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Wonder Boys
A modern classic, now in a welcome new edition, Wonder Boys firmly established Michael Chabon as a force to be reckoned with in American fiction. At once a deft parody of the American fame factory and a piercing portrait of young and old desire, this novel introduces two unforgettable characters: Grady Tripp, a former publishing prodigy now lost in a fog of pot and passion and stalled in the midst of his endless second book, and Grady鈥檚 student, James Leer, a budding writer obsessed with Hollywood self-destruction and struggling with his own searching heart. All those who love Michael Chabon鈥檚 The Yiddish Policemen鈥檚 Union and his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will find the same elegant imagination, bold humor, and undeniable warmth at work in Wonder Boys.
368 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 1995
1291 people are currently reading
22952 people want to read
About the author
Michael Chabon
145听books8,704听followersMichael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
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June 8, 2020
鈥滻 had lost everything: novel, publisher, wife, lover; the admiration of my best student; all of the fruit of the last decade of my life. I had no family, no friends, no car, and probably, after this weekend, no job. I sat back in my chair, and as I did so I heard the unmistakable crinkle of a plastic bag. I reached into my torn hip pocket of my jacket and passed my hand through the hole, into the lining, where I found my little piece of Humboldt County, warm from the heat of my body.鈥�
At the very beginning of this novel, Grady Tripp has lost or been on the verge of losing all of the important things he has listed above, but it takes the length of this novel for denial to be replaced by the cold, hard face of reality.
He has a certain level of charm, a certain level of intelligence, but truth be known, his days of being one of the wonder boys of writing are long past. He is like a high school quarterback who still talks about his days on the playing field long after his football cleats have molded and turned to rust. He keeps hope alive by continuing to work on an epic novel, his grand masterpiece, a bloated, indulgent, horse-choking size manuscript that he...never...wants...to...finish. He doesn鈥檛 want anyone to read it for fear that his illusions about the novel will be shattered and the last vestiges of hope of ever publishing another novel will be dashed. At the same time, he wants someone to read it so he can feel vindicated.
The fear outweighs the desire for exoneration.
So how does a tuba, a dead dog, and three quarters of a boa constrictor end up in the trunk of Grady鈥檚 鈥渟tolen鈥� 1966 maroon Ford Galaxie?
Ahh yes, the Devil is in the details.
Grady鈥檚 wife has left him because she found out he was sleeping with his boss鈥檚 wife. 鈥滻 intended to get involved with Sara Gaskell from the moment I saw her, to get involved with her articulate fingers, with the severe engineering of combs and barrettes that prevented her russet hair from falling to her hips, with her conversation that flowed in unnavigable oxbows between opposing shores of tenderness and ironical invective, with the smoke of her interminable cigarettes.鈥� Sara is also one of those people who has a book with her all the time. She reads while waiting for a movie to start. She reads while her food is microwaving. She reads during any spare minute that life will give her.
As I鈥檓 sitting here rereading this quote, I keep thinking about the words involved in that sentence and how nice it was to read a book by an author using a higher level of vocabulary. I鈥檝e been very disappointed in recent years with most new adult books reading like they鈥檝e been put through a young adult word strainer. Michael Chabon is a gifted writer, and his love of the language is on constant display throughout the novel.
To make matters worse, Sara is pregnant. We only get to spend a few days with Grady Tripp, but the thing that is readily apparent is that Grady is an all-star at cratering his life.
As if a pregnant mistress and an AWOL wife are not big enough issues for him to deal with, he also has several other chaotic walking disasters waiting to explode in his face.
His favorite student, Hannah Green, is in love with him, and she is just too damn pretty to be resisted. His most gifted student, James Leer, is suicidal. His best friend and agent, Terry Crabtree, has come to town, dragging along a transvestite with him, to inform Tripp that his career is in jeopardy and his best hope is that Tripp has written the great American novel that will salvage his career and put Grady back among the pantheon of Wonder Boys, or should we say Wonder Elderly?
Grady is also smoking WAY too much herb.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always hard for me to tell the difference between denial and what used to be known as hope.鈥� Chabon scatters sentences like that throughout the novel that had me thinking about what is hope? Is denial really the worst thing? Isn鈥檛 denial sometimes the only way we can have any hope? Whenever I take a hard, critical look at my life, the easiest thing to do is crush all the hope out of the equation. Hope is most of the time ethereal and untethered to logic, but without hope how does the magic happen? Those magical moments when something goes unexpectedly well, or a major issue in our lives reaches a resolution without our intercession, or a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger out of the blue does something that makes us believe in the basic goodness of humanity again.
Needless to say, the misadventures of Grady Tripp snowball to the point that I did wonder if he needed to just hop in the Galaxie and drive to New Mexico to let the desert sun melt away his indiscretions, his blunders, his failures. Can Grady grab a branch large enough to hold him as he free falls to the bottom of the deepening crater of his life?
Oh, and let鈥檚 not forget about the dead dog, the three quarters of a boa constrictor, and the tuba in the trunk. These are mere nuances in the greater scheme of his disastrous life, but they must be dealt with as well.
There is also a movie from 2000 with Michael Douglas as Grady, Robert Downey Jr. as Crabtree, and Tobey Maguire as James Leer. The movie isn鈥檛 as good as the book, but it is an enjoyable romp that captures the campus humor of the book.
This is the best book I鈥檝e read in a long time. I鈥檝e got a copy of Chabon鈥檚 first book The Mysteries of Pittsburgh on the way. I have a feeling it will prove to be an impressive writing debut.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit
I also have a Facebook blogger page at: and an Instagram account
At the very beginning of this novel, Grady Tripp has lost or been on the verge of losing all of the important things he has listed above, but it takes the length of this novel for denial to be replaced by the cold, hard face of reality.
He has a certain level of charm, a certain level of intelligence, but truth be known, his days of being one of the wonder boys of writing are long past. He is like a high school quarterback who still talks about his days on the playing field long after his football cleats have molded and turned to rust. He keeps hope alive by continuing to work on an epic novel, his grand masterpiece, a bloated, indulgent, horse-choking size manuscript that he...never...wants...to...finish. He doesn鈥檛 want anyone to read it for fear that his illusions about the novel will be shattered and the last vestiges of hope of ever publishing another novel will be dashed. At the same time, he wants someone to read it so he can feel vindicated.
The fear outweighs the desire for exoneration.
So how does a tuba, a dead dog, and three quarters of a boa constrictor end up in the trunk of Grady鈥檚 鈥渟tolen鈥� 1966 maroon Ford Galaxie?
Ahh yes, the Devil is in the details.
Grady鈥檚 wife has left him because she found out he was sleeping with his boss鈥檚 wife. 鈥滻 intended to get involved with Sara Gaskell from the moment I saw her, to get involved with her articulate fingers, with the severe engineering of combs and barrettes that prevented her russet hair from falling to her hips, with her conversation that flowed in unnavigable oxbows between opposing shores of tenderness and ironical invective, with the smoke of her interminable cigarettes.鈥� Sara is also one of those people who has a book with her all the time. She reads while waiting for a movie to start. She reads while her food is microwaving. She reads during any spare minute that life will give her.
As I鈥檓 sitting here rereading this quote, I keep thinking about the words involved in that sentence and how nice it was to read a book by an author using a higher level of vocabulary. I鈥檝e been very disappointed in recent years with most new adult books reading like they鈥檝e been put through a young adult word strainer. Michael Chabon is a gifted writer, and his love of the language is on constant display throughout the novel.
To make matters worse, Sara is pregnant. We only get to spend a few days with Grady Tripp, but the thing that is readily apparent is that Grady is an all-star at cratering his life.
As if a pregnant mistress and an AWOL wife are not big enough issues for him to deal with, he also has several other chaotic walking disasters waiting to explode in his face.
His favorite student, Hannah Green, is in love with him, and she is just too damn pretty to be resisted. His most gifted student, James Leer, is suicidal. His best friend and agent, Terry Crabtree, has come to town, dragging along a transvestite with him, to inform Tripp that his career is in jeopardy and his best hope is that Tripp has written the great American novel that will salvage his career and put Grady back among the pantheon of Wonder Boys, or should we say Wonder Elderly?
Grady is also smoking WAY too much herb.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always hard for me to tell the difference between denial and what used to be known as hope.鈥� Chabon scatters sentences like that throughout the novel that had me thinking about what is hope? Is denial really the worst thing? Isn鈥檛 denial sometimes the only way we can have any hope? Whenever I take a hard, critical look at my life, the easiest thing to do is crush all the hope out of the equation. Hope is most of the time ethereal and untethered to logic, but without hope how does the magic happen? Those magical moments when something goes unexpectedly well, or a major issue in our lives reaches a resolution without our intercession, or a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger out of the blue does something that makes us believe in the basic goodness of humanity again.
Needless to say, the misadventures of Grady Tripp snowball to the point that I did wonder if he needed to just hop in the Galaxie and drive to New Mexico to let the desert sun melt away his indiscretions, his blunders, his failures. Can Grady grab a branch large enough to hold him as he free falls to the bottom of the deepening crater of his life?
Oh, and let鈥檚 not forget about the dead dog, the three quarters of a boa constrictor, and the tuba in the trunk. These are mere nuances in the greater scheme of his disastrous life, but they must be dealt with as well.
There is also a movie from 2000 with Michael Douglas as Grady, Robert Downey Jr. as Crabtree, and Tobey Maguire as James Leer. The movie isn鈥檛 as good as the book, but it is an enjoyable romp that captures the campus humor of the book.
This is the best book I鈥檝e read in a long time. I鈥檝e got a copy of Chabon鈥檚 first book The Mysteries of Pittsburgh on the way. I have a feeling it will prove to be an impressive writing debut.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit
I also have a Facebook blogger page at: and an Instagram account
September 24, 2007
Second only to Catcher in the Rye in my all-time favorite list of books. If you are a writer, if you've taken a creative writing class, if you've verged on totally and completely fucking up your life with sweet redemption held just at your fingertips, but which you chose to thumb your nose at for just a teensy bit longer....god, read this book. If you love prose, good prose, jubillant, wild, ecstatic indulgent prose, read Chabon. I just want to roll around in his words and bathe in it like a bubble bath and candlelight and a glass of champagne. I love this book, messy, huge, overwrought, comedic, tragic, careening towards a great big crash at the end -- I love it all. It's what I love about life, it's what I love about literature -- I like it big and messy and joyous. Did I mention I love this book? And Grady -- he's my second favorite literary character of all time -- second only to Holden Caulfield.
April 22, 2025
UN TRANQUILLO WEEKEND DI ECCESSI E DISASTRI
I tre interpreti principali maschili.
Il protagonista io-narrante soffre di un particolare tipo di blocco-dello-scrittore: non la paralisi di fronte alla pagina bianca, ma esattamente il suo opposto, la sovrabbondanza, l鈥檈lefantiasi, la prolissit脿, la verbosit脿, l鈥檈ccesso: il romanzo che sta scrivendo da anni non 猫 terminato, ma ha gi脿 raggiunto le 2600 cartelle ed 猫 ben lungi dal concludersi.
Un problema che a me pare condividere con il suo creatore, Michael Chabon, la cui opera pi霉 nota 鈥� premio Pulitzer - supera le mille pagine (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) e con altri colleghi, a cominciare dai cosiddetti post-moderni che sembrano tutti necessitare svariate centinaia di pagine per raccontare una storia - ma sono tante storie - che tenta di racchiudere l鈥檜niverso mondo.
La protagonista femminile.
