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emmc's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
grahamiam's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really fun collection of musings that cover Chabon's life, Chabon's work, the work of others, and the structure of Literature (with a definitively capital L) as a whole. Lots of resonance here, especially with the parts about it being a big disservice to readers and writers that quote unquote literary fiction and genre fiction are so segregated. Also the last essay about the nature of truth and how difficult (or, in this instance, I think "tricky" would be a better word) of a subject it can be.
Disagree with his assertion that "The Turn of the Screw" was the "best [ghost story] of a good two dozen he [Henry James] produced during the heyday of the form." James's shorter stuff worked so much better for me, including the ghost story "The Jolly Corner." Was not a fan at all of "The Turn of the Screw."
My only complaints about this collection are that 1) most of the essays feel a little shallow, like he cuts off too abruptly and 2) he spends too much time giving details about his main subject and not enough time explaining the connections to his asides. Even in the cases where I knew who he was referring to in an aside, I sometimes didn't see the connection.
Disagree with his assertion that "The Turn of the Screw" was the "best [ghost story] of a good two dozen he [Henry James] produced during the heyday of the form." James's shorter stuff worked so much better for me, including the ghost story "The Jolly Corner." Was not a fan at all of "The Turn of the Screw."
My only complaints about this collection are that 1) most of the essays feel a little shallow, like he cuts off too abruptly and 2) he spends too much time giving details about his main subject and not enough time explaining the connections to his asides. Even in the cases where I knew who he was referring to in an aside, I sometimes didn't see the connection.
jnepal's review against another edition
2.0
Chabon is a word genius. But his philosophical, theological, metaphysical insights are, in many areas, perpendicular to my own. And more importantly, perpendicular to Truth.
His last essay, in which he claims fiction is all about coming up with really good lies to dupe his readers, is deceptive (no duh) and condescending (basically he's saying that "I want to lie to my readers, make them believe the world is something it is not"). It is deceptive because it is an inaccurate view of fiction and what fiction is good for, it is also reductionistic.
Nevertheless, he did have some good insights and his word sleuthiness was on show for all to read (mainly me, since I was reading alone, not in tandem).
His best insights come near the beginning of the book where he writes about the need for writing that both entertains and has style (a hybrid between entertainment-only and style-alone).
I think I'll read his fiction. Should be better.
His last essay, in which he claims fiction is all about coming up with really good lies to dupe his readers, is deceptive (no duh) and condescending (basically he's saying that "I want to lie to my readers, make them believe the world is something it is not"). It is deceptive because it is an inaccurate view of fiction and what fiction is good for, it is also reductionistic.
Nevertheless, he did have some good insights and his word sleuthiness was on show for all to read (mainly me, since I was reading alone, not in tandem).
His best insights come near the beginning of the book where he writes about the need for writing that both entertains and has style (a hybrid between entertainment-only and style-alone).
I think I'll read his fiction. Should be better.
trilobiter's review against another edition
5.0
Writers writing about writing - about the work of other writers, about their own, and the ties that bind - is a favored genre of mine. I love slipping from essay to essay, taking in the flavor of references caught and references uncaught, prompting a quick dash to the computer to discover its secrets, before returning for more treasure.
Chabon's book hit me exactly in the sweet spot. True to the mystique of its title I found it overflowing with treasures, in the form of books and stories I must now read. I can't rest now until I've absorbed Pullman's His Dark Marerials trilogy, or Weschler's Julius Knipl . Come to think of it, it seems perversely strange that I've never read Chabon's own The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . So much work to do...
Chabon's book hit me exactly in the sweet spot. True to the mystique of its title I found it overflowing with treasures, in the form of books and stories I must now read. I can't rest now until I've absorbed Pullman's His Dark Marerials trilogy, or Weschler's Julius Knipl . Come to think of it, it seems perversely strange that I've never read Chabon's own The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . So much work to do...
amarieb's review against another edition
3.0
Wasn't quite what I expected but it was an okay read. I still liked the chapter about the trickster figure the best!
emilyjbridges's review against another edition
4.0
What can you really say, the guy is not only a genius but he agrees with me about all things literary, as he explains in this book of essays. One star deducted for one too many entries about comic books, though.
sdbecque's review against another edition
3.0
If you've read "Kaveiler and Clay" you can probably tell that Chabon is a big fan of genre fiction. And he wants to reclaim it. He wants to do so by talking about really acadmeically. Chabon is a good writer, and he's making good, I think valid points. It's all a little much to read back to back. I always have this problem with essay / short story collections, instead of trying to read them all at once I should space them out while reading another book. Ah well.
davidreed's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book, and I almost made it there. Chabon's defense of genre fiction is near and dear to my heart, and his essays on Sherlock Holmes and Philip Pullman offer some powerful insights. But this collection is just much too self-aware, too self-indulgent and too unfocused. Chabon's writing comes so highly praised that I'm skeptical of my own dislike. Even so, I couldn't shake the sense that, aside from a few pages (particularly the final handful) where his passion takes over from his intellect, his style is both too florid and not enough, full of elaborate analogies and metaphors and usages that on consideration are either plain wrong or so diffuse as to be meaningless. It's showoffy writing striving too hard for profundity, a sense that is enhanced by the author's regular deployment of polysyllabic verbiage that doesn't really belong. ('Aetataureate', Mr. Chabon? Yes, I know Latin enough to parse out its meaning, but that's too pretentious even for a classicist).
Though there is genuine insight here, it's not nearly enough to fill a thin 210 pages. The sixteen essays — which, tellingly, I keep misidentifying to myself as short stories — combine reflection, memoir, and occasionally polemic, organized around the concept of the "borderlands" between genre and literature, truth and fiction, and so on. It's an interesting thread, but one which often gets lost under Chabon's rambling retelling of his own history (not all of it true). I'd be delighted to read a book-length, focused account of genre fiction, if Chabon had written it, and I'd be delighted to read a self-referential fiction account of genre fiction, if, say, Eco or Borges had written it. This is sadly neither.
Though there is genuine insight here, it's not nearly enough to fill a thin 210 pages. The sixteen essays — which, tellingly, I keep misidentifying to myself as short stories — combine reflection, memoir, and occasionally polemic, organized around the concept of the "borderlands" between genre and literature, truth and fiction, and so on. It's an interesting thread, but one which often gets lost under Chabon's rambling retelling of his own history (not all of it true). I'd be delighted to read a book-length, focused account of genre fiction, if Chabon had written it, and I'd be delighted to read a self-referential fiction account of genre fiction, if, say, Eco or Borges had written it. This is sadly neither.
hawthornm's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't enjoy it - not a huge fan of Chabon's essay style.