Rating: 
Summary: Relatively lightweight, but enjoyable
Review: Like many people, I was introduced to Michael Chabon through his masterful American epic, the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. Wonder Boys, is not on that level, nor is it intended to be. Instead, it's a warm, witty, and intimate story about the most common of all modern novel subjects--the writer working on his novel. Chabon manages to transcend the cliches of this well-worn genre, at least partially due to his excellent way with characters. Grady Tripp, the aforementioned writer, is as complex and realistic as one could hope a narrarator can be. All too aware of his own shortcomings, as well as those of others, he balances his cynicism with a light wit and lovable shrug that is difficult not to love. James Crabtree, his editor, is the kind of smarmy guy that skates by on pure charm. James Leer, rounding out the titular trio as Tripp's talented student, threatens to fall into tortured artist cliches, but is blessed with a complete lack of self awareness, and flaws so ridiculous that he is never insufferable. The women in the story are mostly shunted to the side in this decidedly male story, but there are any number of quirky minor characters, from Grady's obscurity loving father in law to the witheringly satirical writer "Q" (who is apparently based on a real author that Chabon refuses to name.) Chabon's writing is never short of masterful. Despite the occasionally obscure vocabulary and the long sentences, his writing is always readable, and never nearly as self indulgent as, say, Carson McCullers. What's more, it has an elegant ebb and flow that is difficult for even the most talented writers to produce. Like many novels, it builds to a slightly unfulfilling conclusion. Ironically, although the fictional Wonder Boys novel swelled to an unweildy, bloated size, I get the feeling that the real Wonder Boys ended a little too early. But this is a minor consideration, as a novel of this sort doesn't really depend on a splashy ending. The journey to the end is entertaining enough to make up for it.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing...OK Story
Review: This novel proves the old theory that I heard once when talking about Bogarts film "The Big Sleep" that is not the story as much as its the way you tell it. This is true here. The movie was great, I liked the ending much better in Hansons film and the music really added to the narrative. How many of you will back me up that this would have been a much better read without the 100+ pages of the farmhouse/dinner scene?
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but falls apart in the middle/end.
Review: Michael Chabon writes beautiful prose and the writing in *Wonder Boys* demonstrates a very evident love of language and the ability to use it well. I was enthralled by the beginning of this book, thinking that although he was painting on a much smaller canvas than in *Kavelier & Clay* that I was going to be treated to a very intricate and detailed portrait of Grady Tripp and the small academic/creative writing microcosm he inhabits. Since I enjoyed the book so much when I began it, it really pains me to give the book as a whole such a mediocre rating. I simply lost interest in the book halfway through - during the infamously boring seder scenes - and although I plowed through it to within 50 pages of the end, I couldn't bring myself to finish the book since I wasn't interested in any of the characters anymore. Not only was the seder scene boring, its at this point, when Tripp starts analysing himself, James Leer, Albert Vetch, Terry Crabtree, and all of their fictional works, that the book just gets bogged down in endless albeit nicely written exposition, analysing the characters fears and motivations for ourselves. Chabon just couldn't seem to trust the reader to figure out what they could of the characters' psyche on their own - I can't quite forgive him for that, but more importantly, the book suffers because with all his description and exposition, there's nothing interesting to pay attention to either plot-wise or characterization-wise. The novel does pick up after Tripp leaves the farmhouse, but the novel lost so much momentum at the seder, that I just couldn't finish it. I can't recommend this book since I simply could not tolerate being spoonfed by the author what he thinks I should think of the story as I read it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Wonderful Wonder Boys
Review: Michael Chabon is an excellent author. His style of writing is like no other. I am now going to make a point to read all of his novels. Like many others i saw the Wonder Boys movie and was quite impressed, (if you haven't watched it please do)the adaption to the big screen was wonderful and i was very displeased at the lack of interest in it. Professor Tripp is one of the most amazing characters i have ever read about. The man is in so much trouble and gets caught up in so many bad, and almost always funny, situations that you cannot help but feel bad for him. James Lear, a disturbed, young, possibly suicidal, college student and Crabtree (Tripp's editor) are the perfect characters to complete a team that must battle through the weekends crazy events. i will say it again, Michael Chabon did a great job, he is an excellent writer and i will be reading all of his work in the future!
Rating:
Summary: The Amazing Adventures of Grady Tripp and James Leer
Review: This book although not as eloquent as Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is much more humorous. Where Kavalier and Clay is epic, Wonder Boys takes place in a single weekend. Kavalier and Clay deals with the comic medium, Wonder Boys deals with the lierary world. But both books deserve over 5,000 stars and should be read and re-read over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Marrying sentences as though they were always meant to be...
Review: A model writer: one to take writing lessons from while reading his work. Starts with a promising first novel, then hits his audience harder with Wonder Boys, a solid storyline carefully crafted through lively characters and an assortment of issues presented that are weaved together with cozy sentences that make a great novel!