Un weekend nella vita di Grady Tripp, insegnante di scrittura creativa in un piccolo college della Pennsylvania. Raccontata in chiave spesso grottesca, sopra le righe, e con un distacco da parte di Chabon che mi ha portato a non riuscire a entrare 鈥渄entro鈥� le pagine se non a tratti, a momenti: perlopi霉 per貌, anch鈥檌o ho finito col restare 鈥渄istante鈥�.
Ma oltre la distanza, c鈥櫭� che il weekend 猫 particolarmente disastroso, anche questo eccessivo: ma non sembra essere un weekend particolare, quanto piuttosto la routine nella vita di questi personaggi, sempre mezzi ubriachi, o del tutto, sempre mezzi fatti, o strafatti, sempre incapaci di crescere e diventare adulti 鈥� ce la mettono tutta per restare quei 鈥渂ambinoni鈥� che spesso si dice degli americani a stelle-e-strisce, e non certo come complimento.
La macchina del protagonista con un bagagliaio molto capiente dove finisce dentro un鈥檌ncredibile quantit脿 e variet脿 di cose.
Si parla molto di scrittura. L鈥檌o narrante la insegna 鈥� e ovviamente lo fa con distacco e cinismo 鈥� e scrive, ma come gi脿 detto, 猫 in crisi creativa; l鈥檃mico che arriva per il weekend 猫 il suo editor (ovviamente fresco di licenziamento); a loro si aggiunge molto presto un allievo dell鈥檌o-narrante che gira con un zaino verde con dentro il manoscritto del suo primo romanzo; c鈥櫭� lo scrittore famoso, che per貌 rimane nascosto dietro una semplice iniziale, Q., perdipi霉 fittizia; il weekend prende avvio da una conferenza dedicata alla scrittura.
Niente brilla per originalit脿, niente evita di apparire noto e risaputo. Ma non 猫 tanto questo il problema.
Che credo per me alloggi nei personaggi, nei perenni inciampi e barcollamenti da sbornia 鈥� o da sostanza allucinogena. D鈥檃ltra parte difficile trovare qualcosa di pi霉 noioso delle sbornie: anche al cinema, si contano sulle dita di una mano i film riusciti con un protagonista perennemente sbronzo. Forse perch茅 un鈥檜briacatura 猫 gi脿 per sua natura un clich茅.
Ci貌 nonostante il romanzo ha generato un film gradevole, di un certo successo, e con un cast pi霉 che notevole (Michael Douglas, Robert Downey jr, Frances McDormand, Tobey Maguire). Che ha anche il pregio di essere pi霉 asciutto e compatto (i classici cento minuti, che dovrebbero essere la regola).
Il blocco dello scrittore.
I tre interpreti principali maschili.
Il protagonista io-narrante soffre di un particolare tipo di blocco-dello-scrittore: non la paralisi di fronte alla pagina bianca, ma esattamente il suo opposto, la sovrabbondanza, l鈥檈lefantiasi, la prolissit脿, la verbosit脿, l鈥檈ccesso: il romanzo che sta scrivendo da anni non 猫 terminato, ma ha gi脿 raggiunto le 2600 cartelle ed 猫 ben lungi dal concludersi.
Un problema che a me pare condividere con il suo creatore, Michael Chabon, la cui opera pi霉 nota 鈥� premio Pulitzer - supera le mille pagine (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) e con altri colleghi, a cominciare dai cosiddetti post-moderni che sembrano tutti necessitare svariate centinaia di pagine per raccontare una storia - ma sono tante storie - che tenta di racchiudere l鈥檜niverso mondo.
La protagonista femminile.Un weekend nella vita di Grady Tripp, insegnante di scrittura creativa in un piccolo college della Pennsylvania. Raccontata in chiave spesso grottesca, sopra le righe, e con un distacco da parte di Chabon che mi ha portato a non riuscire a entrare 鈥渄entro鈥� le pagine se non a tratti, a momenti: perlopi霉 per貌, anch鈥檌o ho finito col restare 鈥渄istante鈥�.
Ma oltre la distanza, c鈥櫭� che il weekend 猫 particolarmente disastroso, anche questo eccessivo: ma non sembra essere un weekend particolare, quanto piuttosto la routine nella vita di questi personaggi, sempre mezzi ubriachi, o del tutto, sempre mezzi fatti, o strafatti, sempre incapaci di crescere e diventare adulti 鈥� ce la mettono tutta per restare quei 鈥渂ambinoni鈥� che spesso si dice degli americani a stelle-e-strisce, e non certo come complimento.
La macchina del protagonista con un bagagliaio molto capiente dove finisce dentro un鈥檌ncredibile quantit脿 e variet脿 di cose.
Si parla molto di scrittura. L鈥檌o narrante la insegna 鈥� e ovviamente lo fa con distacco e cinismo 鈥� e scrive, ma come gi脿 detto, 猫 in crisi creativa; l鈥檃mico che arriva per il weekend 猫 il suo editor (ovviamente fresco di licenziamento); a loro si aggiunge molto presto un allievo dell鈥檌o-narrante che gira con un zaino verde con dentro il manoscritto del suo primo romanzo; c鈥櫭� lo scrittore famoso, che per貌 rimane nascosto dietro una semplice iniziale, Q., perdipi霉 fittizia; il weekend prende avvio da una conferenza dedicata alla scrittura.
Niente brilla per originalit脿, niente evita di apparire noto e risaputo. Ma non 猫 tanto questo il problema.
Che credo per me alloggi nei personaggi, nei perenni inciampi e barcollamenti da sbornia 鈥� o da sostanza allucinogena. D鈥檃ltra parte difficile trovare qualcosa di pi霉 noioso delle sbornie: anche al cinema, si contano sulle dita di una mano i film riusciti con un protagonista perennemente sbronzo. Forse perch茅 un鈥檜briacatura 猫 gi脿 per sua natura un clich茅.
Ci貌 nonostante il romanzo ha generato un film gradevole, di un certo successo, e con un cast pi霉 che notevole (Michael Douglas, Robert Downey jr, Frances McDormand, Tobey Maguire). Che ha anche il pregio di essere pi霉 asciutto e compatto (i classici cento minuti, che dovrebbero essere la regola).
Il blocco dello scrittore.
February 9, 2017
What the heck have I been doing with my life! Wonder Boys has been one of my favorite movies of all time because it hits all the wonderful buttons of writing and reading and being deliciously messed up and being so HUMAN.
And then somewhere along the line I read and I still didn't make the connection.
So when I DID finally make the connection that one of favorite movies was really based on a book by an author I already described to myself as "wonderfully inventive and crazy", I made a facepalm that even my great-grandfather felt.
So here I read the novel at long last. And it was like coming home. It was the greatest comfort food. It was all of the joyous mess and the compilation of all cautionary tales about writers and writing that I've ever seen. :)
It was pure joy.
Grady is such a mess. But his problem isn't that he has writer's block. He has the other problem. No constipation here! He also has a bit of the Midnight thing, too. And a drug problem. But he's also got heart and he still believes that he'll conquer the world. You know. Eventually. :)
And then here comes another mess to compliment his own in the form of his editor. And then a young student who's just as nuts but who has at least finished his novel, and all of them get into one horrible mess after another.
Expect dead dogs, Marylin Monroe, Vernon's butt-cheeks, elevators and expulsion. :) I can't describe how wonderful this novel is because it just feels like a puzzle piece that slides right in and tells me that I'm not only just as flawed as these kids, but that I must be just as crazy as them if I can identify so strongly.
Oops. There goes my right to carry around my Sanity Badge... well at least I don't have to keep paying the monthly dues. :)
This is going to be one of my long time favorite novels and I might just revisit it regularly. It is SUCH a delight. :) Crazy delight. :)
Go write! :) LOL.
And then somewhere along the line I read and I still didn't make the connection.
So when I DID finally make the connection that one of favorite movies was really based on a book by an author I already described to myself as "wonderfully inventive and crazy", I made a facepalm that even my great-grandfather felt.
So here I read the novel at long last. And it was like coming home. It was the greatest comfort food. It was all of the joyous mess and the compilation of all cautionary tales about writers and writing that I've ever seen. :)
It was pure joy.
Grady is such a mess. But his problem isn't that he has writer's block. He has the other problem. No constipation here! He also has a bit of the Midnight thing, too. And a drug problem. But he's also got heart and he still believes that he'll conquer the world. You know. Eventually. :)
And then here comes another mess to compliment his own in the form of his editor. And then a young student who's just as nuts but who has at least finished his novel, and all of them get into one horrible mess after another.
Expect dead dogs, Marylin Monroe, Vernon's butt-cheeks, elevators and expulsion. :) I can't describe how wonderful this novel is because it just feels like a puzzle piece that slides right in and tells me that I'm not only just as flawed as these kids, but that I must be just as crazy as them if I can identify so strongly.
Oops. There goes my right to carry around my Sanity Badge... well at least I don't have to keep paying the monthly dues. :)
This is going to be one of my long time favorite novels and I might just revisit it regularly. It is SUCH a delight. :) Crazy delight. :)
Go write! :) LOL.
October 2, 2007
For a straight man, Chabon is very gay friendly. I know there's been stuff written, possibly by Chabon himself, about early gay liaisons he undertook, but now the man's married with three, four kids. And yet Chabon's smart enough to write this:
"[James] looked over at Crabtree with a smile that was crooked and half grateful. He didn't seem particularly distressed or bewildered, I thought, on awakening to his first morning as a lover of men. While he worked his way up the buttons of my old flannel shirt, he kept glancing over at Crabtree, not in any mawkish way but with a deliberateness and an air of wonder, as if studying Crabtree, memorizing the geometry of his knees and elbows."
Indeed, at every point in the novel where Crabtree鈥攖he editor of the novel's narrator, Grady Tripp, who teaches James Leer in his fiction workshop鈥攊s shown gallivanting with a drag queen or seducing James, his sexuality is taken very much in stride. He's, sure, a bit of a predator, but he's so in all facets of his personality. The drugs and debauchery he pushes on other characters is far more threatening than his unforced deflowering of Grady's student.
One other thing that rings true and respectable in the novel is this point Grady makes after he realizes Crabtree won't be publishing his 2000-page unfinished novel:
"It's not fashionable, I know, in this unromantic age, for a reasonably straight man to think of finding his destiny in the love of another man, but that was how I'd always thought of Crabtree. I guess you could say that in a strange sort of way I'd always believed that Crabtree was my man, and I was his."
For a while there's been a strange part of me that has tried to argue that it's gay men that make the friendships among men more important or noteworthy somehow, that, like, in introducing the laughable danger of potential one-way attraction, or maybe just the simple idea of men finding it in themselves to devote their lives to other men, the lines between gay and straight are properly blurred, and whatever it means to be a man gets attached to a more full and honorable set of attributes.
I'm not sure I have the rhetorical ammo to fully develop the argument, but Chabon's novel seems to be pointing to something I've felt for a few years now.
"[James] looked over at Crabtree with a smile that was crooked and half grateful. He didn't seem particularly distressed or bewildered, I thought, on awakening to his first morning as a lover of men. While he worked his way up the buttons of my old flannel shirt, he kept glancing over at Crabtree, not in any mawkish way but with a deliberateness and an air of wonder, as if studying Crabtree, memorizing the geometry of his knees and elbows."
Indeed, at every point in the novel where Crabtree鈥攖he editor of the novel's narrator, Grady Tripp, who teaches James Leer in his fiction workshop鈥攊s shown gallivanting with a drag queen or seducing James, his sexuality is taken very much in stride. He's, sure, a bit of a predator, but he's so in all facets of his personality. The drugs and debauchery he pushes on other characters is far more threatening than his unforced deflowering of Grady's student.
