Take a photo of a barcode or cover
192 reviews for:
Manhood for Amateurs: the Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son
Michael Chabon
3.69 AVERAGE
192 reviews for:
Manhood for Amateurs: the Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son
Michael Chabon
3.69 AVERAGE
Michael Chabon is a great writer and I think I would enjoy his other books (and we own a few, which my husband has read). However, I don't think I should have used this as my introduction to his work. For one thing, I don't think I'm really the target audience. Also, I read this way too slowly (it's actually a pretty quick read), and spreading it out like that made me feel bored and impatient halfway through.
Matt liked it enough that he didn't want to put it in our "books to sell/donate" pile, though.
Matt liked it enough that he didn't want to put it in our "books to sell/donate" pile, though.
I enjoyed this collection of essays. Chabon is a wonderful writer and I found many of his opinions, mostly on everyday family life, interesting and readable. Having read a few of his novels and some of his wife's books, it was fun seeing a different side of him and their family.
On Canseco: "Playing baseball well does not make you a better person any more than writing well does...He puts it all together, he has all the tools, in a way that seems impossible outside the lines of the ball field or the margins of the page." (145)
I just love the following description:
"In one parlor a neglected piano incrementally unturned itself, and in the other, on a small table designed expressly for the purpose, sat a great black piano of a telephone. It had a clacking iron dial that sprained your fingers, and when it rang like a firehouse alarm, you expected to find Alfalfa or Spanky on the other end of the line." (207)
"This may be the fundamental truth of parenthood: No matter how enlightened or well prepared you are by theory, principle, and the imperative not to repeat the mistakes of your own parents, you are no better a father or mother than the set of your own limitations permits you to be. And that set is your heritage, the pinched and helpless legacy of all the limited mothers and fathers whose fumblings, evasions, and shortcomings led, by some dubious accidental magic, to the production of you." (248)
On Canseco: "Playing baseball well does not make you a better person any more than writing well does...He puts it all together, he has all the tools, in a way that seems impossible outside the lines of the ball field or the margins of the page." (145)
I just love the following description:
"In one parlor a neglected piano incrementally unturned itself, and in the other, on a small table designed expressly for the purpose, sat a great black piano of a telephone. It had a clacking iron dial that sprained your fingers, and when it rang like a firehouse alarm, you expected to find Alfalfa or Spanky on the other end of the line." (207)
"This may be the fundamental truth of parenthood: No matter how enlightened or well prepared you are by theory, principle, and the imperative not to repeat the mistakes of your own parents, you are no better a father or mother than the set of your own limitations permits you to be. And that set is your heritage, the pinched and helpless legacy of all the limited mothers and fathers whose fumblings, evasions, and shortcomings led, by some dubious accidental magic, to the production of you." (248)
This is a collection of essays, that are the author's reflections about childhood, marriage and parenthood. Some of them are better than others but it was all in all an entertaining read.
Loved it, especially as a companion to Bad Mother by his wife.
Even though it took me a while to get through this book, I have to say that I enjoyed it greatly. Michael Chabon is one of those writers that make me want to write for the rest of my life. He is just so brilliant.
I welcome his adventures in the non-fiction territory, and even though I am not a Jewish male in his 40s, I found a lot of what he had to share to be very relevant to my life. Some of the essays had me rejoicing with nerdery, some of them moved me deeply.
The only thing that keeps me from giving this book five stars is that although I am most of the way there with him on almost every topic, sometimes his geeky comics and science fiction knowledge (and the showing off of this knowledge) can make me a little edgy and I lose interest. However, his observations about reading, writing, relationships, and purpose were extremely interesting. His essays about childhood and how being a child has changed in the last forty years in this country were fascinating. I had heard three of them before, in a reading that Michael Chabon did during his visit to my university campus last year, but reading them made me appreciate his eloquent carefulness with language and choice of words. Moreover, his description of his younger son's mild OCD and his issues with symmetry (as one of the kinds of OCD) got me thinking about the last book I read.
I highly recommend this book to those of you who are feeling reflective about life lately.
I welcome his adventures in the non-fiction territory, and even though I am not a Jewish male in his 40s, I found a lot of what he had to share to be very relevant to my life. Some of the essays had me rejoicing with nerdery, some of them moved me deeply.
