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djerri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
songwind's review against another edition
4.0
After the boy's own personal hobgoblin and his lot of cronies go much to far in their bullying, Andrew gains the attention of the supernatural forces lingering in the chalk drawings, barrows and henges of the area.
Before long, another Andrew Waggoner is following him around, and sometimes taking his place. This new Waggoner is there to enact Andrew's revenge - but has his own priorities, too.
joshhall13's review against another edition
2.0
The writing got schticky and was tiring by chapter 30. The continual mysterious weird paragraphs that don't make sense until the next chapter schtick got old. I imagine it would work better if I sat down and read in longer chunks, but it didn't work for me.
I stopped reading at chapter 32 and just skipped to the last page.
mellabella's review against another edition
2.0
waylander101's review against another edition
4.0
Paul Cornell plumbs the depths of magic and despair in Chalk, a brutal exploration of bullying in 80s England.
Andrew Waggoner has always hung around with his fellow losers at school, desperately hoping each day that the school bullies, led by Drake, will pass him by in search of other prey. But one day they force him into the woods, and the bullying escalates into something more; something unforgivable; something unthinkable.
Broken, both physically and emotionally, something dies in Waggoner, and something else is born in its place.
In the hills of the West Country a chalk horse stands vigil over a site of ancient power, and there Waggoner finds in himself a reflection of rage and vengeance, a power and persona to topple those who would bring him low.
From Tom Brown's School Days to Carrie via Lord of the Flies children casually inflicting horrors on each other has been a mainstay of literature for a long, long, time. Chalk takes this and weave a gripping tale of magic and vengeance. Our protagonist is Andrew Waggoner, one of those kids destined to be seen as a punching bag by the school's bullies, who after a particularly terrible attack leaves him disfigured finds he can't go to the ineffective adults of the story... after all snitches get stitches as the saying goes.
In pain, fear, and desperation Waggoner calls out to a much older, darker power who surprisingly answers. It's from here that Chalk really hits its stride.
The calm, almost matter of fact way Johnathan Broadbent narrates the story only makes Cornell's horror the more riveting. For me it was this dry, emotionless delivery that really made the story hit home. This isn't a mile a minute kind of story so when the action does ramp up and get a bit frenetic it makes it all the more effective. Anyway I'm finding it tough to put into words exactly what I liked about this so I'll wrap up. Read this book, better yet get the audio version like I did and have a man with a mellow Wiltshire accent tell you one of the most horrific stories I've ever heard.
silentcat7135's review against another edition
4.0
Ending aside, I enjoyed this, with its dissociative protagonist (sort of) and its blend of old gods, the ones who inspired monuments like the carvings of horses into chalk hills in England, and new gods, who communicate through the songs that top the pop charts each week. And given the story is set in the '70s, the songs those gods are choosing are from my youth (Culture Club et al, so points for nostalgia).* Ancients set on revenge are a pretty single-minded lot; once called, they don't just shuffle off back into the past if your resolve wavers. And reading the pop charts to interpret events is about as reliable as reading chicken entrails.
The bullying is brutal. So are the plans for revenge. Solidly good, but not for the squeamish.
*Oops. Apparently my musical memory isn't perfect. It's not set in the post-disco late '70s; it's set in the early '80s. Still, nostalgia for the music of my early adulthood rather than my late teens.
booksthatburn's review against another edition
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Vomit, and War
raven_morgan's review against another edition
5.0
jordongreene's review against another edition
5.0
gillothen's review against another edition
3.0