this idiotic Game is financial. The sponsors of the Game (three mysterious individuals referred to only by their heights: Tallest, Middle, Shortest—and this stupidity deserves its own paragraph) put up £10,000 as reward money for the winner. However, each player had to kick in £1,000 of their own money—money none of them had. Yates describes his poverty-stricken characters as going from bank to bank opening accounts, withdrawing the max and taking advantage of the penalty-free overdraft protection. WTF. Would Chad, an American, be able to do this? It’s my understanding that banking in the UK has very strict guidelines; my American friends who moved there for employment had a helluva time getting bank accounts and establishing lines of credit even though they were employed by a local (British) employer and had extensive (good) credit histories from the US. But whatever. The whole idea of these six characters traipsing around to various banks overdrawing accounts to come up with the required cash for this asinine game is not believable. I guess the other motivation for them to join this Game is to prove how smart and different they are from their fellow (posh and privileged) peers? Lame, lame, lame. They got accepted to Oxford, a premier institution. Did they think they’d be going to the American equivalent of a community college (no offense to community colleges—they are important institutions that help lots of people get decent educations)? Or a party school? How bout instead of instantly copping a “I’m too cool for everyone” attitude they get to know a few people? I hate their sneering, stupid attitudes.
The Game soc. The only funny part in this book was the day these jerk offs spent checking out other college societies (I guess in the US we’d call them clubs and fraternities/sororities). The guys of the Sock soc were hilarious. Were the sock-based puns cheesy? Yes, they were but that’s why they were so funny. Jolyon and Jack’s nasty (and unamused) reactions seemed overkill. I get the impression the author is working out some of his own residual hatred for his years at Oxford. But the Game soc guys (Tallest, Middle and Shortest) are unnecessarily mysterious. You can’t know their names. If you try to find out who they are dire things will happen to you. They have to be present when the characters do their Game consequences. They can only be contacted by one mysterious number (appropriately written on a blank business card—wooooo) and the entire Game has to be Top Secret. This is all so damn dopey I can’t believe I kept reading as long as I did.
The publisher’s blurb compares Black Chalk (the title is terrible as well; maybe black chalk plays a tragic role later in the book but my first guess for title would have been: The Game) to The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Other GR reviews have mentioned this book as well. I haven’t read Tartt’s book so I can’t compare them (favorably or not). This novel, with its juvenile secrecy, secret society, vague rules and idiotic characters, reminds me of the absolutely horrible Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. This novel is terrible. I don’t even have enough curiosity about how the Game plays out to skim the remaining 200+ pages. I don’t recommend this book and am irritated I didn’t drop it sooner.
Oxford University students, feeling disenchanted and distanced from their fellow students, create a game with psychologically embarrassing consequences. However, that game goes awry and messes up their lives forever.
The novel flips back and forth between present day narration and fourteen years ago when the game between these university friends began. I didn’t mind that, although the constant references to the mind prompts that the present day narrator needs got tiresome. The plot initially sounds intriguing and the novel’s setting is the Oxford University campus and I love a good British setting. However, by page 100, I’ve had enough. I have no personal connection to the characters. They are immature and their attitude of “we’re too cool for our privileged peers because we come from troubled, financially-struggling backgrounds” is annoying. There are pages and pages of descriptions of their lame, mean-spirited jokes (directed at each other), their drinking, their pot-smoking, their sex lives (real and imaginary) and I find none of it interesting. They’re all boring and unlikeable, probably because there’s so little character development beyond establishing stereotypes.
The plot depends heavily on the Game they come up with—and the tragedy of the Game comes to fruition because they are supposedly friends who turn on each other. I see no evidence they are actually friends. Other than Jolyon (hate this stupid name) and Chad who spend a lot of time together (which doesn’t make them friends), I see no genuine connection between the other characters. The last person to join their group, Cassie/Dee, is picked because she’s a weirdo—not because they actually know her. If the people in this group are really nothing other than acquaintances who get together to drink, get high and insult each other, how can the consequences of this Game be so severe? What do they care about turning on each other? If they had been close friends since primary school, I could understand that. But they aren’t.
