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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Unlike his other books, I had a hard time liking his main characters - especially, the main character..
He wasn't interesting and all he did was cause train wreck after wreck that could have been easily avoided.
Overall, I liked the book but the enjoyment mainly came from the surrounding chracters.
He wasn't interesting and all he did was cause train wreck after wreck that could have been easily avoided.
Overall, I liked the book but the enjoyment mainly came from the surrounding chracters.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I saw the movie first. Just read the book this month. Thrift store find. It's a movie I like and don't know why. I just do. Wordfest, college, book people - what's not to like?
Grady Tripp is a broken type author guy who does a lot of bad things but basically lands on his feet in typcal white guy fashion. He's pretty terrible. But the spiral is entertaining enough and the other characters make it worth it.
I always like seeing what's different or added or rearranged from book to movie and this was no different. There are always a lot of questions i have with the movies that are answered with the internal dialogue in the books. The book is always better:) Though this movie is a fav. We spend more time in the book with Emily's family at a seder and also James Leer's which helps fill out Grady's marriage and James's convoluted background that ate shortchanged in the movie. I hated to see the fake Vernon Hardapple didn't have a wife who wore the Marilyn Monroe coat in the book - i liked that change.
The ending was really kind to him, even if you look at it like he was run out of town. The avoiding responsibility and unpleasant reactions really should've ended with him alone and sad or facing charges, i think you could argue. But a hopeful ending is nice. I don't hate it because it makes you think maybe change is possible.
Grady Tripp is a broken type author guy who does a lot of bad things but basically lands on his feet in typcal white guy fashion. He's pretty terrible. But the spiral is entertaining enough and the other characters make it worth it.
I always like seeing what's different or added or rearranged from book to movie and this was no different. There are always a lot of questions i have with the movies that are answered with the internal dialogue in the books. The book is always better:) Though this movie is a fav. We spend more time in the book with Emily's family at a seder and also James Leer's which helps fill out Grady's marriage and James's convoluted background that ate shortchanged in the movie. I hated to see the fake Vernon Hardapple didn't have a wife who wore the Marilyn Monroe coat in the book - i liked that change.
The ending was really kind to him, even if you look at it like he was run out of town. The avoiding responsibility and unpleasant reactions really should've ended with him alone and sad or facing charges, i think you could argue. But a hopeful ending is nice. I don't hate it because it makes you think maybe change is possible.
This was my first foray into Michael Chabon's work, although I'd been meaning to check him out for some time. I am glad I did. He has a rhythm to his prose that just agrees with me. Much like other authors I enjoy like Vonnegut, Bradbury, or Fitzgerald, his writing just has a flow I always enjoy, regardless of the plot or characters in the book. I will certainly read more of his works soon.
As an avid Chabon reader, this novel quickly became my favorite of his works. Over the course of a few hours, the reader falls deeply into the tragic world of the writer Grady Tripp, stumbling along after him on his miserable, fool-hearty, and comical quest whose end comes much too suddenly. You grow comfortable but never complacent riding in the backseat of Grady's Galaxie as he picks up and abandons an assemblage of characters, issues, and carnage whose relative import all seem backwards. Never before has a tuba seemed more influential and intriguing than a transvestite.
Chabon plays cleverly with the notion of narrative and authorship, and you are never quite sure if you are experiencing Grady's life or his story. Chabon truly drops you into a complete world, introducing elements as if they are obvious and understood and then ignoring them, leaving them unanswered and unaccounted for, until returning to them at the most unexpected moment. No detail goes unaccounted for. Every added element seems inevitable, and you fall easily into the role of the author, wondering how this universe could ever be complete without it. You are intertwined into Grady's mind, and its a hell of a ride, but oh what a relief to be able to leave it at the end.
Chabon plays cleverly with the notion of narrative and authorship, and you are never quite sure if you are experiencing Grady's life or his story. Chabon truly drops you into a complete world, introducing elements as if they are obvious and understood and then ignoring them, leaving them unanswered and unaccounted for, until returning to them at the most unexpected moment. No detail goes unaccounted for. Every added element seems inevitable, and you fall easily into the role of the author, wondering how this universe could ever be complete without it. You are intertwined into Grady's mind, and its a hell of a ride, but oh what a relief to be able to leave it at the end.
Pretty good. But not nearly as good as Kavalier & Clay. Rather self-referential. Still enjoy the way he writes.
A strange journey through the life of a writer trying to live up to his reputation. Ultimately a thriller with a theme of needing to let go and not take your art too seriously, but just serious enough. Not as strong as Kavalier and Clay or Yiddish Policemen's Union but still very good.
Michael Chabon continues his mastery of the literary art form in "Wonder Boys". This being my first foray into Chabon's wunderkind, I was pleasantly surprised. I randomly picked up the book after being too intimidated to read "the Yiddish Policeman's Union", and I'm glad this is what started me on the path of what is now one of my favorite author's bibliography.
Witty, insightful, with a side of realism mixed with surreal yet believable antics of the narrator and protagonist Grady Tripp (the dictionary definition of a likable asshole), this is a novel I would recommend to anyone looking for a light-hearted story of life-long failure, rejection, and desperation.
Witty, insightful, with a side of realism mixed with surreal yet believable antics of the narrator and protagonist Grady Tripp (the dictionary definition of a likable asshole), this is a novel I would recommend to anyone looking for a light-hearted story of life-long failure, rejection, and desperation.