Michael Chabon
A review of Manhood for Amatuers that makes me think perhaps I ought to take it up again--perhaps my initial queasiness at TMI was a mood-driven alienation.
Reprint Time--Helena
A comment from the blogkeeper at Underbelly (thank you Buce) inspired me to look this up. I was fairly certain that I had reviewed the book in the recent past, and so I discovered this. a good book is worth appreciation--over and over and over again. Also, while you are appreciating, you might want to take in Underbelly's look at Helena as well. La Belle Hélène on March 18, 2005 8:11 AM In reading Helena last night I stumbled across a large number of passages I would like to share. But I thought the more important thing to share was an observation. Evelyn Waugh liked this best among his books. There are a good many reasons why this might be so: it is splendidly written--both the prose and the coherence are several notches above some of his earlier, more frenetic work. It is tightly done, with just the right strokes and exactly the right selection of detail. But I suspect the reason Waugh prized this above all the other works is that in t...
I read it recently, and I'm not sure you need to go out of your way. The most enlightening thing about it to me was that some of the essays read like a really good blog post, and it sort of de-mythologized the author-god impression I had of Chabon and gave him back his person-status.
ReplyDeleteAs far as his reflections on manhood go...not so impressed. I'm put off by his affection for comic books; his appeal to the nostalgia of 70s and 80s era objects and attitudes feels a little stale; and his moral positions are mostly incompatible with a Catholic sensibility.
...but it's fun reading nonetheless.