Rating: 
Summary: The most enjoyable read I've ever experienced
Review: I know it wasn't Michael Chabon's intention to seduce only me when he penned "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" - but this book taught me the sheer bliss of falling in love with an author.
It is hard to say what makes TMOP such a wonderful work - the stylized use of prose, the interplay of angst and exhileration, the inception, and then (supposed) resolution of internal conflicts, or characters who lives play out like a croquet match set to vintage Motown music.
The easy way to explain what this book is about is to call it "Catcherintherye-esque", which is insulting to both Chabon and Salinger. Sure it is a coming-of-age story, albeit one with gangsters and fops, <0-type partying, cycles and smokestacks. Then you get to Chapter 2 and become really confused. But confusion is okay, because this classic bildungsroman has, at its true core, a lot of love and concern for Art (the central character), Arthur and Phlox (rivals who would be friends at a party other than this one), and the other wonderfully drawn people that populate the book.
I re-read this book every 6 months and it never fails to leave me blissful (which is surprising, because much of the story is a downer).
Michael's other books (Kavalier and Klay, Wonder Boys) are also marvels, but "Pittsburgh" is the one that repeatedly stirs me. While I realize it means a hit to his wallet, I hope this book never makes it to celluloid. This book is so appealing to the imaginiation that any vision but the reader's own would do disservice to Art's (or is it really Michael Chabon's) world.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed and beautiful and perfect
Review: I read this book because I am a fan, Wonder Boys and Kavalier and Clay were so good, I wanted to read what Chabon had written first, what he wrote that perhaps wasn't so good. Anybody that has read Wonder Boys and Kavalier and Clay knows that these are beautiful, near flawless books, almost impossible to critique. But here, in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, I found it. This book has dead spots, particularly in the beginning. In fact, I nearly put it down after thirty pages. But then something happens. The characters start to cohere, the reader starts to care, and we are introduced to an improbable and amazing character named Cleveland. This is a book about the first summer after college, an improbable time dizzying and dazzling in promised freedom, a time of bright hope for the future, when many of us decide who we will or will not be. It's also a cliche, a topic written about many times, and the kind of story that in lesser hands would make for a pretty dull book. But Chabon pulls all the tragic beauty and confusion from it. In the end, your left with a book stunning in its insight, so full of empathy that in many ways I feel it is better than it's more polished brethren. It's the kind of book a writer can only write once and I'm glad he did. I'm also glad he didn't try to do it again but rather moved on, became a polished fiction writer who relied more on his storytelling ability than past experience. I would call this book indespensible for any fan of Chabon's writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick and Enjoyable
Review: Reading the other reviews, it seems that fans of Chabon are a little harsh in their reviews of this book ... although it does not compare to Wonder Boys or Kavalier & Clay, the Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a fun read and a charming tale. The larger-than-life personae in this book and the general course of the novel draws immediate comparisons to F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of course while such comparisons will come up short, Mysteries of Pittsburgh is an enjoyable, artfully constructed book full of unforgettable characters. The themes central to this story- love, ambition, uncertainty of oneself as an individual, the futility of running away from one's personal demons to name a few- are more fully developed in Chabon's later works, but they are no less a presence in Mysteries in Pittsburgh. Others have been a bit dismissive of the "first novel" label on this book, but still when looking at a book and at an author it is important to recognize where he or she started creatively and what direction they have moved in. As such, while Mysteries of Pittsburgh is not Chabon's greatest work by any means, it is a good start to the rest of his books and even on its own merits, is certainly worth the time taken to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Just a Book
Review: It is probably my fault for expecting too much of a first novel. After reading Kavalier and Clay, I fell in love with Chabon's superb style and eloquence, and decided to read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. I was disappointed. The story is a simple one. Art Bechstein a recent college graduate and the son of a Jewish Gangster, spends a summer working in a bookstore and struggling with issues of sexual identity. The characters are interesting, well crafted and definitely show a glimmer of Chabon's future skill, but the story is not handled as well. In fact, at points the story is downright boring and I only got truly interested in the plot in the last 100 pages or so. In addition, I disliked Chabon's use of imagery in the book. I realize that Chabon is trying to craft a picturesque and naive image of the world which is aligned with the book's coming-of-age theme and with Bechstein's nostalgic look at his past, but in my opinion the imagery is over done and at times is ridiculously exaggerated. Bottom line: this is a simple book, with a simple storyline written by someone who would later become a master story teller. If anything, after reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh I am now even more appreciative of the phenomenal craftsmanship Chabon displays in his later works. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a decent read, but no more than that.
