Sophia C. reviewed on 4/30/2012 + 289 more book reviews

In Michael Chabon's debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Art Bechstein has just graduated from college in Pittsburgh and meets a set of interesting characters during the ensuing summer. It's meant to evoke a larger sense of wonder, in the tradition of The Great Gatsby, but most of the novel seems to be downtime for the somewhat confused protagonist and his stranger-than-life social circle of that summer. There are the interesting imagery and turns of phrase which are characteristic of Chabon's other writing, but perhaps I needed to read his essay on the writing of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh at the end of the volume to clue myself into this story, his master's thesis at the University of California at Irvine turned bestseller.

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