One other thing that rings true and respectable in the novel is this point Grady makes after he realizes Crabtree won't be publishing his 2000-page unfinished novel:
"It's not fashionable, I know, in this unromantic age, for a reasonably straight man to think of finding his destiny in the love of another man, but that was how I'd always thought of Crabtree. I guess you could say that in a strange sort of way I'd always believed that Crabtree was my man, and I was his."
For a while there's been a strange part of me that has tried to argue that it's gay men that make the friendships among men more important or noteworthy somehow, that, like, in introducing the laughable danger of potential one-way attraction, or maybe just the simple idea of men finding it in themselves to devote their lives to other men, the lines between gay and straight are properly blurred, and whatever it means to be a man gets attached to a more full and honorable set of attributes.
I'm not sure I have the rhetorical ammo to fully develop the argument, but Chabon's novel seems to be pointing to something I've felt for a few years now.
May 29, 2009
Wonder Boys
Over Christmas I met a woman named Storm. When she found out I was a writer she became excited and inquisitive. Her therapist, she said, told her she should "reinvent" herself so she signed up for a five-day writer's workshop. She asked me all sorts of questions and I answered truthfully. I told her writing was a great way to find out who you are, and also, a great way to express yourself.
Now I come home and find this book "Wonder Boys" on my bookshelf and it's calling out to me" "Read me!" This novel angered me. I felt it was dishonest and made a mockery of fiction writers and the craft of writing. It is the story of a creative writing professor who can't finish his epic novel. The "Wonder Boys" is a novel about writing the Wonder Boys, and takes place over the course of two days in which the protagonist is constantly stoned and/or drunk as he manages to fuckup his entire life (but comes out living happily ever after): He survives his wife leaving him; has his novel rejected by his editor and 20yr old beautiful female student; loses the manuscrpit; gets bit by a dog; is an accessory to several crimes, gets skulled with a baseball bat; gets fired; and has the self-discovery that he is a fraud. After these events, the baseball-bat-wheeling man's wife (who the hero has gotten pregnant) decides to marry him, support him, and get him a new job.
How's that for reality? Ironic because a point the author, Michael Chabon, makes is that fiction should reveal truths. I agree with that. If the life of writers is like what Chabon depicts ... well, no wonder the world is so fucked up. This is presented as a comedy. (It was made into a movie.) I didn't laugh once in reading it. I didn't cry once. I found myself only getting aggitated by its stupidity. The author makes a point of being critical of the protagonist's novel because it goes off point and rambles on and on with irrelevant discriptions. I often skipped pages of this novel for that very thing. The same can be said for the characters ... I didn't identify, or like, any of them. There was not a scene in the novel that I felt was authentic.
How's this for humor: The editor/publisher is the protagonist's best friend, and gay. He is on the backside of forty. He takes a twenty year old, suicidal, male student (who is the child of his grandfather, who raped his mother) and drugs him; and then uses him for sexual gratification. Then he rewards him by publishing HIS iffy novel and dumps the protagonist's.
One reviewer said that this novel was about "... the only things that really matter." I guess what matters is getting published and laid; and that it does NOT matter how one gets to that end, or who gets hurt in the process.
Over Christmas I met a woman named Storm. When she found out I was a writer she became excited and inquisitive. Her therapist, she said, told her she should "reinvent" herself so she signed up for a five-day writer's workshop. She asked me all sorts of questions and I answered truthfully. I told her writing was a great way to find out who you are, and also, a great way to express yourself.
Now I come home and find this book "Wonder Boys" on my bookshelf and it's calling out to me" "Read me!" This novel angered me. I felt it was dishonest and made a mockery of fiction writers and the craft of writing. It is the story of a creative writing professor who can't finish his epic novel. The "Wonder Boys" is a novel about writing the Wonder Boys, and takes place over the course of two days in which the protagonist is constantly stoned and/or drunk as he manages to fuckup his entire life (but comes out living happily ever after): He survives his wife leaving him; has his novel rejected by his editor and 20yr old beautiful female student; loses the manuscrpit; gets bit by a dog; is an accessory to several crimes, gets skulled with a baseball bat; gets fired; and has the self-discovery that he is a fraud. After these events, the baseball-bat-wheeling man's wife (who the hero has gotten pregnant) decides to marry him, support him, and get him a new job.
How's that for reality? Ironic because a point the author, Michael Chabon, makes is that fiction should reveal truths. I agree with that. If the life of writers is like what Chabon depicts ... well, no wonder the world is so fucked up. This is presented as a comedy. (It was made into a movie.) I didn't laugh once in reading it. I didn't cry once. I found myself only getting aggitated by its stupidity. The author makes a point of being critical of the protagonist's novel because it goes off point and rambles on and on with irrelevant discriptions. I often skipped pages of this novel for that very thing. The same can be said for the characters ... I didn't identify, or like, any of them. There was not a scene in the novel that I felt was authentic.
How's this for humor: The editor/publisher is the protagonist's best friend, and gay. He is on the backside of forty. He takes a twenty year old, suicidal, male student (who is the child of his grandfather, who raped his mother) and drugs him; and then uses him for sexual gratification. Then he rewards him by publishing HIS iffy novel and dumps the protagonist's.
One reviewer said that this novel was about "... the only things that really matter." I guess what matters is getting published and laid; and that it does NOT matter how one gets to that end, or who gets hurt in the process.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2009
This is the second book I've read recently that involved the main character being an adulterer, impregnating someone other than his wife, and generally being such a screw-up that they wreck the life of anyone who depends on them. But while I hated Rabbit from Rabbit, Run to the point of wishing he was real so I could find him and pummel him with a baseball bat, I actually LIKED Grady Tripp and rooted for him to put down the joint and get his act together.
I'd read Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and I liked both those books, but this was the first book of his that I felt a real emotional attachment to the characters. Grady isn't a bad guy. He's just a doofus pothead who has let his love of weed dictate his life. His avoidance of making hard choices has paralyzed him, especially with the writing of his monster novel that has swollen to over 2000 pages because of his inability to decide what it's about. And because he can't stand conflict, he avoids breaking bad news which just draws out all of his problems.
Grady's weekend adventures with his talented but weird student, James Leer, while trying to avoid his editor, makes for a sadly funny story about a middle-aged man trying not to hurt the people in his life while not realizing that he already has and now is just running in circles to avoid the fall-out.
This could have been a very depressing book, or just another tale of middle aged ennui, but its sad sense of humor and likable characters keep it entertaining.
I'd read Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and I liked both those books, but this was the first book of his that I felt a real emotional attachment to the characters. Grady isn't a bad guy. He's just a doofus pothead who has let his love of weed dictate his life. His avoidance of making hard choices has paralyzed him, especially with the writing of his monster novel that has swollen to over 2000 pages because of his inability to decide what it's about. And because he can't stand conflict, he avoids breaking bad news which just draws out all of his problems.
Grady's weekend adventures with his talented but weird student, James Leer, while trying to avoid his editor, makes for a sadly funny story about a middle-aged man trying not to hurt the people in his life while not realizing that he already has and now is just running in circles to avoid the fall-out.
This could have been a very depressing book, or just another tale of middle aged ennui, but its sad sense of humor and likable characters keep it entertaining.
April 28, 2024
The following is a revised review having finished the second reading today.
Chabon won the Pulitzer for "Kavalier and Klay" and Wonder Boys is at the same level. The story of Grady Tripp, a pot smoking English professor at a small university, we're taken on a journey to the annual Word Fest program, a celebration of writing, authors, agents and publishers. Characters are complex and filled with surprises especially the quirky young student who manages to kill the Chancellor's dog and make off with her husband's prized possession. Tripp's close friend and editor Crabtree does little to help either. Filled with hijinx, emotional trauma and laugh out loud humor, Chabon broke the mold with this one! Having seen the Michael Douglas, Robert Downey film many times, the adaption does justice to the book though like most, its been 'rearranged'. For those who enjoy stories about writers, publishers and wacky people, make sure to add this to your list. Rest assured, you will NOT be sorry!
Chabon won the Pulitzer for "Kavalier and Klay" and Wonder Boys is at the same level. The story of Grady Tripp, a pot smoking English professor at a small university, we're taken on a journey to the annual Word Fest program, a celebration of writing, authors, agents and publishers. Characters are complex and filled with surprises especially the quirky young student who manages to kill the Chancellor's dog and make off with her husband's prized possession. Tripp's close friend and editor Crabtree does little to help either. Filled with hijinx, emotional trauma and laugh out loud humor, Chabon broke the mold with this one! Having seen the Michael Douglas, Robert Downey film many times, the adaption does justice to the book though like most, its been 'rearranged'. For those who enjoy stories about writers, publishers and wacky people, make sure to add this to your list. Rest assured, you will NOT be sorry!
May 9, 2014
On the surface, Grady Tripp is probably one of the most loathsome individuals I have ever read about in literature鈥攈e鈥檚 spent seven years on a 2,611 page monstrosity that has gone absolutely nowhere and like his life meandered everywhere, he鈥檚 come to the dissolution of his third marriage, he鈥檚 carried on an affair for about five years with the married chancellor who is now carrying his child, he鈥檚 smoked an entire football field of weed, and yet he can鈥檛 seem to cut himself off, and he harbors a certain amount of jealousy for James Leer, a student of his who has managed to finish his novel, while he has not鈥攁nd yet I liked him anyway, and I couldn鈥檛 wait to see what crisis he would manage to find himself in the middle of next. He鈥檚 a train wreck, but he鈥檚 a somewhat loveable train wreck all the same, because he recognizes that he鈥檚 a complete and utter mess, and he has little, if any, hope for redemption.
This novel works, because Grady Tripp has a heart. He鈥檚 a man filled with misguided direction and false hope, and yet he still continues to go forth and attempt to conquer the world. He may have flushed seven years of his life down the toilet working on a novel that even he knows doesn鈥檛 really work, but he still believes there鈥檚 an ending out there somewhere for it, and all he has to do is find it. Like the main character, the prose of WONDER BOYS is both elegant and disturbing, and it鈥檚 a beautiful read from the first page to the last. And I enjoyed every single minute of it.
This novel works, because Grady Tripp has a heart. He鈥檚 a man filled with misguided direction and false hope, and yet he still continues to go forth and attempt to conquer the world. He may have flushed seven years of his life down the toilet working on a novel that even he knows doesn鈥檛 really work, but he still believes there鈥檚 an ending out there somewhere for it, and all he has to do is find it. Like the main character, the prose of WONDER BOYS is both elegant and disturbing, and it鈥檚 a beautiful read from the first page to the last. And I enjoyed every single minute of it.
July 24, 2014
1 star - I really hated it.
Somewhere around the part where the main character requested a pen to draw faces on his "wiener" (the author's fancy word choice, not mine) as he "pissed" behind a tree, I came to the realization that the remaining 179 pages were probably going to be just as unsatisfactory as the first 209 had been. Immediately after deciding to officially DNF this one, I smiled for the first time since I had chosen to pick it up. For a book that screams, "Look at me! I'm funny. I'm so, so, so funny. Did you see that, right there? I was funny", it was decidedly unfunny. The good news is that I was able to remove four other books from my TBR pile. Clearly, Chabon and I were not made for each other.
Maybe if I enjoyed meandering plots where the author babbles on about senseless things but nothing actually progresses, maybe if I still had the maturity level of an 8 year old, or maybe if I had a wiener, then maybe, just maybe I could trudge through the remaining 46%, but I can't. I just can't.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: N/A.
First Sentence: The first real writer I ever knew was a man who did all of his work under the name of August Van Zorn.
