THE CHALK ARTIST by Allegra Goodman

At its heart, this book is a love story, and it is almost as addictive as the immersive video games described in it.  You can somewhat predict what happens when a very talented artistic young man named Collin---meets the daughter—Nina—of a mogul who owns a video game empire called Arkadia.  This book predates Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by years, and I liked this one much better, although I have to say that the gaming sections were not my favorites.  A side plot involves two sibling students at the high school where Nina teaches English lit.  One of those student’s schoolwork is suffering, since he sometimes games all night, aided and abetted by a female Arkadia employee—Daphne.  She has a dark allure that even Collin falls victim to, jeopardizing his relationship with Nina.  I felt that Arkadia was the villain here, somewhat personified by Daphne, replacing real life with a soul-grabbing fantasy world and preying on teenagers.  However, novels can be immersive as well, and one could argue that some of us are addicted to books, so who am I to judge gamers for their obsession or, for that matter, gaming companies for giving them what they want?  Then again, I don’t know any compulsive readers whose personal lives suffer because of books, do I?