posted
Anybody read any of Chabon's stuff? I picked up Werewolves in Their Youth at the library a while back, and liked it, although I didn't have time to read all of the stories in it before I had to return it to the library. I'll be rechecking it at some point in the future. I notice that George R. R. Martin has very good things to say about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and have added it to my list of books of his that I need to get at some point. Looking on Amazon just now, I see that he is the author of Wonderboys. I liked the movie quite a bit, and it's the rare book that isn't better than the movie that is based on it, so I expect that I'll like that one as well.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Wonder Boys is one of those movies in which more twists and turns disrupt the life of the hero in one weekend than would bother most of us our whole lives. Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is an aging one-novel wunderkind at a small Pittsburgh college who's laboring on his seven-years-in-the-making, 2000-plus page second opus with no end in sight. The morning of the college's literary lollapalooza, WordFest, Grady's wife leaves him; that evening, his mistress (Frances McDormand) announces she's pregnant (she's also the chancellor of the school, as well as the wife of Grady's boss). Grady's voracious editor (Robert Downey Jr.) is also in town, transvestite date in tow, determined to read the highly anticipated new book; there's also the nubile student (Katie Holmes), who seems more than willing to ease Grady's pain. And then there's James Leer (Tobey Maguire), the mordant and brilliant writing student who's the catalyst for Grady's lost weekend, which involves a soon-to-be-dead blind dog, a stolen car, and the jacket that Marilyn Monroe wore when she wed Joe DiMaggio. Had enough flights of fancy? It's only the beginning, and in the hands of director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and screenwriter Steve Kloves (The Fabulous Baker Boys), Wonder Boys will have you begging for more. Adroitly adapting Michael Chabon's novel and distilling it to its droll, melancholy essence, Kloves and Hanson have fashioned a briskly unsentimental and darkly funny tale; these characters may be down on their luck, but they sure don't feel sorry for themselves. Douglas, by turns dryly sarcastic and sincerely heartfelt, single-handedly makes up for years of alpha-male posturing as the passive pothead Tripp, and whoever thought of pairing him with the resilient McDormand is brilliant--they convey the complexities and history of their relationship in a single glance or movement. And under Hanson's guidance, the rest of the cast is truly exceptional, with Maguire in a breakthrough performance and Downey at his manic best. The ending of Wonder Boys may feel a little too pat, but after everything these characters have been through, a happy ending seems a just reward. --Mark Englehart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
posted
Chabon is really good. I read Kavalier and Clay a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I would strongly recommend it to most people, although a few parts are not for the weak of heart.
Posts: 1068 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I like Kavalier & Clay quite a lot. GRRM recommended it at Odyssey, too. Actually several of the guest authors recommended Chabon. Enjoy!
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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