Rating:
Summary: No qualms about giving as recommendation
Review: This is one of those books that I keep several copies of, because when a gift giving opportunity arises and I have to come up with something in a hurry, I just give a copy without wondering if it's going to please someone or not. It will.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characters
Review: Tripp is a 40-something university professor and novelist who is having trouble finishing his fourth book: he's seven years and over 2,000 pages into it and he's not even halfway done. His favorite pastimes are getting high, getting drunk, and cheating on his wife, all while battling (and losing) his reflex of running off on wild adventures at the drop of a hat. Terry Crabtree, Tripp's gay editor and old friend, is flamboyant, likes college age boys, and is even more irresponsible with drug and drink. A satire on the literary life, Wonder Boys is an enjoyable if somewhat cumbersome read. Great characters, all of them on a quest for self-acceptance, but Chabon gets bogged down by his obvious affection for literary description, which, while startingly good, distracts from the action at hand and puts too much space between the character and the reader. The book reads like a series of run-on scenes, rather than a flowing novel, which is probably why it made for a good film. The relationship between Tripp, the main character, and James, one of his students, is a focal point of the novel. Tripp inadvertedly helps James kill a dog, and then spends the weekend running around with it in his trunk, trying at various times to dispose of it. But the relationship is deeper than its lighthearted treatment. The two of them end up palling around together all weekend, getting drunk and stoned, and finding themselves in over the top situations, which includes scenes with Crabtree, Tripp's wife who has just left him, his wife's very Jewish family, Tripp's lover who is pregnant, a stolen jacket onced owned by Marilyn Monroe, a stolen car, a drag queen, and on and on. At times I marveled at Chabon's prose and his penchant for description -- that he loves his characters and respects them for who they are is evident, that he can be simultaneously playful and serious, that he can write circles around a good many of today's writers is also true. However, while the book is light in spirit, it is often not light on the printed page, and you sometimes have a difficult time getting pulled into the hilarity and absurdity of the action.
Rating:
Summary: The Right Stuff
Review: A year or three ago I was reading a review about the new Tom Wolfe novel and I remember the writer using a football comparison. He said something to the effect that if Tom Wolfe were a professional quarterback, he'd be described as one having, "all the tools." That's the first thing I thought of when I finished this terrific novel. It doesn't miss a thing. The story is that of three days in the life of the narrator, Grady Tripp, a dope-smoking English professor at a small Pittsburgh-area college, who has had a tough time finishing the novel he's been working on for the last seven years. On this weekend he has a few other issues: his editor is coming to see him, probably for a final confrontation; his wife has finally left him; and his girlfriend has announced she's pregnant. Worse, it seems that every time he tries to come to terms with these problems, things just get more complicated. As I mentioned, this is a novel with all the tools, and if you can think of anything you like to see in a novel, this novel has it. Characters? This novel is loaded with quirky, unusual, and even oddball characters, none of whom ever strain credulity, and all of whom strike recognizable poses. Even the smaller parts are painted perfectly. For some reason the sister-in-law sticks in my mind, with her crossed eyes, her bluntness, and her inappropriate dress. She comes down the stairs to the dinner party with a "loud, syncopated clatter," as if, "a croquet ball and a grapefruit were racing each other down to the bottom." Following the narrator's description of and conversation with her, this little commentary adds a finishing splash of illumination. The larger roles are also wonderfully portrayed. There is James, the suicidal boy-genius, who begins to slowly develop an appreciation for life--incomplete by novel's end--right before our very eyes. There is the wife--Korean by birth--with her beautiful, sculpted face, who seemed so inscrutable and wise to the narrator, but who in reality was just . . . somewhat vapid. And there is the magnificently realized Crabtree, the gay, drug-ingesting editor: "Although it was only nine o'clock he had already gone around the pharmacological wheel to which he had strapped himself for the evening, stolen a tuba, and offended a transvestite; and now his companions were beginning, with delight and aplomb, to barf. It was definitely a Crabtree kind of night." Have not all of us at some point in our lives known some wild maniac like Crabtree? The narrator is also a wonderful creation and just a joy to be around. He is somewhat aware of his shortcomings--though not completely so--but is nevertheless intelligent; insightful about the writing craft and those who are part of it; unusually perceptive about those around him; and in general very, very clever. He'll give you your share of laugh-out-loud moments, but most often you'll find yourself merely smiling or chuckling at a well-turned phrase, or marvelling at another of his dead-on descriptions or insights. I guess I've already described the plot, but should mention that despite the melodramatic-sounding nature of it, it is actually meant to be funny, and is indeed hilarious. This is a broad comedy, a satire of academic know-everythings, who are really just as messed-up--if not more so--than everybody else. Chabon, with lightness and (mostly) good-natured sympathy, skewers them all. Even the side stories are a delight. To elucidate the plot, Grady tells us of his past life, and by necessity we get a healthy dose of the various writers he has