Somewhere around the part where the main character requested a pen to draw faces on his "wiener" (the author's fancy word choice, not mine) as he "pissed" behind a tree, I came to the realization that the remaining 179 pages were probably going to be just as unsatisfactory as the first 209 had been. Immediately after deciding to officially DNF this one, I smiled for the first time since I had chosen to pick it up. For a book that screams, "Look at me! I'm funny. I'm so, so, so funny. Did you see that, right there? I was funny", it was decidedly unfunny. The good news is that I was able to remove four other books from my TBR pile. Clearly, Chabon and I were not made for each other.
Maybe if I enjoyed meandering plots where the author babbles on about senseless things but nothing actually progresses, maybe if I still had the maturity level of an 8 year old, or maybe if I had a wiener, then maybe, just maybe I could trudge through the remaining 46%, but I can't. I just can't.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: N/A.
First Sentence: The first real writer I ever knew was a man who did all of his work under the name of August Van Zorn.
October 21, 2022
Unfortunately, there's a long history of books set in academia where the protagonist a.) is a professor, b.) is an alcoholic or substance abuser, c.) is having trouble getting it up (it = his writing muse), and d.) is tempted by or tempting to the tender vittles we know and love as co-eds. Given how cliche all of this is, you would think that authors would consider this formula strictly where angels fear to tread, but no.
Welcome to WONDER BOYS, Michael Chabon's novel about a washed-up writer slash professor with a weed habit, a book he cannot finish, a bevy of babes (some young enough to be his daughter) to choose from, and a penchant for disaster. The title comes from the behemoth of a novel Grady Tripp cannot finish, but you needn't Wonder why when you see the lifestyle he lives.
Of all the books I've read of this ilk, the only one to pull it off with aplomb is Thomas Williams' THE HAIR OF HAROLD ROUX -- also named after the professor slash alcoholic's book-in-progress. Only, happily, Williams devoted whole swaths of his book to the novel-within-a-novel, which Chabon does little if any of.
It wasn't until a hundred pages in that I realized what Chabon was up to. Yes, this was a comic novel. The problem was in timing. As I read, I kept saying how yes, this could be funny, but only in a movie. In book form, the rather ponderous narrative kept slowing the punchlines down, but the visuals -- blessed with the right actors -- could do wonders with this work. I looked it up and found that it was made into a movie with Michael Douglas and Robert Downey, Jr., as Crabapple, Tripp's gay and diabolical editor who is out to seduce one of Tripp's vulnerable students, a wannabe (what else?) writer named James (played by Tobey Macguire in the film I have yet to see).
The book lumbers along with set scenes at a seder (Tripp's estranged wife's family) for Passover out in the country and at bars, his pregnant girlfriend's house, and the various buildings of the campus. It would help to like Grady Tripp more, but it's hard to do. Is there anything more pitiful, after all, than a middle-aged man still doing weed? And he's filled with so much self-loathing that you can't help but give him an assist after a while (with the loathing, I mean).
In the end, all's well that ends well, as Chabon chooses the Shakespearean comedy route for his denouement. Again, the violins swell as moviedom tries to sweep the book away. Did he write it with Hollywood in mind? Odd, considering it is a book purportedly "about writers."
Not bad, but unsatisfying in the end. For me, the freshman outing called The Mysteries of Pittsburgh remains Chabon's best.
Welcome to WONDER BOYS, Michael Chabon's novel about a washed-up writer slash professor with a weed habit, a book he cannot finish, a bevy of babes (some young enough to be his daughter) to choose from, and a penchant for disaster. The title comes from the behemoth of a novel Grady Tripp cannot finish, but you needn't Wonder why when you see the lifestyle he lives.
Of all the books I've read of this ilk, the only one to pull it off with aplomb is Thomas Williams' THE HAIR OF HAROLD ROUX -- also named after the professor slash alcoholic's book-in-progress. Only, happily, Williams devoted whole swaths of his book to the novel-within-a-novel, which Chabon does little if any of.
It wasn't until a hundred pages in that I realized what Chabon was up to. Yes, this was a comic novel. The problem was in timing. As I read, I kept saying how yes, this could be funny, but only in a movie. In book form, the rather ponderous narrative kept slowing the punchlines down, but the visuals -- blessed with the right actors -- could do wonders with this work. I looked it up and found that it was made into a movie with Michael Douglas and Robert Downey, Jr., as Crabapple, Tripp's gay and diabolical editor who is out to seduce one of Tripp's vulnerable students, a wannabe (what else?) writer named James (played by Tobey Macguire in the film I have yet to see).
The book lumbers along with set scenes at a seder (Tripp's estranged wife's family) for Passover out in the country and at bars, his pregnant girlfriend's house, and the various buildings of the campus. It would help to like Grady Tripp more, but it's hard to do. Is there anything more pitiful, after all, than a middle-aged man still doing weed? And he's filled with so much self-loathing that you can't help but give him an assist after a while (with the loathing, I mean).
In the end, all's well that ends well, as Chabon chooses the Shakespearean comedy route for his denouement. Again, the violins swell as moviedom tries to sweep the book away. Did he write it with Hollywood in mind? Odd, considering it is a book purportedly "about writers."
Not bad, but unsatisfying in the end. For me, the freshman outing called The Mysteries of Pittsburgh remains Chabon's best.
November 18, 2020
Dnf 50%
This is just well written swill. I can't take any more of Grady. I just can't. The main character in this book honestly doesn't deserve that kind of writing.
This is just well written swill. I can't take any more of Grady. I just can't. The main character in this book honestly doesn't deserve that kind of writing.
February 4, 2019
Video review
For writers, and people who always suspected life was kind of a Lovecraft ripoff.
For writers, and people who always suspected life was kind of a Lovecraft ripoff.
May 11, 2012
If we were to categorize books that have literary merit but are depressingly non-enjoyable in a human sense, "Wonder Boys" would be a front runner. Michael Chabon can write. I give him that. Michael Chabon also writes the worst books I've ever read. Here you have a story about a writer (that's a tough plot to start with) that is not in touch with reality (the character is even harder to write) whom screws everything up because it is much easier to do the wrong thing than to be right all the time. I know this creates conflict, and Grady Tripp and all his pot-smoking shenanigans are supposed to make us sympathetic for the life that he has created for himself, but honestly, I could care less. The biggest problem with any of this is that a novel about how hard it is to write a novel is a complete waste of time. In the end, his overall loser mentality makes him insufferable.
But Chabon can write. This is really the only redeeming quality in any of his books I have read. I wanted badly to like "Wonder Boys," and I tried to put my "Tripp is a horrible character" bias aside and go with the flow. The problem is that there is a Seder supper in the middle of this book, an 80 page drool of boring, meaningless garbage that really gave me time to 1. think about how much I hate the main character and 2. start really hating him. The Seder supper could be the worst middle section of a novel I have ever slugged through. It lasted forever and there was no real reason for so much emphasis to be placed on this one scene (Spoiler: None of the Seder stuff matters in the end).
In the end, if you are curious about this novel at all, watch the movie. Michael Chabon's novel (as is all of his novels) is saggy. There is just too much excess for it to be enjoyable. For once I can say that the movie cuts out a lot of the worthless garbage and streamlines the story much better than the novel. I'm done with Chabon books.
But Chabon can write. This is really the only redeeming quality in any of his books I have read. I wanted badly to like "Wonder Boys," and I tried to put my "Tripp is a horrible character" bias aside and go with the flow. The problem is that there is a Seder supper in the middle of this book, an 80 page drool of boring, meaningless garbage that really gave me time to 1. think about how much I hate the main character and 2. start really hating him. The Seder supper could be the worst middle section of a novel I have ever slugged through. It lasted forever and there was no real reason for so much emphasis to be placed on this one scene (Spoiler: None of the Seder stuff matters in the end).
In the end, if you are curious about this novel at all, watch the movie. Michael Chabon's novel (as is all of his novels) is saggy. There is just too much excess for it to be enjoyable. For once I can say that the movie cuts out a lot of the worthless garbage and streamlines the story much better than the novel. I'm done with Chabon books.
July 31, 2019
A writer/professor, Grady Tripp, has been in the process of writing his fourth novel for seven years, with no end in sight, though he tells anyone that asks he is 鈥渁lmost finished.鈥� At Tripp鈥檚 invitation, his friend and editor, Terry Crabtree, shows up to attend the college鈥檚 annual writer鈥檚 conference. Crabtree hopes to obtain the long-awaited novel from Tripp, as he needs it to save his job. Tripp鈥檚 personal life is in turmoil due to his adultery. He is using so much marijuana that it is affecting his judgment and is not helping him finish his 2600-page (and counting) tome. Tripp is conflict-avoidant and has trouble making choices, but people are drawn to his congenial nature. He keeps procrastinating until decisions are made for him by default. Before the weekend is over, he will lose and gain relationships, influences impressionable students (not always in a good way), experience close encounters with an unruly dog and a boa constrictor, search for an expensive piece of a memorabilia collection, attend a Passover Seder with a Jewish family, several native Koreans, and a few lapsed Christians, and store a tuba and an assortment of unlikely items in the trunk of his car.
This book is a wild ride. The writing is outstanding. Chabon employs vivid and detailed imagery and his prose is imbued with a sense of energy. Although the story goes a bit over-the-top, it is filled with sardonic humor and tidbits that keep the reader engaged in trying to figure out what else could happen, and how it will end. I felt immersed in the story. The themes include identity, creativity, sexuality, substance abuse, storytelling, and aging. I had previously read two of the author鈥檚 works, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (which I loved) and Moonglow (which I didn鈥檛), so I was interested to see how this book stacked up. It is more similar to the former than the latter but not as far-reaching in scope. Chabon walks the fine line between entertainment and message, absurdity and philosophy, and pulls it off quite impressively.
This book is a wild ride. The writing is outstanding. Chabon employs vivid and detailed imagery and his prose is imbued with a sense of energy. Although the story goes a bit over-the-top, it is filled with sardonic humor and tidbits that keep the reader engaged in trying to figure out what else could happen, and how it will end. I felt immersed in the story. The themes include identity, creativity, sexuality, substance abuse, storytelling, and aging. I had previously read two of the author鈥檚 works, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (which I loved) and Moonglow (which I didn鈥檛), so I was interested to see how this book stacked up. It is more similar to the former than the latter but not as far-reaching in scope. Chabon walks the fine line between entertainment and message, absurdity and philosophy, and pulls it off quite impressively.
February 5, 2012
Michael Chabon!! Where have you been all my life? What a great book! I loved the film version, but the book is even better. I must admit, it was impossible not to picture Michael Douglas and Toby Maguire as I read, but that's not a bad thing. I love the character Grady Tripp. He's just the type of guy I would have fallen for in my youth: ridiculously intelligent, creative, professorial, and hopelessly, tragically flawed. "As long as she was falling in love with me, I might as well start making her promises I didn't intend to keep." Ah, Grady, you would have totally done me in.
Anyway, great read, I highly recommend it, especially to those of you who like John Irving. It will certainly appeal to you.
Anyway, great read, I highly recommend it, especially to those of you who like John Irving. It will certainly appeal to you.
July 9, 2007
chabon's adaptation of the famous tenacious d song.
June 20, 2007
He tried far too hard to be eclectic, over the top, and kitschy. The entire novel came off as insincere. The only likable characters, in my opinion, were Hannah and Sara, because they were the only ones with any kind of grip on the real world. Grady was a slacker and an asshole, Crabtree was a disturbing, self-absorbed douchebag, and James was just pathetic in every way. Actually, I take that back. Emily's parents, the Warshaws, are entirely likable. How can you not love old Jewish parents?
