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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
Wonderful little book of essays by Mr. Chabon - all of them embody everything great about his writing: witty, thought-provoking, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.
I'm really enjoying this book and forcing myself to draw it out (2-3 essays per sitting, generally). In contrast to Chabon's fiction (the first book I read by him was Kavalier...) this book is NOT predictable. It's human. There's no Jewish superstar in the wings, no mythical heroes, just his very human experience of being a father.
Being someone who is neither a father nor a mother, for that matter, I'm find myself identifying with Chabon's ineptitude and his triumphs... his memories, even though he's a spot older than me (maybe 5 years or so), ring true to my own childhood.
If you've read Chabon before and were turned off, give this book a read. If you're a fan of Chabon, give this book a read. If you're a parent, check this book out.
Being someone who is neither a father nor a mother, for that matter, I'm find myself identifying with Chabon's ineptitude and his triumphs... his memories, even though he's a spot older than me (maybe 5 years or so), ring true to my own childhood.
If you've read Chabon before and were turned off, give this book a read. If you're a fan of Chabon, give this book a read. If you're a parent, check this book out.
More discomfiting than I'd anticipated, but at least he was honest, I guess. I read it because there were things I really liked about his 2000 novel Kavalier and Clay, even though there were some pretty big flaws. This collection of personal essays gave me some insight into how he thinks and doesn't think. Like his only other work I've read, it was kind of hit or miss for me, and honestly pretty frustrating. I guess I was ultimately glad to have read K&C, but I feel more neutral about if this was a worthwhile read. Maybe I'll give him one more chance with a more recent work someday if it looks promising. Maybe women just weren't part of his target audience for this one-- hopefully it's not too foolish to hope to read one from him someday where he did have us as part of his intended audience in mind when writing it.
Frank, funny, a little uneven, a little pedagodical, but all in all, a wonderful melancholic and heartfelt memoir.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
In this collection of surprisingly short essays, Chabon canvasses a number of topics tied to his version of masculinity. Somehow, his essays easily reach me as a female reader--even one about his trouble understanding women. Each essay is surprisingly candid, as the best personal essays usually are. Several are autobiographical anecdotes, describing the struggles of a brother, a son, a father, and a loner, and endowed with the arch air of mythology that Chabon lends all his stories. Of course, the collection abounds with cultural references related to comics/literature, TV, movies, and music. However, Chabon has the unique ability to allude with a part sheepish, part giddy tone that never feels snidely obscure. Rather, his references carry the shyness of a geek who secretly hopes you'll understand his Dalek T-shirt, but might think less of you if you do. The final essay in the collection deals with this topic, the exposure of geeky interest, and redefines the title, _Manhood for Amateurs_, in an unexpected way.
Chabon frequently mentions his sense of isolation, and ways that he has tried, failed, and succeeded in escaping it. One of my favorite sentences encapsulates this theme in the first essay:
"Art, like fandom, asserts the possibility of fellowship in a world built entirely from the materials of solitude."
Chabon frequently mentions his sense of isolation, and ways that he has tried, failed, and succeeded in escaping it. One of my favorite sentences encapsulates this theme in the first essay:
"Art, like fandom, asserts the possibility of fellowship in a world built entirely from the materials of solitude."
I have always called Michael Chabon my secret author boyfriend. I love him, simply. So I am always on the look out for any new books to devour mainly because he is one of the few authors who I adore who has not past on to the next life.
"Manhood for Amateurs" is a collection of essays some of them already appearing in esquire magazine I think. As with all collections some are better than others. But I really liked them, they centred around, family, fandom and the mysteries of life in general. Everything you would expect from Michael Chabon. Chabon seems to be endlessly harking back for the good old days, when kids had the freedom to imagine, breath, create. Compared to everything the reading hand made ultra capitalist things of today. This features a lot in Chabon's work that feeling, the past is a place we can go back to if only we could find the map.
Even though I strongly argue that growing up as a child of the 70's he would never have noticed the recessions, the Nixon's, the oil crisis. Like I never noticed the greed of the 80's or the hypocritical indifference of the 90's in favour of care bears, rainbow bright, backstreet boys and 'friends'.
But again in saying all that, I do forgive Chabon a lot, just for the way he writes. He makes me want to write and to create.
Read 'The Adventures of Kaviler and Clay' then move on to his essays.
"Manhood for Amateurs" is a collection of essays some of them already appearing in esquire magazine I think. As with all collections some are better than others. But I really liked them, they centred around, family, fandom and the mysteries of life in general. Everything you would expect from Michael Chabon. Chabon seems to be endlessly harking back for the good old days, when kids had the freedom to imagine, breath, create. Compared to everything the reading hand made ultra capitalist things of today. This features a lot in Chabon's work that feeling, the past is a place we can go back to if only we could find the map.
Even though I strongly argue that growing up as a child of the 70's he would never have noticed the recessions, the Nixon's, the oil crisis. Like I never noticed the greed of the 80's or the hypocritical indifference of the 90's in favour of care bears, rainbow bright, backstreet boys and 'friends'.
But again in saying all that, I do forgive Chabon a lot, just for the way he writes. He makes me want to write and to create.
Read 'The Adventures of Kaviler and Clay' then move on to his essays.
This 2009 book from Michael Chabon is an excellent memoir, focused less on the novelist's specific life history and more on his general musings about parenting and gender roles, as filtered through his own experiences. He's a bit preoccupied with the notion that modern kids have too much structure -- they can't ride their bikes anywhere, their Lego sets are all for existing media properties, etc. -- but he mostly seems to realize that this situation is just different than his own upbringing, not worse. Although I'm closer in age to his children, Chabon and I share several major touchstones from Judaism to Doctor Who, and overall I appreciate reading his insights as I stand now on the cusp of fatherhood myself.
I was taken aback by this amazing work of nonfiction. Chabon's writing is flawless, his story telling is compelling and his ideas are thought provoking.
I was encouraged and challenged. I was excited about what the future of my life may look like. I was bolstered to live my life and embrace both the pleasures and regrets of life.
I was encouraged and challenged. I was excited about what the future of my life may look like. I was bolstered to live my life and embrace both the pleasures and regrets of life.
These short essays by Chabon are perfect to dip into every now and again. They're perhaps not profound, but Chabon does exude an easygoing wisdom and a large degree of charm as he reflects on his life. He has deft and humorous touch and the prose, as always, is exquisite.