The Game itself is extremely lame. The Game hangs heavily over everything in this book (or at least, until I quit sometime after reaching page 100). The present day narrator had his life destroyed by it. One member of the group died. I don’t think any of them completed their first year at Oxford. All of this because of the Game. With something this weighty, you’d think the rules and consequences of the Game would be elaborately spelled out for the reader. They aren’t. This is the vague description given by the author:
They chose cards to represent skill and dice to represent luck. It was a hotchpotch of many of the games they had played growing up. Some rummy, some bridge, a little poker…they based some of the dice-play on the rules from that game…The Game also bore undertones of Monopoly and shades of Diplomacy and perhaps more games besides. It was the game of all games…Picture cards were strong and aces strongest. High dice rolls were useful to a player involved in a challenge with an opponent but not desirable when consequences were being rolled for (91).What the hell does any of that mean? How actually is the Game played? What skills did they need to overcome their opponent? What did they have to do? This, the author tells you, is beside the point: “Of course, in the end, the mechanics of the Game proved irrelevant. What mattered most were the players. And with regard to the consequences, they had formulated absolutely no rules at all. They were young and idealistic and they all believed in trust and honour and each other’s inherent decency” (91-92). No, the mechanics of the Game do matter for the reader. What the fuck are they doing that requires them to trust each other’s inherent decency? Why does it matter if they are young and idealistic? And if all the characters suck, as these characters do, who cares what happens?
There’s no description (at least not for their first session) of how the Game plays out. Just: “the first session of the Game finished with neither clear winners nor losers” and then a description of how they select consequences from three pots (93). The consequences themselves are so incredibly silly I kept thinking I was reading about children: Chad has to wear a Pitt College scarf for a week (ooooh, burn); Mark has to dress up in the official school outfit worn to important events and display a humorous “seeking money for beer” sign (wow) and then he has to write a column for the college paper arguing against financial grants for college students (whose evil mind thought of this! The horror!); and (most childish of all) Emilia had to raise her hand in the middle of a lecture and request permission to go to the toilet for “a number 2.” These consequences are so lame I’m embarrassed for the author. Reassuring me that they get darker and more serious as the Game proceeds means nothing to me. I don’t care.
Supposedly one of the motivations for the characters to join up in this idiotic Game is financial. The sponsors of the Game (three mysterious individuals referred to only by their heights: Tallest, Middle, Shortest—and this stupidity deserves its own paragraph) put up £10,000 as reward money for the winner. However, each player had to kick in £1,000 of their own money—money none of them had. Yates describes his poverty-stricken characters as going from bank to bank opening accounts, withdrawing the max and taking advantage of the penalty-free overdraft protection. WTF. Would Chad, an American, be able to do this? It’s my understanding that banking in the UK has very strict guidelines; my American friends who moved there for employment had a helluva time getting bank accounts and establishing lines of credit even though they were employed by a local (British) employer and had extensive (good) credit histories from the US. But whatever. The whole idea of these six characters traipsing around to various banks overdrawing accounts to come up with the required cash for this asinine game is not believable. I guess the other motivation for them to join this Game is to prove how smart and different they are from their fellow (posh and privileged) peers? Lame, lame, lame. They got accepted to Oxford, a premier institution. Did they think they’d be going to the American equivalent of a community college (no offense to community colleges—they are important institutions that help lots of people get decent educations)? Or a party school? How bout instead of instantly copping a “I’m too cool for everyone” attitude they get to know a few people? I hate their sneering, stupid attitudes.
The Game soc. The only funny part in this book was the day these jerk offs spent checking out other college societies (I guess in the US we’d call them clubs and fraternities/sororities). The guys of the Sock soc were hilarious. Were the sock-based puns cheesy? Yes, they were but that’s why they were so funny. Jolyon and Jack’s nasty (and unamused) reactions seemed overkill. I get the impression the author is working out some of his own residual hatred for his years at Oxford. But the Game soc guys (Tallest, Middle and Shortest) are unnecessarily mysterious. You can’t know their names. If you try to find out who they are dire things will happen to you. They have to be present when the characters do their Game consequences. They can only be contacted by one mysterious number (appropriately written on a blank business card—wooooo) and the entire Game has to be Top Secret. This is all so damn dopey I can’t believe I kept reading as long as I did.
The publisher’s blurb compares Black Chalk (the title is terrible as well; maybe black chalk plays a tragic role later in the book but my first guess for title would have been: The Game) to The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Other GR reviews have mentioned this book as well. I haven’t read Tartt’s book so I can’t compare them (favorably or not). This novel, with its juvenile secrecy, secret society, vague rules and idiotic characters, reminds me of the absolutely horrible Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. This novel is terrible. I don’t even have enough curiosity about how the Game plays out to skim the remaining 200+ pages. I don’t recommend this book and am irritated I didn’t drop it sooner.
February 22, 2022
Like 4 or 5 years ago I read a BTS fanfic called White Chalk. When I got to the end of the story there was an author’s note saying it was loosely based on this book, Black Chalk. I figured since I enjoyed the fic I should give the book a try. But then I saw all the mixed/negative reviews and decided I better not.
But here I am, years later, having read it because Kayla from BooksandLala read it in a video and gave it 4 stars. But uh… I think I should’ve just stuck with my original plan of not reading it.