The entire book was a mess as Grady just skated through disaster after disaster with no real consequences for his horrendously immature and asinine behavior. I'm also bothered by the fact that they made both Grady and Crabtree more presentable and even likable by casting Michael Douglas and Robert Downey, Jr., respectively, in their roles. Crabtree is at least 10 or 15 years older than RDJ, and the casting throws doubts into how they handled the film. I'd be interested to see how they handle Crabtree's borderline pedophiliac obsession with James. Most of me doesn't even want to watch the movie, but I know I will eventually just because of Frances McDormand.
I still think Mysteries of Pittsburgh was his best work, but I've only read three of them now. Kavalier and Clay was good enough, but this book was thoroughly mediocre; I was excessively unimpressed.
The entire book was a mess as Grady just skated through disaster after disaster with no real consequences for his horrendously immature and asinine behavior. I'm also bothered by the fact that they made both Grady and Crabtree more presentable and even likable by casting Michael Douglas and Robert Downey, Jr., respectively, in their roles. Crabtree is at least 10 or 15 years older than RDJ, and the casting throws doubts into how they handled the film. I'd be interested to see how they handle Crabtree's borderline pedophiliac obsession with James. Most of me doesn't even want to watch the movie, but I know I will eventually just because of Frances McDormand.
I still think Mysteries of Pittsburgh was his best work, but I've only read three of them now. Kavalier and Clay was good enough, but this book was thoroughly mediocre; I was excessively unimpressed.
September 1, 2023
"...ha pedig meg lehet menteni, akkor m茅g jobban elcseszni is el lehet."
Road roman, ha van egy谩ltal谩n ilyen kateg贸ria. (Mostant贸l van.) Tripp professzor (besz茅l艖 n茅v!) 茅vek 贸ta 谩polgatott 铆r贸i v谩ls谩ga 艖r眉lt h茅tv茅g茅ben kulmin谩l, miut谩n meg茅rkezik vend茅gs茅gbe enyh茅n toxikus irodalmi 眉gyn枚ke, 茅s mell茅j眉k csap贸dik szuicid tan铆tv谩nya. Aminek k枚vetkezt茅ben meghal n茅h谩ny jobb sorsra 茅rdemes 谩llat, 枚sszet枚rik egyn茅mely sz铆v, minden, ami elcsesz艖dhet, az elcsesz艖dni l谩tszik, s艖t m茅g az is, ami nem. Chabon gyepl艖kezel茅si technik谩ja mark谩ns, sz谩guld vel眉nk a sz枚veg parip谩ja, ha van is pr贸zai holt谩g, h谩t csak az茅rt, hogy ann谩l jobban 茅rezz眉k ut谩na a sebess茅g 茅lm茅ny茅t.
K枚zben meg nyilv谩n nem csak arr贸l van sz贸, hogy szaladjunk, szaladjunk, hadd lobogjon. Hanem az 铆r贸k legnagyobb f茅lelme van itten kives茅zve: hogy hi谩ba vagyunk 铆r贸k, m谩r nem tudunk 铆rni - 茅s milyen 铆r贸 is az, aki nem 铆r? Vagy - ami t谩n m茅g rosszabb - 铆r ugyan, de k茅ptelen kir谩gni mag谩t a saj谩t sz枚veg茅b艖l. G枚rget maga el艖tt egy t枚bb ezer oldalas reg茅nymonstrumot, ami csak nem akar v茅get 茅rni, csak nem akar lez谩r贸dni, agyonnyomja puszta s煤ly谩val szeg茅ny teremt艖j茅t. A kudarct贸l val贸 f茅lelem 茅s a frusztr谩ci贸 pedig rossz d枚nt茅seket sz眉l, ilyen 茅rtelemben pedig maga is a kudarc el艖szob谩ja. Mintha az 铆r贸 azzal rem茅ln茅 kezelni az alkot贸i probl茅m谩kat, hogy saj谩t 茅let茅t megoldhatatlan probl茅m谩k t谩rh谩z谩v谩 alak铆tja 谩t - h谩tha a szem茅lyes kudarcok sorozata hozza el v茅g眉l az 铆r贸i kudarc megold谩s谩t. H谩t, el茅g vakmer艖 k铆s茅rlet, ami azt illeti. Mintha a fogf谩j谩st azzal akarn谩nk megsz眉ntetni, hogy leugrunk egy viaduktr贸l.
Bizonyos tekintetben el茅g f茅s眉letlen reg茅ny, ami azonban nem 谩ll rosszul neki - ez mintha hiteles铆ten茅, hogy Chabon val贸di f茅lelmeket gy煤rt (n茅mik茅pp ter谩pi谩s c茅llal) reg茅nny茅. R谩ad谩sul van benne egy szemernyi feelgood-铆z is, tal谩n mert b谩rmennyire toxikusak is ezek az arcok, m茅giscsak az a l茅nyeg, hogy sz眉ks茅g眉k van egym谩sra. Ett艖l nem tudjuk kozmikus elbalt谩z谩saikat elint茅zni egy "h谩t, 铆gy j谩rt谩l"-lal, hanem drukkolunk, az elcsesz茅sek kolossz谩lis halma al贸l az茅rt b谩ny谩sszanak ki valamit, amit艖l az eg茅sz 茅rtelmet nyer.
Road roman, ha van egy谩ltal谩n ilyen kateg贸ria. (Mostant贸l van.) Tripp professzor (besz茅l艖 n茅v!) 茅vek 贸ta 谩polgatott 铆r贸i v谩ls谩ga 艖r眉lt h茅tv茅g茅ben kulmin谩l, miut谩n meg茅rkezik vend茅gs茅gbe enyh茅n toxikus irodalmi 眉gyn枚ke, 茅s mell茅j眉k csap贸dik szuicid tan铆tv谩nya. Aminek k枚vetkezt茅ben meghal n茅h谩ny jobb sorsra 茅rdemes 谩llat, 枚sszet枚rik egyn茅mely sz铆v, minden, ami elcsesz艖dhet, az elcsesz艖dni l谩tszik, s艖t m茅g az is, ami nem. Chabon gyepl艖kezel茅si technik谩ja mark谩ns, sz谩guld vel眉nk a sz枚veg parip谩ja, ha van is pr贸zai holt谩g, h谩t csak az茅rt, hogy ann谩l jobban 茅rezz眉k ut谩na a sebess茅g 茅lm茅ny茅t.
K枚zben meg nyilv谩n nem csak arr贸l van sz贸, hogy szaladjunk, szaladjunk, hadd lobogjon. Hanem az 铆r贸k legnagyobb f茅lelme van itten kives茅zve: hogy hi谩ba vagyunk 铆r贸k, m谩r nem tudunk 铆rni - 茅s milyen 铆r贸 is az, aki nem 铆r? Vagy - ami t谩n m茅g rosszabb - 铆r ugyan, de k茅ptelen kir谩gni mag谩t a saj谩t sz枚veg茅b艖l. G枚rget maga el艖tt egy t枚bb ezer oldalas reg茅nymonstrumot, ami csak nem akar v茅get 茅rni, csak nem akar lez谩r贸dni, agyonnyomja puszta s煤ly谩val szeg茅ny teremt艖j茅t. A kudarct贸l val贸 f茅lelem 茅s a frusztr谩ci贸 pedig rossz d枚nt茅seket sz眉l, ilyen 茅rtelemben pedig maga is a kudarc el艖szob谩ja. Mintha az 铆r贸 azzal rem茅ln茅 kezelni az alkot贸i probl茅m谩kat, hogy saj谩t 茅let茅t megoldhatatlan probl茅m谩k t谩rh谩z谩v谩 alak铆tja 谩t - h谩tha a szem茅lyes kudarcok sorozata hozza el v茅g眉l az 铆r贸i kudarc megold谩s谩t. H谩t, el茅g vakmer艖 k铆s茅rlet, ami azt illeti. Mintha a fogf谩j谩st azzal akarn谩nk megsz眉ntetni, hogy leugrunk egy viaduktr贸l.
Bizonyos tekintetben el茅g f茅s眉letlen reg茅ny, ami azonban nem 谩ll rosszul neki - ez mintha hiteles铆ten茅, hogy Chabon val贸di f茅lelmeket gy煤rt (n茅mik茅pp ter谩pi谩s c茅llal) reg茅nny茅. R谩ad谩sul van benne egy szemernyi feelgood-铆z is, tal谩n mert b谩rmennyire toxikusak is ezek az arcok, m茅giscsak az a l茅nyeg, hogy sz眉ks茅g眉k van egym谩sra. Ett艖l nem tudjuk kozmikus elbalt谩z谩saikat elint茅zni egy "h谩t, 铆gy j谩rt谩l"-lal, hanem drukkolunk, az elcsesz茅sek kolossz谩lis halma al贸l az茅rt b谩ny谩sszanak ki valamit, amit艖l az eg茅sz 茅rtelmet nyer.
July 14, 2009
Trifling. After I put this down that's the only thing I could think of that would accurately convey what I was feeling after burning precious brain cells and wasting God-given minutes I'll never get back. But maybe I was wrong? After all when Chabon first appeared on the scene along with Ethan Canin, they were the "boy wonders" of literature - talented, handsome, smart, with big book deals to boot. They'd set the publishing world on fire; who was I to try and put out the flame?
So, one day I was having lunch with a publishing friend of mine and we were talking about books we'd read. Now Cork was salt of the earth; one of the giants of publishing, an editor of unimpeachable judgement and taste - this guy had forgotten more about good writing than most editors will ever know. So I asked him what he thought about Chabon. Apparently he'd been submitted one of Chabon's novels for consideration to publish. He was reading it, finding it pleasant enough but nothing special and he got to the critical juncture in the manuscript. The central action centered on this guy and two women he was deeply involved with, at the same time and was having a heck of time trying to decide which one he wanted to be with. back and forth, back and forth like an off-key Cameo tune he went. So finally he decided to make this momentous decision the only way he could figure out how to - by flipping a coin."I almost threw the manscript against the wall!" is how Cork described his reaction.
Just like I thought. Trifling.
So, one day I was having lunch with a publishing friend of mine and we were talking about books we'd read. Now Cork was salt of the earth; one of the giants of publishing, an editor of unimpeachable judgement and taste - this guy had forgotten more about good writing than most editors will ever know. So I asked him what he thought about Chabon. Apparently he'd been submitted one of Chabon's novels for consideration to publish. He was reading it, finding it pleasant enough but nothing special and he got to the critical juncture in the manuscript. The central action centered on this guy and two women he was deeply involved with, at the same time and was having a heck of time trying to decide which one he wanted to be with. back and forth, back and forth like an off-key Cameo tune he went. So finally he decided to make this momentous decision the only way he could figure out how to - by flipping a coin."I almost threw the manscript against the wall!" is how Cork described his reaction.
Just like I thought. Trifling.
May 13, 2025
I'm done with Chabon. He's just not my kind of writer. Third book of his that was below average for me, and this comes after abandoning Telegraph Avenue, which I simply couldn't stand. Not even going to waste my time with Kavalier & Clay. (Have a feeling I'd side with those that didn't like it)
November 29, 2020
螛蠀渭维渭伪喂 蟺蟻喂谓 蟺慰位位维, 蟺慰位位维 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 萎渭慰蠀谓 蠂伪蟻慰蠉渭蔚谓慰蟼. 螘委蠂伪 蟺维蔚喂 谓伪 未蠅 蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟽蟿慰谓 魏喂谓畏渭伪蟿慰纬蟻维蠁慰. 韦喂 蟿伪喂谓委伪 ! 韦喂 蟽蔚谓维蟻喂慰 ! 韦喂 蔚蟻渭畏谓蔚委蔚蟼 ! 韦喂 蟿蟻伪纬慰蠉未喂 ! (韦畏谓 委未喂伪 蠂蟻慰谓喂维 蟺慰蠀 萎蟿伪谓 蠀蟺慰蠄萎蠁喂慰 纬喂伪 螣蟽魏伪蟻 魏伪喂 蟿慰 I have seen it all 蟿畏蟼 Bjork, 伪谓 蔚委蠂伪 未喂魏伪委蠅渭伪 蠄萎蠁慰蠀 蟽蟿畏谓 螒魏伪未畏渭委伪 胃伪 蔚委蠂伪 蟽蠂喂味慰蠁蟻蔚谓喂维蟽蔚喂).