known and how they managed to create--or not create--or utterly disintegrate. He talks about his own writing, what he was trying to accomplish, and why he thought it succeeded or failed. We learn about the business end of it too, and how it is always and forever complicated by the fragile human souls who run it. This might sound dry, but he never goes on too long with it, giving us just enough to keep it, well, fascinating. He even comes up with quite of few of his own unique observations, referring to his craft both affectionately and sarcastically as, "the disease." What impresses me most is the boldness of the author--a youngish-looking guy--to not only write as if he were a 41 year-old burnout, but to also have the audacity to write a novel about writing! What a risk this is! It is a subject which is fraught with danger: if he succeeds he is a presumptuous twit, if he fails he will be crucified. Above all, he has declared to the world that he will write well, and I am here to tell you, he does. Open the book to any page: you cannot help but be struck by the originality and freshness of his prose. For example, here he is talking about his mistress--the chancellor of the school--whose beauty he perceives behind her tightly-wound exterior: "Undressing her was an act of recklessness, a kind of vandalism, like releasing a zoo full of animals, or blowing up a dam." Here is a funny comment about his unfinished novel, being prematurely passed around among his cohorts: "My book was at last going forth into the world, not, as I'd always imagined, like a great black streamlined locomotive . . . but rather by accident, and at the wrong time, a half-ton pickup with no brakes, abruptly jarred loose from its blocks in the garage and rolling backward down a long steep hill." Ignore the horrible movie; this is truly a novel which has it all. The comparison above to the novels of Tom Wolfe is apt: so there is no misunderstanding, this is meant as the highest compliment.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, good book. . .
Review: I'm going to guess that most people who are reading this review are avid readers. As such, most share the opinion that "the book is better than the movie". Most of the time, I'm in that category my own self. This is not to denigrate movies - I love movies. In fact, two of my sons work in the movies. (One supervises ushers in a theater at our local mall; the other is a clerk in a video rental store.) But, but the very natures of the two media, books, by virtue of having no time constraints, can be far more descriptive and can delve deeper into ancillary sub-plots than movies can in the 1-1/2 to 2 hour time slot they're given. Two recent movies that I feel were excellent films though didn't measure up to the source books were "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring". Both were long movies, yet still had to necessarily leave out many (sometimes-quirky) sub-plots. Every so often, I come upon a case when I find myself saying, "The movie was better." Two instances that come immediately to mind are "Cannery Row" and "Field of Dreams". These are two of my favorite movies of all time and both share an ethereal, fantastic quality. When I read "Wonder Boys", I felt a strong sense that this one could ultimately fall onto that short list. The strong ending of the book probably prevented it from doing so, but I'm still going have to straddle the fence on this one and open a new category in my rating system, that where I enjoyed them equally, though for different reasons. The movie, though it covered the same dissolution of writer Grady Tripp's latest marriage and his attempt to achieve the past promise that always seems to allude him, it evoked more humor, often in a slapstick way. The dog humor in the movie rivaled two of my other favorites in this obscure sidelight, "There's Something About Mary" and the most recent remake of "Midsummer Night's Dream". Where Marilyn Monroe's wedding jacket ended up was a far more romantic twist in the movie than the practical resolution in the book. But, to finally turn to the book. . . This is a story of a writer writing about writers and writing. Often times, this is a genre only understood and appreciated by other writers. Michael Chabon manages to pull it of in a way that is accessible and enjoyable to we lay folk. Grady Tripp is a writer who has met with some critical acclaim but is not yet a household name. This book describes the final days of his work on his magnum opus, the one that will bring him the fame he so richly deserves. Unfortunately, the book is 2611 pages long, not nearly finished, and his publisher is in town to collect the goods. Add to the fact that Grady's third wife has just left him, his paramour is pregnant, his mind is addled by years of various substance abuse, and his top student shot Grady's boss's dog, we have a recipe for incipient disaster. And, most of it is realized. Grady Tripp truly is a wastrel, but still manages, in my book, to be a sympathetic and heroic character. His dissipation is epic, but he resists the popular temptation to blame others for it. By the end of the book, Grady is able to look at himself in the mirror, take responsibility for what he sees and what he has done, and begins the reclamation effort he deems necessary. In essence, he becomes one of the "Wonder Boys" that are the title characters of his latest, disastrous novel. Though some of the other characters are strongly drawn, none is as well depicted as Grady. Returning briefly to the book vs. movie comparison, a character that I feel has much more depth in the book that served only as a comic foil in the movie was Doctor Dee, the blind dog. In the book, we are given much more insight that the movie provided to the point of downright poignancy. . . You have to red the book to see what I mean. . . And, I do feel you should read the book. I saw the movie, read the book, and received the soundtrack CD for Christmas. I enjoyed all three equally well, and it's not often I can say that.
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