I love a dark academia story with mystery and groups of pretentious, unlikeable characters. However, I have to find the characters interesting or compelling in order to be invested in the story. And that just didn’t happen here. I didn’t care about what was going on in the plot because I found all of the characters to be so dull. The book has an interesting premise, but the execution just didn’t work for me. It did keep me reading because I wanted to find out how it ended. But it was a letdown in the end.
But here I am, years later, having read it because Kayla from BooksandLala read it in a video and gave it 4 stars. But uh… I think I should’ve just stuck with my original plan of not reading it.
I love a dark academia story with mystery and groups of pretentious, unlikeable characters. However, I have to find the characters interesting or compelling in order to be invested in the story. And that just didn’t happen here. I didn’t care about what was going on in the plot because I found all of the characters to be so dull. The book has an interesting premise, but the execution just didn’t work for me. It did keep me reading because I wanted to find out how it ended. But it was a letdown in the end.
July 12, 2016
Black Chalk by Christopher J Yates
In the early 1990s six bright, self-satisfied, Oxford first-years spend time together – smoking and drinking – but want more out of life. So they get involved in “the game”. This is a series of dares – with embarrassment the aim – and penalities. As you might expect, it gets out of hand. Fourteen years later, one is dead and only two are left in the game.
Need a one-word summary? Frustrating.
There were some nice ideas but they weren’t as well developed as they could have been. The characters were too precious for my liking.
The tropes were boring. I’m really getting fed up of the flash-back/forward thing, unreliable narrators and stories being set prior to mobile phones and the internet. It’s just lazy, to my mind.
The main character’s name is Jolyon – think jolly and Julian. That set my teeth on edge for a start. I’m betraying my class roots, perhaps, or just being an inverse snob.
This is the author’s first book and I know aspiring writers are encouraged to write about what they know but if you read law at Oxford must you write a book about someone who read law at Oxford? Maybe Yates will improve.
Oh, and the ending was rubbish. Sorry, but it was. I won’t give it away but it was wholly unbelievable.
I’ve made a lot of negative comments but I enjoyed reading this in the main. I was keen to see how he was going to tie things up in the end, just disappointed with the ending.
5/10
In the early 1990s six bright, self-satisfied, Oxford first-years spend time together – smoking and drinking – but want more out of life. So they get involved in “the game”. This is a series of dares – with embarrassment the aim – and penalities. As you might expect, it gets out of hand. Fourteen years later, one is dead and only two are left in the game.
Need a one-word summary? Frustrating.
There were some nice ideas but they weren’t as well developed as they could have been. The characters were too precious for my liking.
The tropes were boring. I’m really getting fed up of the flash-back/forward thing, unreliable narrators and stories being set prior to mobile phones and the internet. It’s just lazy, to my mind.
The main character’s name is Jolyon – think jolly and Julian. That set my teeth on edge for a start. I’m betraying my class roots, perhaps, or just being an inverse snob.
This is the author’s first book and I know aspiring writers are encouraged to write about what they know but if you read law at Oxford must you write a book about someone who read law at Oxford? Maybe Yates will improve.
Oh, and the ending was rubbish. Sorry, but it was. I won’t give it away but it was wholly unbelievable.
I’ve made a lot of negative comments but I enjoyed reading this in the main. I was keen to see how he was going to tie things up in the end, just disappointed with the ending.
5/10
August 9, 2015
DNF'd early on,this book lacked fluidity and a clear vision. I was bored,my apologies to those who loved it. Just not my thing.
December 18, 2024
3.25 actual rating. I was having a fine time reading this but the ending pissed me off and ultimately lowered the rating 😔
March 20, 2019
Chad Mason, a New Yorker, is studying for a year at Pitt College in Oxford, England. He meets Jolyon and they become fast friends.
They invent a game where the loser must face the consequences of psychological dares. Putting together a group of six to play, until only one is left. Emilia, the sweet, beautiful girl, Dee the quirky poet, Mark, quiet but brilliant and Jack the obnoxious jokester, complete the bunch.
They play the game in rounds, the loser must fulfill his dare to stay in the game. As the game progresses, these challenges become darker and more twisted.
Fourteen years later, down to two players, it is time to finish the game!
An inventive, unconventional thriller with unreliable narratives. The story resonates with a menacing darkness.
Looking forward to seeing what the author comes up with next!
They invent a game where the loser must face the consequences of psychological dares. Putting together a group of six to play, until only one is left. Emilia, the sweet, beautiful girl, Dee the quirky poet, Mark, quiet but brilliant and Jack the obnoxious jokester, complete the bunch.
They play the game in rounds, the loser must fulfill his dare to stay in the game. As the game progresses, these challenges become darker and more twisted.
Fourteen years later, down to two players, it is time to finish the game!
An inventive, unconventional thriller with unreliable narratives. The story resonates with a menacing darkness.
Looking forward to seeing what the author comes up with next!
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