I’ve rarely had occasions where I read a book and instead of imaging it as a movie, I’m imagining it as a dramatic theater performance, and in the case of Christopher Yates’ debut 2013 book, Black Chalk, I was picturing something particularly akin to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I know that was a play that became one of my favorite movies, but the movie plays, well, like a play. And anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that Yates’ dialogue, which the book is largely told through dialogue, is so searing, witty, interesting, captivating, and compelling that it reminded me of watching Elizabeth Taylor do her thing in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, that sort of escalatory dialogue, if you will, where it gets more and more biting and thus, more and more intense, and when you think it can’t possibly ratchet up any further, the writer, in this case Yates, finds that next gear. If you can’t tell, Black Chalk is definitely a contender for one of my favorite fiction reads of the year thus far.
The story is set in 1990 at Oxford University, and jumps forward 14 years later in New York City, alternating between six students at the University, and one narrator (and then later, two) in New York City. Chad is the lone American of the group, who pretends to be from Manhattan, but is actually from a pig farm in upstate New York; Emilia is the pretty, reluctant member of the group in terms of the dynamics that blossom; Dee, who is nicknamed as such because of the Roman numeral “D” for 500, indicating the number of poems she plans to write before killing herself; Jack, who is the funny man, but the kind of funny man who often takes it too far; Mark is a brilliant physist who is like the character Dopey, always sleepy; and finally, like any group dynamic, there is the de facto leader, Jolyon (pronounced like Jolly-on), a charismatic, albeit still somehow aloof, figure. At the start of the semester at Oxford, they decide to invent and play a game with one of the “societies” on campus, Game Soc.
The details of the game don’t actually matter. I mean, Yates mentions dice and cards and such, but the point of the game is that the “loser” has to face consequences conjured up by the others, and as you can imagine, as the book moves along, the consequences not only get more severe and embarrassing, but more pointed toward specific people. The way to “win” the game is to be the last person standing, i.e., the others quit once the consequences get too severe. Basically, it’s like Impractical Jokers, but it’s far more raw and real in the sense of the friendship dynamics that unravel over the course of the book.
Unraveling always starts with jealousy regarding love, right? In this case, Chad, a virgin (not that that is a knock against him, but I think it’s a notable … characteristic driving him), fancies Emilia, and as it happens, Jolyon begins dating Emilia. Then, when he breaks up with Emilia after she leaves the game and breaks her leg, he begins dating Dee, who Chad also began to fancy.
What’s brilliant about the structure of the book jumping back to Oxford in 1990 and then to 2004 in New York City is that because of the way the narration was told from the POV of the person in 2004, I thought it was Chad. That’s because the narrator seemed completely divorced from the charismatic confidence we saw in the Jolyon character in 1990. But shockingly, we learn that the narrator is … Jolyon. And we also learn that Jolyon uses mnemonics to help him navigate life because of whatever underlying mental health issues he has, most likely depression. Then, it hit me way too late in the book because that’s how clever Yates was being, that there were hints back in 1990 of Jolyon’s unraveling and use of mnemonics.
Jolyon is the one who often brings the intensity in the dialogue, as he explodes over the littlest things said by his friends, such as when Mark randomly refers to him as “Joe” instead of Jolyon. The creates a rift between the two and Mark wants out of the Game. But Jolyon thinks that’s disrespecting the spirit and rules of the Game. This leads to Mark playing his own game to get back at Jolyon. It ultimately culminates in Jolyon pretending like he’s going to jump off a tower at the school, Mark trying to save him, and Jolyon kicking Mark to his death, but everyone thinks it’s another student suicide. That’s the guilt present-day Jolyon is wrestling with.
We then learn, that the Game isn’t over. The Game has technically been like an active volcano over the last 14 years. Only, Jolyon and Chad, the last two standing, and their friendship ruptured over the dating situation, agree to a 14-year break, as it were. There’s some insinuated danger from the Game Soc society that they can’t just quit, but we don’t know what those consequences really would be. Someone has to win and someone has to lose. Money and reputations are on the line for all involved. So, in the present day, Jolyon is trying to regain his mental faculties to not only tell the story of what happened in 1990, but also to face down Chad again. He thinks Dee is helping him write the story, and I think he’s falling for her again, but of course, it was a ruse by Chad, as Chad and her are married. (And as Jolyon wonders, is Chad’s marriage itself a ruse, or a way to get back at Jolyon rather?)
Jolyon wins, though, because he found the one thing Chad can’t do as a consequence: return to that darn pig farm and face his father he hates.
I just thought this was a supremely clever and engaging book. I could have kept on reading the dialogue scenes between the six characters and then the dwindling characters present in the Game, but just as interesting was the juxtaposition between the 1990 Jolyon and the 2004 Jolyon, stripped of all his confidence and magnetism because of his dedication to the Game. He went from the leader of a group to a pathetic hermit quite literally. So, yes, the dialogue was impressive, as I’ve repeatedly said, but the structure was as captivating and impressively orchestrated by Yates. I can’t quite compare Black Chalk to anything I’ve ever previously read.
If you dig secret societies and dark happenings in an academic setting with authentic, raw, and believable dialogue and characters, then I highly recommend Yates’ debut book, Black Chalk.
Milam's Musings 