The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Four years ago my aunt gave me The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Chabon. It was a large, beautiful, hard cover book that I have always intended to read but, like so many books in my possession, have not yet gotten around to. My flatmate Emily recently came across the book, after her mother read it, and fell in love with Chabon after finishing reading it. She subsequently bought another of Chabon's novels, his first, in fact, and as I found it sitting on my coffee table one evening I decided to pick it up and begin reading it. I quickly made the decision to read its entirety.
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is about a twenty-something man, recently out of college, and his struggles finding his place in life. It sounds a little cliche, and in some ways it is, but Chabon's novel is always entertaining, never dull or mundane. It takes place over the course of a summer as the main character, Art Bechstein, befriends another man about his age, also named Arthur, and thinks he is in love with him. He simultaneously falls in love with a girl, Phlox, and has to deal with another new friend, Cleveland, who is trying to get into organized crime and hopes that Art can help - Art's father is the boss of a Jewish crime family.
What sounds like a complicated story is told in a subtle but never-confusing way, delicate but direct, both poignant and powerful. Chabon writes in flowing, descriptive prose, not unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald or Hunter S. Thompson (two of my favorite authors). Reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh bumped The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay high up in my pile of books-to-read.
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is about a twenty-something man, recently out of college, and his struggles finding his place in life. It sounds a little cliche, and in some ways it is, but Chabon's novel is always entertaining, never dull or mundane. It takes place over the course of a summer as the main character, Art Bechstein, befriends another man about his age, also named Arthur, and thinks he is in love with him. He simultaneously falls in love with a girl, Phlox, and has to deal with another new friend, Cleveland, who is trying to get into organized crime and hopes that Art can help - Art's father is the boss of a Jewish crime family.
What sounds like a complicated story is told in a subtle but never-confusing way, delicate but direct, both poignant and powerful. Chabon writes in flowing, descriptive prose, not unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald or Hunter S. Thompson (two of my favorite authors). Reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh bumped The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay high up in my pile of books-to-read.
posted by rtkelly at 3:35 PM
1 Comments:
Really. I read this book somewhere around 20 years ago and I thought that it was a good first attempt at a novel for a young write, but not great.
I hope he has gotten better over the years.
Gregg
Post a Comment
<< Home