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Title: Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0-312-25438-5 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.65 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Uneven, but the good ones are incredible!
Comment: After a while you wonder if anyone has a marraige, or pregnancy, that works. These stories, however, are simply outstanding. Chabon's prose uses the English language perfectly, recognizing that every word has its own true meaning, and using those words to paint uncannily vivid pictures. His characters are also true to life, reflecting how unstable and unpredictable we all can be, and he details the relationships betweeen these characters with great accuracy and understanding.
In addition, we are treated to a short story by "August Van Zorn," the Wonder Boys' author who first united Crabtree and Tripp. I don't know if this will become a regular pseudonym for Mr. Chabon, but if it does, so much the better. Not every story hits the mark, but it's only one or two, and they don't miss by much. Now it's just a matter of waiting for his next book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Sneaking up on Nabokov
Comment: This is the better of Chabon's two short story collections. There isn't a lot of thematic variation here - all of these stories except for the very last one are about the muddles and unpredictabilities attendant upon married life, and reading them quickly one after the other can be a bit of a downer for this reason. But Chabon has an incredible gift with language, and although a lot of his characters are losers or muddleheaded or the victims of terrible decisions, his prose makes the world around them seem so rich and pregnant with possibilities that it's difficult to find any of the yarns here too depressing. The only time he misfires is in one story that's set entirely in a neighborhood bar - Chabon clearly doesn't frequent such places, and his attempt to catch the atmosphere in one is condescending and a little cliched.
The last story, "In The Black Mill," was a special treat for me. I'm a big fan of gothic horror and this is a wonderful pastiche of M.R. James with maybe a touch of Poe. One hopes that the author never gets so soaked up in Northeastern literary culture that he begins to think that this sort of genre exercise is beneath his dignity.
Rating: 4
Summary: Howling at the Moon
Comment: This is a superior collection of stories to Chabon's earlier "Model World". While the first half of that collection all seemed like carbon copies of each other, "Werewolves"--though each story centers around a marriage that has either fallen apart or is in the process of falling apart--has enough variety that reading all the stories back-to-back does not become tedious.
"Son of the Wolfman", where a woman who has been having trouble conceiving with her husband is raped and impreganated by another man, is the most memorable story because of the issues it deals with. All the other stories are good as well--I won't go into describing each and every one. "The Black Mill" is an interesting little horror yarn, but it's pretty tame by today's standards. I'd suggest Chabon stick with the genre he knows best.
There's not a lot to pick on with this collection of stories. The writing is flawless, the characters are all unique oddballs, and the stories are all interesting. One thing I grew tired of was the constant description of what every room looks like and every person is wearing. A lot of description can add to the atmosphere of the scene and such, but going into what everyone is wearing is irrelevant and becomes tedious after a while.
Anyway, "Werewolves" is howlingly good collection of stories (thank you, I'll be here all week) that I would recommend over "Model World". But I still prefer his novels.
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Title: Model World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0380710994 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0060972122 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Wonder Boys (Bestselling Backlist) by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0312140940 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Vintage Contemporaries Original) by Michael Chabon ISBN: 140003339X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0312282990 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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