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Books : Wonder Boys
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Wonder Boys by: Michael Chabon List Price: £7.99 Vegetarian Books Price: £5.99 You Save: £2.00 (25%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 813 EAN: 9781857024050 ISBN: 1857024052 Label: Fourth Estate Manufacturer: Fourth Estate Number Of Pages: 384 Publication Date: March 28, 1996 Publisher: Fourth Estate Studio: Fourth Estate Sales Rank: 41156 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
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 Rating:  - Will disappoint fans of 'Kavalier & Clay'The story goes that Chabon composed Wonder Boys in a few weeks, after getting stuck on a 1,000 page tome. Turning his predicament around, he decided to write about being bogged down with an unfinishable 1,000 page manuscript. I never understood why writers think writing itself, or their misdemeanours when they can't engage in it, should be of such great interest to the public. But this aside, one can't expect a work produced in a few weeks to live up to one that was matured over years; so fans of Kavalier & Clay are likely to be disappointed by Wonder Boys. The WWII, comic-book-inspired epic was a rich and deeply-felt adventure tale, but this is mostly about parties and the hangovers that follow them, and it takes the reader ... Read More: Rating: - Mid-life crisis and writers block make a fertile ground for drama hereA fine amalgam of several American themes into one, Wonder Boys successfully combines elements of the campus novel with those of writer's block and family get-togethers for holiday celebrations into one. We follow the exploits of Grady Tripp, lecturer, adulterer, pot-head and sometime novelist, over a long weekend as his editor comes to town for a literary conference and he celebrates Passover with his separated wife's family. Added to that he's under pressure to finish his novel Wonder boys which is now running at 2000 pages. Basically his life is out of control, and we have a great time on the roller coaster with him. Although all this is highly amusing, Chabon does make us sympathise with Grady, which makes this a highly satisfying ... Read More: Rating: - "Why did you keep writing this book if you didn't even know what it was about?"In this farcical send-up of academia and the writing life, author Michael Chabon focuses on forty-ish author Grady Tripp, an aptly named writer/professor who is so often stoned that after seven years he has written two thousand pages of a book that is not even close to being finished. Grady's book, Wonder Boys, is much like his life--lacking in focus, fixated on the moment, and completely empty of goals or a sense of direction. His third wife has walked out on him; he's been carrying on a five-year affair with Sarah Gaskell, the Chancellor of the college, who is now pregnant with his baby; his editor is pressing him for a final draft of his unfinished book; and his publisher and everyone at the college are wondering if he will ever duplicate the ... Read More: Rating:  - Seen the film? - read the bookThe story ostensibly centres on Prof Grady Tripp's attempts at completing his increasingly out of control follow up novel of the title, Wonder Boys; yet as is not surprising with Michael Chabon, as well as an interesting plot, it is very much about characters and relationships. Central here, in addition to Grady himself, are his editor Terry Crabtree and young student James Lear, something of a loner, as well as host of other divers characters including Grady's pregnant mistress, an adoring female student, a transvestite, a dead dog and a tuba. The real beauty of the novel is the interaction between the various characters. Grady and carefree drug reliant Crabtree are long standing friends and this clearly comes through. Crabtree has a crush ... Read More: Rating: - a lush loll among louche lushesWhat I loved about Wonder Boys is its droll expansiveness, the way our narrator manages to be hilariously self-deprecating, while Chabon himself uses extended metaphor and Homeric simile (and that`s as rare as hens` teeth in the modern novel) with extravagant relish. Just as certain actors look like they`re thoroughly enjoying themselves (Nicholson, for example), Chabon reads like he`s having a great time. All this in a novel about a man who`s trying hard (not) to finish a novel - called Wonder Boys! This is in certain ways quite an old-fashioned novel, like a contemporary version of the 19th century picaresque tale. Oh, and it made me laugh out loud. Pretty damn wonderful. |
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