韦畏谓 委未喂伪 蠂蟻慰谓喂维 蔚委蠂伪 蟺维蟻蔚喂 魏伪喂 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟽蟿伪 伪纬纬位喂魏维 纬喂伪蟿委 未蔚谓 蔚委蠂蔚 尾纬蔚喂 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维. 螒蟺蠈 蟿蠈蟿蔚 蟺苇蟻伪蟽伪谓 蟺慰位位维, 蟺慰位位维 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪. 螖蔚谓 蔚委渭伪喂 蔚蠀蟿蠀蠂喂蟽渭苇谓慰蟼. 螖蔚谓 尾位苇蟺蠅 蟺喂伪 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼. 螤萎纬伪 蟽喂谓蔚渭维 蟺苇蟻喂蟽蠀 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺蠈 6 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 蟽蟿伪 螤伪蟻维蟽喂蟿伪 魏伪喂 渭蔚蟿维 苇魏位蔚喂蟽伪谓 慰喂 蟽喂谓蔚渭维未蔚蟼 蔚位苇蠅 covid (螝伪喂 蟺蟻喂谓 蟿伪 6 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 蔚委蠂伪 蟺维蔚喂 蟽蔚 2 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 蠂蟻慰谓喂维, 蠈蟿伪谓 苇尾位蔚蟺伪 4-5 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼 蟿慰 渭萎谓伪 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蟺位维魏伪 渭慰蠀. 螝伪喂 蟺蟻喂谓 伪蠀蟿苇蟼 蟿喂蟼 2 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼...未蔚谓 尉苇蟻蠅). 螖蔚谓 蟺伪蟻伪魏慰位慰蠀胃蠋 蟺喂伪 蟿伪 螌蟽魏伪蟻, 未蔚谓 伪魏慰蠉蠅 魏伪喂谓慰蠉蟻喂蔚蟼 渭慰蠀蟽喂魏苇蟼 蔚魏蟿蠈蟼 伪谓 蟿慰 Youtube 尾纬维位蔚喂 蟺蟻慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈渭蔚谓慰 魏伪谓苇谓伪 蟿畏蟼 桅慰蠀蟻苇喂蟻伪 伪位位维 蟽蠀谓萎胃蠅蟼 苇蠂蔚喂 蟽蟿伪 蟺蟻慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈渭蔚谓伪 魏维蟿喂 蟻维蟺蔚蟻 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 危喂维蟿喂蟽蟿伪 (螡螣螣违 螝螜螡韦螜螡螕螝)
螖蔚谓 苇蟺喂伪蟽伪 蟺慰蟿苇 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 纬喂伪蟿委 谓慰渭委味蠅 蟿伪 伪纬纬位喂魏维 渭慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪位维 (伪谓 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟺蟻慰蠁慰蟻维 韦蟽委蟺蟻伪), 伪位位维 蠈蠂喂 蟿蠈蟽慰 魏伪位维 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 未喂伪尾维蟽蠅 苇谓伪 慰位蠈魏位畏蟻慰 尾喂尾位委慰, 伪位位维 蔚位苇蠅 lockdown 蟿慰 苇蟺喂伪蟽伪 (Funny story : 蟺蟻喂谓 9 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 萎渭慰蠀谓 纬喂伪 未慰蠀位蔚喂维 蟽蟿畏 渭伪纬蔚蠀蟿喂魏萎 螝蠅. 螝维蟿喂 尉苇魏蠅位伪 螒纬纬位委未蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 胃苇位伪谓蔚 谓伪 蟺维蟻慰蠀谓 苇谓伪 渭伪蟿蟽维魏喂 渭伪蠆谓蟿伪谓蠈 萎 维谓喂胃慰 (伪谓伪蟻蠅蟿喂苇渭伪喂 蟿喂 谓伪 蟿慰谓 苇魏伪谓伪谓), 未蔚委蠂谓慰蠀谓 蟿畏谓 蟺喂谓伪魏委未伪 蟺慰蠀 苇位蔚纬蔚 尉蔚蟻蠅纬蠅 1 蔚蠀蟻蠅 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟻蠅蟿维谓蔚 "Per kilo?" 螝伪喂 蔚纬蠋 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺伪谓蟿维蠅 "Per match" 韦螣 螠螒韦危螒螝螜 !!!!! -螠畏谓 蔚委蟽蟿蔚 蟿苇蟿慰喂慰喂, 蟺蔚委蟿蔚 渭慰蠀 蔚蟽蔚委蟼 未畏位伪未萎 蟺蠅蟼 胃伪 蟿慰 位苇纬伪蟿蔚).
螌蟺蠅蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟺慰蠀 伪魏慰位慰蠀胃蔚委 魏伪蟿维 纬蟻维渭渭伪 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 伪蟺蠈 蠈蟿喂 渭蟺慰蟻蠋 谓伪 胃蠀渭畏胃蠋 (伪谓 魏伪喂 蟿慰谓 蟻蠈位慰 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟻蠅渭苇谓畏蟼 蟺蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 蟿慰 苇魏伪谓伪谓 蟺喂慰 渭蔚纬维位慰, 蔚尉 慰蠀 蟿慰谓 苇未蠅蟽伪谓 魏伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 桅蟻维谓蟽喂蟼 螠伪魏螡蟿蠈蟻渭伪谓蟿), 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 未蔚谓 纬委谓蔚蟿伪喂 (萎 纬委谓慰谓蟿伪喂 魏维蟿喂 未萎胃蔚谓 蔚蠀蟿蟻维蟺蔚位伪), 伪位位维 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 魏伪蟿维 蟿伪 维位位伪 未畏胃蔚谓委蟽蟿喂魏慰 蟽苇蟿喂谓纬魏 (尾位苇蟺蔚 campus novel) 蔚委谓伪喂 蟽蟺慰蠀未伪委慰 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 渭蔚 苇谓伪 胃蔚蟽蟺苇蟽喂慰 胃委伪蟽慰 伪蟺蠈 misfits . 螆蠂蔚喂 魏伪喂 苇谓伪 蠈渭慰蟻蠁慰 trans 尾 蟻蠈位慰 before it was cool, 魏伪喂 伪蠁萎谓蔚喂 谓伪 伪谓伪蟺谓蔚蠉蟽慰蠀谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻蔚蟼. 螖蔚委蟿蔚 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 (蟺伪蟿伪纬蠋未畏蟼 蔚渭蟺慰蟻喂魏萎 伪蟺慰蟿蠀蠂委伪 蟺伪蟻维 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿伪蟻 蟺慰蠀 蟺位畏蟻蠋胃畏魏伪谓 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 "尾伪蟽喂魏蠈" 谓慰渭委味蠅), 未喂伪尾维蟽蟿蔚 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰. 螖蠀蟽蟿蠀蠂蠋蟼 未蔚谓 尾蟻萎魏伪 蟽蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟿慰 伪蟽蟿蔚委慰 蟺慰蠀 胃蠀渭维渭伪喂 蟿蠈蟽伪 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 "teenage cop". (螤蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 蟿慰 未蔚委蟿蔚 蟽蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿慰 蟺喂维蟽蔚蟿蔚 I guess...)
韦畏谓 委未喂伪 蠂蟻慰谓喂维 蔚委蠂伪 蟺维蟻蔚喂 魏伪喂 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟽蟿伪 伪纬纬位喂魏维 纬喂伪蟿委 未蔚谓 蔚委蠂蔚 尾纬蔚喂 蟽蟿伪 蔚位位畏谓喂魏维. 螒蟺蠈 蟿蠈蟿蔚 蟺苇蟻伪蟽伪谓 蟺慰位位维, 蟺慰位位维 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪. 螖蔚谓 蔚委渭伪喂 蔚蠀蟿蠀蠂喂蟽渭苇谓慰蟼. 螖蔚谓 尾位苇蟺蠅 蟺喂伪 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼. 螤萎纬伪 蟽喂谓蔚渭维 蟺苇蟻喂蟽蠀 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺蠈 6 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 蟽蟿伪 螤伪蟻维蟽喂蟿伪 魏伪喂 渭蔚蟿维 苇魏位蔚喂蟽伪谓 慰喂 蟽喂谓蔚渭维未蔚蟼 蔚位苇蠅 covid (螝伪喂 蟺蟻喂谓 蟿伪 6 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 蔚委蠂伪 蟺维蔚喂 蟽蔚 2 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 蠂蟻慰谓喂维, 蠈蟿伪谓 苇尾位蔚蟺伪 4-5 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼 蟿慰 渭萎谓伪 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蟺位维魏伪 渭慰蠀. 螝伪喂 蟺蟻喂谓 伪蠀蟿苇蟼 蟿喂蟼 2 蟿伪喂谓委蔚蟼...未蔚谓 尉苇蟻蠅). 螖蔚谓 蟺伪蟻伪魏慰位慰蠀胃蠋 蟺喂伪 蟿伪 螌蟽魏伪蟻, 未蔚谓 伪魏慰蠉蠅 魏伪喂谓慰蠉蟻喂蔚蟼 渭慰蠀蟽喂魏苇蟼 蔚魏蟿蠈蟼 伪谓 蟿慰 Youtube 尾纬维位蔚喂 蟺蟻慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈渭蔚谓慰 魏伪谓苇谓伪 蟿畏蟼 桅慰蠀蟻苇喂蟻伪 伪位位维 蟽蠀谓萎胃蠅蟼 苇蠂蔚喂 蟽蟿伪 蟺蟻慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈渭蔚谓伪 魏维蟿喂 蟻维蟺蔚蟻 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 危喂维蟿喂蟽蟿伪 (螡螣螣违 螝螜螡韦螜螡螕螝)
螖蔚谓 苇蟺喂伪蟽伪 蟺慰蟿苇 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 纬喂伪蟿委 谓慰渭委味蠅 蟿伪 伪纬纬位喂魏维 渭慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 魏伪位维 (伪谓 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟺蟻慰蠁慰蟻维 韦蟽委蟺蟻伪), 伪位位维 蠈蠂喂 蟿蠈蟽慰 魏伪位维 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 未喂伪尾维蟽蠅 苇谓伪 慰位蠈魏位畏蟻慰 尾喂尾位委慰, 伪位位维 蔚位苇蠅 lockdown 蟿慰 苇蟺喂伪蟽伪 (Funny story : 蟺蟻喂谓 9 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 萎渭慰蠀谓 纬喂伪 未慰蠀位蔚喂维 蟽蟿畏 渭伪纬蔚蠀蟿喂魏萎 螝蠅. 螝维蟿喂 尉苇魏蠅位伪 螒纬纬位委未蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 胃苇位伪谓蔚 谓伪 蟺维蟻慰蠀谓 苇谓伪 渭伪蟿蟽维魏喂 渭伪蠆谓蟿伪谓蠈 萎 维谓喂胃慰 (伪谓伪蟻蠅蟿喂苇渭伪喂 蟿喂 谓伪 蟿慰谓 苇魏伪谓伪谓), 未蔚委蠂谓慰蠀谓 蟿畏谓 蟺喂谓伪魏委未伪 蟺慰蠀 苇位蔚纬蔚 尉蔚蟻蠅纬蠅 1 蔚蠀蟻蠅 魏伪喂 渭蔚 蟻蠅蟿维谓蔚 "Per kilo?" 螝伪喂 蔚纬蠋 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺伪谓蟿维蠅 "Per match" 韦螣 螠螒韦危螒螝螜 !!!!! -螠畏谓 蔚委蟽蟿蔚 蟿苇蟿慰喂慰喂, 蟺蔚委蟿蔚 渭慰蠀 蔚蟽蔚委蟼 未畏位伪未萎 蟺蠅蟼 胃伪 蟿慰 位苇纬伪蟿蔚).