Rating:
Summary: A unique take on the coming of Age Novel
Review: I read MC's Cavalier & Clay and decided to get one of the author's earlier works. Although, I found the first 50-or-so pages a bit wordy, it really set the tone for this book, about Art Bechstein, a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, who is struggling to find a definition of love, sexual identity and his place in the world, in his post-graduate summer. The book, while beautifully written, can be a bit wordy at parts (which Chabon tightens up in later works). Each of the characters in the story, stuggles with their identity, while re-inventing themselves. The story captivated me.
Rating:
Summary: Helped me come of age...
Review: I read this book when it first came out, years ago, and felt compelled to response to some of the comments here. This is my first Amazon review. This book first drew me BECAUSE of the lyrical nature of the writing and the theme of coming-of-age. Yes, Chabon is a walking thesaurus, as others have said of his books, but gee -- LOOK IT UP! Want your books to be pap? Read Dick and Jane, then. Want your language to be simple? Read Hemingway. This is neither. But, if you want a thoughtful, lyrical story that captures a moment in a young man's life, read this. Then read Chabon's other books. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Quick and Enjoyable
Review: Reading the other reviews, it seems that fans of Chabon are a little harsh in their reviews of this book ... although it does not compare to Wonder Boys or Kavalier & Clay, the Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a fun read and a charming tale. The larger-than-life personae in this book and the general course of the novel draws immediate comparisons to F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of course while such comparisons will come up short, Mysteries of Pittsburgh is an enjoyable, artfully constructed book full of unforgettable characters. The themes central to this story- love, ambition, uncertainty of oneself as an individual, the futility of running away from one's personal demons to name a few- are more fully developed in Chabon's later works, but they are no less a presence in Mysteries in Pittsburgh. Others have been a bit dismissive of the "first novel" label on this book, but still when looking at a book and at an author it is important to recognize where he or she started creatively and what direction they have moved in. As such, while Mysteries of Pittsburgh is not Chabon's greatest work by any means, it is a good start to the rest of his books and even on its own merits, is certainly worth the time taken to read it.
Rating:
Summary: a solid, enjoyable effort
Review: "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was Michael Chabon's first novel, and it certainly feels like it. The writing is delicate, well-considered, and just a bit precious. The epic, pitch-perfect sentences that color "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" are nowhere to be found in "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh." The story is standard novice-novelist fare: A sweetly nostalgiac coming of age story, with an obligatory crisis of sexuality. The book's biggest strength is in its characters. They're strong and memorable, and the conversations between them hint at the flair for whip-smart dialogue that is so prevalent and effortless in Chabon's later works it's easy to take for granted. A few of the characters pop up, albeit in different skins, with different context, in "The Amazing Adventures of Kavlier & Clay" and "Wonder Boys." "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" is a very enjoyable book. The characters ring true, and the story, though it tends toward stasis, is one of the best of its kind. For fans of Chabon, it highlights just how much he's grown as a writer and storyteller. It's profound in a subtle, understated way, and while it is hardly as masterful as the novels that would follow it, it's a solid, pretty, consistent effort from one of modern fiction's greatest writers.
Rating:
Summary: Not for a first time Chabon reader.
Review: This was my second read from Chabon and while "Wonder Boys" made me a fan, I was a little disappointed with this one. Once again, I found the characters were well developed but the bizarre love triangle between Art, Arthur, and Phlox got to be boring after a while. There were moments I just wanted to scream out loud for him to pick someone and stay in their bed for petes sake!
While I won't recommend this for a first time Chabon reader, it is good if you're bored with nothing else to read. Will I read it again - probably not. But I loved the idea of a family of Jewish gangsters. Plus, Cleveland was what made me really want to finish the novel in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Mysteries of Beckstein
Review: Part straight, part gay, part student, part bookstore employee and full time narcissist, Art Beckstein spends his summer after college graduation looking for love, I mean friends, I mean direction I mean . . .? From a lovers spat on a street corner where he meets Art Lecomte (who looks at the couple fighting and remarks "Some people really know how to have a good time") to the basement library where Phlox lies in wait, to the once regal Pittsburgh Hotel where he father's mob gang hangs out, Art's summer becomes full of booze, small time crime and back-alley liaisons (more ways than one). Is this a coming of age book? Indeed the reviews on the cover lift this work up with Fitzgerald, Caulfield, Twain, Dickens and, be still my heart, Kerouac. What? Sorry, this does not belong to that club.Were these obsequious comparisons lifted off the cover of The Wonder Boys or Kavalier & Clay? This tale is a sometimes funny, sad, silly and ugly one, but an always entertaining account of that summer.
Upon reflection did he learn anything? Grow at all? Did he find where friendship ends and love begins, or vice-versa? Or what the difference between lusting and making love is? I don't think so. He explored pleasures and found his gangster father, an outlaw biker (the father has a strong opinion on this friendship), a liberated librarian (Phlox) and a male friend (Art Lecomte) that challenges his sexual persona while aching to prove that "he really knew how to have a good time."
|