The only thing that keeps me from giving this book five stars is that although I am most of the way there with him on almost every topic, sometimes his geeky comics and science fiction knowledge (and the showing off of this knowledge) can make me a little edgy and I lose interest. However, his observations about reading, writing, relationships, and purpose were extremely interesting. His essays about childhood and how being a child has changed in the last forty years in this country were fascinating. I had heard three of them before, in a reading that Michael Chabon did during his visit to my university campus last year, but reading them made me appreciate his eloquent carefulness with language and choice of words. Moreover, his description of his younger son's mild OCD and his issues with symmetry (as one of the kinds of OCD) got me thinking about the last book I read.
I highly recommend this book to those of you who are feeling reflective about life lately.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
This guy has almost everything in common with my dad and in a way it made me feel like I know my own father more than before I read the book
I read this book in its entirety on my trip home today. It was the perfect airplane book - each essay is just a few pages so even if I was a little uninterested at least Chabon moved to another topic soon.
I really didn't need the first section or two. I'm getting tired of liberal parents lamenting the loss of traditional childhood experiences for their children (even if I agree - I support the argument even if I'm tired of reading the diatribes). But I enjoyed it when he moved past that whole deal and started writing more personal, less cliche essays.
But really? I feel like I should say this in a little voice, as my husband and I came into this relationship with two copies of Kavalier and Clay and have since pilfered a first edition from his father to bring our total to three (we like having every version of our favorite books - it's a disease), but I bet Michael Chabon is insufferable to be around. I have no basis for this but his own writing, and I'm not saying he's Franzen, but... Yeah. Insufferable.
I really didn't need the first section or two. I'm getting tired of liberal parents lamenting the loss of traditional childhood experiences for their children (even if I agree - I support the argument even if I'm tired of reading the diatribes). But I enjoyed it when he moved past that whole deal and started writing more personal, less cliche essays.
But really? I feel like I should say this in a little voice, as my husband and I came into this relationship with two copies of Kavalier and Clay and have since pilfered a first edition from his father to bring our total to three (we like having every version of our favorite books - it's a disease), but I bet Michael Chabon is insufferable to be around. I have no basis for this but his own writing, and I'm not saying he's Franzen, but... Yeah. Insufferable.
I've read a few of Chabon's novels (though several years back now) and remember enjoying them all pretty well. This is a work of nonfiction, a collection of short anecdotes/essays, exploring a variety of loose themes including masculinity, fatherhood, marriage, childhood, nostalgia, and the life of a writer. His writing is captivating - so many sentences blew me away with the originality of their construction, the images he chose, the metaphors he painted, the deep sense of reflection and insight he's able to draw from even the most mundane moments in our lives. On the whole, I found the book a little on the bleak side emotionally, in a Woody Allen kind of way - so tempered with periodic self-deprecating humor to make it more palatable. On the whole, it wasn't enough to deter me from enjoying his dazzling linguistic gymnastics, as well as his keen and thought-provoking commentary on the society we live in.
In describing a bad relationship: "There were operatic arguments, all-night ransackings of the contest of our souls, drunken vituperations, migraines, rages, grim gray bitter mornings. We traveled, and moved, and bought a house and acquired animals and engaged in all the standard ploys and dodges, short of having children (thank God), employed by couples trying to outrun the shadow of that first enduring mistake." (pg. 116, from 'The Heartbreak Kid')
Zing!
In describing a bad relationship: "There were operatic arguments, all-night ransackings of the contest of our souls, drunken vituperations, migraines, rages, grim gray bitter mornings. We traveled, and moved, and bought a house and acquired animals and engaged in all the standard ploys and dodges, short of having children (thank God), employed by couples trying to outrun the shadow of that first enduring mistake." (pg. 116, from 'The Heartbreak Kid')
Zing!
I love Michael Chabon, and have liked all of his books. But not this one. Maybe it's just that fiction is his forte, but this collection of essays completely failed to engage me. There was one essay (out of 39) that excited me enough to mark its page. Why does it fail? It's a book without a story, which was totally shocking for me, coming from an author who's such an engaging narrator. The only character we really get to know is Chabon himself, and his self-deprecating presentation is a bit of a turn-off.
On the other hand, it could also be that I'm of the wrong demographic. Most of the book is about being a father - something that I am not particularly interested in doing. I am interested in reading about manhood and masculinity... but somehow this book skated so lightly on the surface of these topics that the substance was not enough to engage with. Sorry, Chabon... but I'm still eagerly waiting for your next novel.
On the other hand, it could also be that I'm of the wrong demographic. Most of the book is about being a father - something that I am not particularly interested in doing. I am interested in reading about manhood and masculinity... but somehow this book skated so lightly on the surface of these topics that the substance was not enough to engage with. Sorry, Chabon... but I'm still eagerly waiting for your next novel.