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A review by sbelasco40
Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon
4.0
I have a complicated relationship with Michael Chabon. I am constantly being told that I should like him, because he is Jewish, and a lover of genre fiction, and a Pulitzer-prize winner, and funny, but I have never, ever been able to finish one of his novels. I ADORE the movie WONDER BOYS, which is based on his novel, and especially love the part where one of the professor's students tells him something along the lines of, "You're always telling us that writing is about making choices. This book - it's like you didn't make any choices." Ironically, that is what annoys me about Michael Chabon - he doesn't seem to make choices, he just includes EVERYTHING. And sometimes this makes me want to go to sleep, or possibly throw his book across the room.
As an essayist, however, he's more controlled, and I enjoyed this book quite a lot, with the exception of a few of the essays that got a bit too smug and wordy for my taste. Things that stick out to me - the essay on Sherlock Holmes and fan fiction; the essay on THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy, which may have been my favorite even though I have no desire to read that book ever; and the last few essays in the book on being Jewish and writing about being Jewish, especially the one about Yiddish. I found myself nodding along to many of the observations he made, and I love that he consistently stands for the mingling of genres and the elimination of so-called "literary fiction" as some kind of rarefied, plot-less entity in love with itself. I do think he's a bit too smug, a bit too in love with his own ability to manipulate words, but he also says some very smart things. Maybe I'll give KAVALIER & CLAY another go.
As an essayist, however, he's more controlled, and I enjoyed this book quite a lot, with the exception of a few of the essays that got a bit too smug and wordy for my taste. Things that stick out to me - the essay on Sherlock Holmes and fan fiction; the essay on THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy, which may have been my favorite even though I have no desire to read that book ever; and the last few essays in the book on being Jewish and writing about being Jewish, especially the one about Yiddish. I found myself nodding along to many of the observations he made, and I love that he consistently stands for the mingling of genres and the elimination of so-called "literary fiction" as some kind of rarefied, plot-less entity in love with itself. I do think he's a bit too smug, a bit too in love with his own ability to manipulate words, but he also says some very smart things. Maybe I'll give KAVALIER & CLAY another go.