螌蟺蠅蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟺慰蠀 伪魏慰位慰蠀胃蔚委 魏伪蟿维 纬蟻维渭渭伪 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 伪蟺蠈 蠈蟿喂 渭蟺慰蟻蠋 谓伪 胃蠀渭畏胃蠋 (伪谓 魏伪喂 蟿慰谓 蟻蠈位慰 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟻蠅渭苇谓畏蟼 蟺蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 蟿慰 苇魏伪谓伪谓 蟺喂慰 渭蔚纬维位慰, 蔚尉 慰蠀 蟿慰谓 苇未蠅蟽伪谓 魏伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 桅蟻维谓蟽喂蟼 螠伪魏螡蟿蠈蟻渭伪谓蟿), 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 未蔚谓 纬委谓蔚蟿伪喂 (萎 纬委谓慰谓蟿伪喂 魏维蟿喂 未萎胃蔚谓 蔚蠀蟿蟻维蟺蔚位伪), 伪位位维 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 魏伪蟿维 蟿伪 维位位伪 未畏胃蔚谓委蟽蟿喂魏慰 蟽苇蟿喂谓纬魏 (尾位苇蟺蔚 campus novel) 蔚委谓伪喂 蟽蟺慰蠀未伪委慰 蟿委蟺慰蟿伪 渭蔚 苇谓伪 胃蔚蟽蟺苇蟽喂慰 胃委伪蟽慰 伪蟺蠈 misfits . 螆蠂蔚喂 魏伪喂 苇谓伪 蠈渭慰蟻蠁慰 trans 尾 蟻蠈位慰 before it was cool, 魏伪喂 伪蠁萎谓蔚喂 谓伪 伪谓伪蟺谓蔚蠉蟽慰蠀谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻蔚蟼. 螖蔚委蟿蔚 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 (蟺伪蟿伪纬蠋未畏蟼 蔚渭蟺慰蟻喂魏萎 伪蟺慰蟿蠀蠂委伪 蟺伪蟻维 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿伪蟻 蟺慰蠀 蟺位畏蟻蠋胃畏魏伪谓 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 "尾伪蟽喂魏蠈" 谓慰渭委味蠅), 未喂伪尾维蟽蟿蔚 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰. 螖蠀蟽蟿蠀蠂蠋蟼 未蔚谓 尾蟻萎魏伪 蟽蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟿慰 伪蟽蟿蔚委慰 蟺慰蠀 胃蠀渭维渭伪喂 蟿蠈蟽伪 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 "teenage cop". (螤蟻苇蟺蔚喂 谓伪 蟿慰 未蔚委蟿蔚 蟽蟿畏谓 蟿伪喂谓委伪 纬喂伪 谓伪 蟿慰 蟺喂维蟽蔚蟿蔚 I guess...)
December 1, 2019
Loved it. A real hoot. 5 stars. Straight to my 2019 favourites shelf and will probably add it to my all-time favourites too. I have a vague recollection of reading a few pages of by this author and not being particularly motivated to continue reading it, so I was a little apprehensive when recently given Wonder Boys as a present. It was therefore an unexpected delight how much I enjoyed this book.
Chabon tells us the story of Professor Grady Tripp, a pot head trying so hard to get his novel Wonder Boys finished. But he鈥檚 been at it for years now and it鈥檚 in need of some serious editing and an appropriate ending and when his agent Crabtree comes to town Tripp is trying hard to convince him that the novel is nearly ready. Tripp鈥檚 marriage is fraying at the edges and his long-time affair with Sara, the Chancellor at the university where he teaches, has come to a critical juncture when Sara has some important news. Such a wild ride we go on and at times it鈥檚 laugh out loud funny. The wit is very dry and acerbic but with a good degree of self-deprecation. Be warned, Grady Tripp is not a particularly likeable character but for me this didn鈥檛 matter at all, I had such a great time. I reckon if you like Richard Russo there鈥檚 a strong chance you鈥檒l enjoy Wonder Boys.
Chabon tells us the story of Professor Grady Tripp, a pot head trying so hard to get his novel Wonder Boys finished. But he鈥檚 been at it for years now and it鈥檚 in need of some serious editing and an appropriate ending and when his agent Crabtree comes to town Tripp is trying hard to convince him that the novel is nearly ready. Tripp鈥檚 marriage is fraying at the edges and his long-time affair with Sara, the Chancellor at the university where he teaches, has come to a critical juncture when Sara has some important news. Such a wild ride we go on and at times it鈥檚 laugh out loud funny. The wit is very dry and acerbic but with a good degree of self-deprecation. Be warned, Grady Tripp is not a particularly likeable character but for me this didn鈥檛 matter at all, I had such a great time. I reckon if you like Richard Russo there鈥檚 a strong chance you鈥檒l enjoy Wonder Boys.
February 6, 2020
Wonder Boys is a book that I must surely lobe beyond all reasoning? 鈥� It's about old writers and young writers, as well as about reviews, readers, publishes, you know, the bookish masses, people who care deeply about words and book awards even though they are aware lots of people think its all ... well rubbsih!
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The book just didn't grab me at all, I don't know if it is the writing or the story, I just didn't care; but as this was 2005, this is most certainly looking to be added to my 2020 tbr, as the book is well-liked, and maybe my younger self didn't appreciate that? Currently it stands with my original score of 3 out of 12. It was also quite telling that I classified this as a comedy!
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The book just didn't grab me at all, I don't know if it is the writing or the story, I just didn't care; but as this was 2005, this is most certainly looking to be added to my 2020 tbr, as the book is well-liked, and maybe my younger self didn't appreciate that? Currently it stands with my original score of 3 out of 12. It was also quite telling that I classified this as a comedy!
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January 1, 2019
This is one of my favorite novels of all time. Although I didn't particularly like one section that dragged ass with his estranged wife's family, this book has major page turning power and it kept me engaged all the way through. Chabon has talent, and the world should know it.
March 29, 2025
驴Cu谩nto tiempo puede un escritor huir del final de su propia historia antes de que lo atrape?
Grady Tripp lleva siete a帽os intent谩ndolo, escondido detr谩s de un manuscrito que se alarga como una broma sin remate. Y lo que Michael Chabon nos da en Chicos prodigiosos es el caos absoluto: una novela hilarante, desastrosa y, en el fondo, brutalmente honesta. Es la vida de un escritor sin el filtro rom谩ntico de Hollywood: no hay un genio taciturno tecleando su obra maestra en un fin de semana, sino un hombre que lleva a帽os atrapado en un manuscrito que se ha convertido en un monstruo ingobernable de 2.600 p谩ginas.
La historia sigue a Grady Tripp, un novelista en plena crisis: su matrimonio est谩 en ruinas, su amante es la mujer de su jefe, su alumno estrella es un enigma con talento desbordante y su manuscrito 鈥攕u maldito manuscrito鈥� ha crecido hasta proporciones monstruosas sin que logre encontrarle un final. Todo esto se desarrolla en un fin de semana de excesos, secretos, decisiones cuestionables y una b煤squeda absurda de significado en medio del desorden.
Pero Grady Tripp no es solo un escritor atrapado en una novela interminable, tambi茅n es un fumeta funcional en el sentido m谩s disfuncional posible: su vida es un enredo de malas decisiones, su narrativa es un laberinto de flashbacks y digresiones, y su novela... bueno, su novela es un monstruo que no deja de crecer. Pero aqu铆 est谩 el truco: a pesar de su neblina mental y su tendencia a convertir cada conversaci贸n en un desv铆o interminable, Grady es endiabladamente entretenido. Si vas a pasar 400 p谩ginas atrapado en la cabeza de alguien que te narra en primera persona, m谩s te vale que sea alguien con su nivel de desastre carism谩tico.
Chabon construye la novela como un carrusel que no deja de girar, con una prosa 谩gil, mordaz y profundamente divertida. Chabon escribe con la agilidad de alguien que se ha tomado tres caf茅s y un whisky antes de sentarse al teclado: frases largas que se enroscan sobre s铆 mismas, comparaciones afiladas como navajas y un sentido del humor que no da tregua. Pero lo mejor de todo es c贸mo consigue que la s谩tira nunca se convierta en crueldad: incluso en sus momentos m谩s rid铆culos, Grady Tripp es un desastre entra帽able, alguien a quien no podemos evitar querer.
Su estilo es puro deleite: una mezcla de lirismo y s谩tira que captura a la perfecci贸n la absurda vida de los escritores y su propensi贸n a la autodestrucci贸n elegante. La iron铆a y el humor impregnan cada p谩gina, pero lo realmente impresionante es c贸mo, entre chistes y desventuras, se cuela una melancol铆a sutil: la historia de alguien que, en alg煤n momento, perdi贸 el rumbo sin siquiera darse cuenta. Si has le铆do Las asombrosas aventuras de Kavalier y Clay (Ver rese帽a aqu铆) notar谩s que Chicos prodigiosos es menos ambiciosa en t茅rminos de alcance, pero igual de envolvente. No est谩 aqu铆 para contarte la gran epopeya americana, sino para sumergirte en un desastre existencial con el que es dif铆cil no empatizar.
La novela se desarrolla en un espacio de tiempo breve, lo que le da un ritmo implacable. Es un fin de semana de caos sin frenos, un carnaval literario de borracheras, secretos mal guardados y cad谩veres 鈥攍iterales y figurados鈥� en el maletero. A cada giro de p谩gina, Grady Tripp se mete en un problema m谩s grande, y la genialidad de Chabon radica en hacer que todo parezca natural, como si la vida de su protagonista estuviera gobernada por las leyes de la comedia negra. La estructura es aparentemente desordenada, pero en realidad est谩 cuidadosamente tejida para que cada enredo impulse la historia hacia adelante.
Si alguna vez has conocido a un escritor 鈥攐 has sido uno鈥�, esta novela te hablar谩 en un nivel casi personal. Chicos prodigiosos es, en el fondo, una carta de amor y s谩tira a la vida literaria, con todos sus delirios de grandeza, inseguridades y absurdos. Es un retrato despiadado de esa tribu de escritores que se pasean por festivales con manuscritos interminables y promesas editoriales que nunca se cumplen. La historia de un hombre que se aferra a una obra inconclusa como si fuera su 煤ltimo refugio, cuando en realidad es su mayor c谩rcel. Pero lo que hace que Chicos prodigiosos sea tan memorable no es solo su ingenio o su s谩tira literaria, sino su humanidad. En el fondo, es una historia sobre el miedo a dejar ir, sobre lo dif铆cil que es aceptar que el talento no siempre es suficiente y que, a veces, lo prodigioso no es escribir sin parar, sino saber cu谩ndo poner el punto final. Porque si algo demuestra esta novela es que el arte de contar historias no tiene que ver solo con la ambici贸n o el alcance, sino con la claridad con la que eres capaz de plasmar el caos de la vida. Y en eso, Chabon aqu铆 est谩 en su mejor momento.
En la mayor铆a de sus libros, Chabon equilibra sus obsesiones 鈥攅l g茅nero, la identidad jud铆a, la raza鈥� con un amor casi fetichista por el lenguaje florido y una pulsi贸n por dejar mensajes en ne贸n sobre la experiencia humana. Pero Chicos prodigiosos es distinto. Quiz谩 es la novela en la que m谩s te sumerges sin sentir que el autor est谩 gui帽谩ndote el ojo desde las sombras. Habla de arte, creaci贸n, adicci贸n, sexo, envejecimiento, pero lo hace con una fluidez desarmante, sin el peso de la vanidad. Es su disco perdido, su novela menos complaciente y, sin embargo, tal vez la m谩s genuina.
驴Recuerdas ese anuncio de Pirelli? 驴C贸mo era? 驴鈥滾a potencia sin control no sirve de nada鈥�? Era algo as铆, 驴no? Pues mira, con Chicos prodigiosos aprender谩s que el talento sin control puede ser un laberinto del que es imposible salir. Y que, a veces, lo m谩s prodigioso no es escribir una gran historia, sino tener el valor de terminarla.
Si alguna vez has sentido que la vida es un manuscrito sin editar lleno de notas al margen y cap铆tulos que no llevan a ninguna parte鈥� bueno, bienvenido al mundo de Grady Tripp. Y bienvenido a Chicos prodigiosos, una de las novelas m谩s divertidas y devastadoramente honestas sobre el arte de narrar鈥� y el de perderse en el intento.
Grady Tripp lleva siete a帽os intent谩ndolo, escondido detr谩s de un manuscrito que se alarga como una broma sin remate. Y lo que Michael Chabon nos da en Chicos prodigiosos es el caos absoluto: una novela hilarante, desastrosa y, en el fondo, brutalmente honesta. Es la vida de un escritor sin el filtro rom谩ntico de Hollywood: no hay un genio taciturno tecleando su obra maestra en un fin de semana, sino un hombre que lleva a帽os atrapado en un manuscrito que se ha convertido en un monstruo ingobernable de 2.600 p谩ginas.
La historia sigue a Grady Tripp, un novelista en plena crisis: su matrimonio est谩 en ruinas, su amante es la mujer de su jefe, su alumno estrella es un enigma con talento desbordante y su manuscrito 鈥攕u maldito manuscrito鈥� ha crecido hasta proporciones monstruosas sin que logre encontrarle un final. Todo esto se desarrolla en un fin de semana de excesos, secretos, decisiones cuestionables y una b煤squeda absurda de significado en medio del desorden.
Pero Grady Tripp no es solo un escritor atrapado en una novela interminable, tambi茅n es un fumeta funcional en el sentido m谩s disfuncional posible: su vida es un enredo de malas decisiones, su narrativa es un laberinto de flashbacks y digresiones, y su novela... bueno, su novela es un monstruo que no deja de crecer. Pero aqu铆 est谩 el truco: a pesar de su neblina mental y su tendencia a convertir cada conversaci贸n en un desv铆o interminable, Grady es endiabladamente entretenido. Si vas a pasar 400 p谩ginas atrapado en la cabeza de alguien que te narra en primera persona, m谩s te vale que sea alguien con su nivel de desastre carism谩tico.
Chabon construye la novela como un carrusel que no deja de girar, con una prosa 谩gil, mordaz y profundamente divertida. Chabon escribe con la agilidad de alguien que se ha tomado tres caf茅s y un whisky antes de sentarse al teclado: frases largas que se enroscan sobre s铆 mismas, comparaciones afiladas como navajas y un sentido del humor que no da tregua. Pero lo mejor de todo es c贸mo consigue que la s谩tira nunca se convierta en crueldad: incluso en sus momentos m谩s rid铆culos, Grady Tripp es un desastre entra帽able, alguien a quien no podemos evitar querer.
Su estilo es puro deleite: una mezcla de lirismo y s谩tira que captura a la perfecci贸n la absurda vida de los escritores y su propensi贸n a la autodestrucci贸n elegante. La iron铆a y el humor impregnan cada p谩gina, pero lo realmente impresionante es c贸mo, entre chistes y desventuras, se cuela una melancol铆a sutil: la historia de alguien que, en alg煤n momento, perdi贸 el rumbo sin siquiera darse cuenta. Si has le铆do Las asombrosas aventuras de Kavalier y Clay (Ver rese帽a aqu铆) notar谩s que Chicos prodigiosos es menos ambiciosa en t茅rminos de alcance, pero igual de envolvente. No est谩 aqu铆 para contarte la gran epopeya americana, sino para sumergirte en un desastre existencial con el que es dif铆cil no empatizar.
La novela se desarrolla en un espacio de tiempo breve, lo que le da un ritmo implacable. Es un fin de semana de caos sin frenos, un carnaval literario de borracheras, secretos mal guardados y cad谩veres 鈥攍iterales y figurados鈥� en el maletero. A cada giro de p谩gina, Grady Tripp se mete en un problema m谩s grande, y la genialidad de Chabon radica en hacer que todo parezca natural, como si la vida de su protagonista estuviera gobernada por las leyes de la comedia negra. La estructura es aparentemente desordenada, pero en realidad est谩 cuidadosamente tejida para que cada enredo impulse la historia hacia adelante.
Si alguna vez has conocido a un escritor 鈥攐 has sido uno鈥�, esta novela te hablar谩 en un nivel casi personal. Chicos prodigiosos es, en el fondo, una carta de amor y s谩tira a la vida literaria, con todos sus delirios de grandeza, inseguridades y absurdos. Es un retrato despiadado de esa tribu de escritores que se pasean por festivales con manuscritos interminables y promesas editoriales que nunca se cumplen. La historia de un hombre que se aferra a una obra inconclusa como si fuera su 煤ltimo refugio, cuando en realidad es su mayor c谩rcel. Pero lo que hace que Chicos prodigiosos sea tan memorable no es solo su ingenio o su s谩tira literaria, sino su humanidad. En el fondo, es una historia sobre el miedo a dejar ir, sobre lo dif铆cil que es aceptar que el talento no siempre es suficiente y que, a veces, lo prodigioso no es escribir sin parar, sino saber cu谩ndo poner el punto final. Porque si algo demuestra esta novela es que el arte de contar historias no tiene que ver solo con la ambici贸n o el alcance, sino con la claridad con la que eres capaz de plasmar el caos de la vida. Y en eso, Chabon aqu铆 est谩 en su mejor momento.
En la mayor铆a de sus libros, Chabon equilibra sus obsesiones 鈥攅l g茅nero, la identidad jud铆a, la raza鈥� con un amor casi fetichista por el lenguaje florido y una pulsi贸n por dejar mensajes en ne贸n sobre la experiencia humana. Pero Chicos prodigiosos es distinto. Quiz谩 es la novela en la que m谩s te sumerges sin sentir que el autor est谩 gui帽谩ndote el ojo desde las sombras. Habla de arte, creaci贸n, adicci贸n, sexo, envejecimiento, pero lo hace con una fluidez desarmante, sin el peso de la vanidad. Es su disco perdido, su novela menos complaciente y, sin embargo, tal vez la m谩s genuina.
驴Recuerdas ese anuncio de Pirelli? 驴C贸mo era? 驴鈥滾a potencia sin control no sirve de nada鈥�? Era algo as铆, 驴no? Pues mira, con Chicos prodigiosos aprender谩s que el talento sin control puede ser un laberinto del que es imposible salir. Y que, a veces, lo m谩s prodigioso no es escribir una gran historia, sino tener el valor de terminarla.
Si alguna vez has sentido que la vida es un manuscrito sin editar lleno de notas al margen y cap铆tulos que no llevan a ninguna parte鈥� bueno, bienvenido al mundo de Grady Tripp. Y bienvenido a Chicos prodigiosos, una de las novelas m谩s divertidas y devastadoramente honestas sobre el arte de narrar鈥� y el de perderse en el intento.
March 9, 2019
A funny morbid tale that includes a dead dog, a smashed snake and a tuba.
You can tell that it is an early work of Chabon but you still enjoy the ride.
You can tell that it is an early work of Chabon but you still enjoy the ride.
September 11, 2007
I read this book after I saw the movie, so I am judging it a bit backwards. I read with a vision in my head of the way the characters were portrayed in the film, and tried to envision them the way Michael Chabon wrote them. For example, in the book, Grady Tripp is a large, imposing man, and his friend and editor, Terry Crabtree, is the same age as he is, and they have been friends since college. Of course, in the film, the slender Michael Douglas plays Grady, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Crabtree, making him about 20 years younger. But, things always change when books are adapted to film. I think the screenwriter did a fine job adapting this novel to the screen, and keeping it fairly faithful to the book.
Michael Chabon is a very descriptive writer, as far as feelings, sensations, smells and the like. He focuses mainly on Grady Tripp as narrator here, and a lot on Crabtree and James Leer. He is also more open about Crabtree's sexuality in the book, although it wasn't exactly hidden in the movie. There were also some changes, like the name and breed of the dog, which seemed kind of unnecessary.
All in all, I found this book a well-written page turner, with a very interesting protaganist, the confused, dope-smoking, blocked writer, Grady Tripp. There is much more about his estranged wife and family in the book, and the ending isn't quite as uplifting as the film, plus, I would have liked an epilogue of what happened to the characters after the novel was over. Although, the ending of the book is more realistic and ambivalent than the film.
I couldn't wait to finish the book, and then view the movie again. It's rare that a film is so accurate to the novel and so well-casted. Especially since the author himself did not adapt the screenplay, it is amazingly like the book in almost every way. I couldn't wait to finish the book, because I was really caught up in the lives of the characters. Michael Chabon is definitely a very good writer, and I want to read his other novels, so that I can read them without the pre-existing condition of having seen the film.
Michael Chabon is a very descriptive writer, as far as feelings, sensations, smells and the like. He focuses mainly on Grady Tripp as narrator here, and a lot on Crabtree and James Leer. He is also more open about Crabtree's sexuality in the book, although it wasn't exactly hidden in the movie. There were also some changes, like the name and breed of the dog, which seemed kind of unnecessary.
All in all, I found this book a well-written page turner, with a very interesting protaganist, the confused, dope-smoking, blocked writer, Grady Tripp. There is much more about his estranged wife and family in the book, and the ending isn't quite as uplifting as the film, plus, I would have liked an epilogue of what happened to the characters after the novel was over. Although, the ending of the book is more realistic and ambivalent than the film.
I couldn't wait to finish the book, and then view the movie again. It's rare that a film is so accurate to the novel and so well-casted. Especially since the author himself did not adapt the screenplay, it is amazingly like the book in almost every way. I couldn't wait to finish the book, because I was really caught up in the lives of the characters. Michael Chabon is definitely a very good writer, and I want to read his other novels, so that I can read them without the pre-existing condition of having seen the film.
June 12, 2017
I was not expecting to ever quit a book by Chabon but this one turned out not to be to my taste. Characters not knowing where to go and what to do, a story that has no direction either. And all the detailed descriptions (do I really need to know the way even the minor characters are dressed, what they look like, how they smell?) slow down the pace even more. I could appreciate the humor and most of the writing, although even here the author is exaggerating in all his metaphores, many of which are sharp but quite a few make little sense. In summary: this book is over the top.
January 28, 2022
An all embracing title 鈥� firstly the title of the novel on which our central character and narrator, the aptly named Grady Tripp, has been working for the past eight years or so. He is an American academic, stoned much of the time. His life, like the characters in his book, is chaotic and the people he hangs around with in the 鈥榓ctual鈥� book are too. But Grady, Crabtree and James qualify as Wonder Boys too, surely?
Funny, touching and exquisitely written and a definite re-read - to pick up on all the stuff I missed.
Funny, touching and exquisitely written and a definite re-read - to pick up on all the stuff I missed.
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