The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

I loved the amazing adventures of kavelier and clay so I thought I’d give another of his books a chance. Unfortunately due to a boring story and what felt like awkward writing I didn’t get very far into this book.

Chabon's first novel perfectly embodies the sharp wit and developing writing style of Michael Chabon. I had read a few of his stories, but this was the first novel of his I have read and I am a new Chabon fan. The book has been called a "coming of age" novel, and the bookjacket has comparisons, which I suppose are apropos, of Fitzgerald's "This Side of Paradise." But while Fitzgerald's book can get a little tiresome and stodgy, with the author periodically stopping to show off his writing talents at the expense of his story, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is always a fun, enjoyable read that the reader can effectively breeze through. Narrator Art Bechstein is recently graduated from college, a likeable, educated but unmotivated guy who takes a job at a dreary bookstore and waits to see what the summer after his graduation has in store for him. Going back to the school library to finish some work necessary to get his degree, he catches the eye of Phlox, an oddly-named girl with overdone makeup and dress but who has a certain attractive charm. He also soon meets Arthus Lecomte, a young gay man who wants to be a foreign diplomat, and who has a knack for getting housesitting jobs. Soon he is in a convertible with Arthur and the cheerful Mohammed, driving too fast in a small convertible that Art is careful not to fall out of, on their way to a party that effectively kicks off the action of the novel. The entire novel takes place in the course of the summer after Art's graduation, and there is a sense that the events of those few months will define Art as a person - his relationship with his gangster father, his ambiguous sexuality, and his relationship with the troubled and fascinating character Cleveland are all put to the test. Without giving away too much of the plot, I was surprised by many of the plot turns and got very wrapped up in the characters, all of whom I thought were well-developed by Chabon.Perhaps the greatest joy in reading the novel to me was humor and dead-on accuracy of the observations and descriptions interspersed throughout the book. One reviewer hit the nail on the head when he said there was a precious little nugget of wit or wisdom on every page. When describing the soulless bookstore where he takes a summer job, Boardwalk Books, narrator Art tells us the owners have no interest in the books they are peddling, that it is just "merchandise" to them, and he imagines conversations between the owners along the lines of "What are we going to do with all these books?" You can imagine an antiseptic Book Warehouse, with fifty copies of Vanna White's autobiography or the latest John Grisham thriller stacked to the ceiling. When Art is inside quirky Phlox's apartment, with its crude cat sculpture and its cheap French prints, he decides to rejoice in its bad taste, like bowling alleys and Elvis. Chabon has a keen eye and a skill at storytelling which shines through on every page of this very successful debut novel.

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.

As a University of Pittsburgh student I took an extra interest in this book. I was enthralled by Chabon's narrative.He has the ability to take a bunch of characters and breathe life into all of them,revealing all of there eccentricites. Even though the character "Art" has life experiences that I can not relate to, I saw a little of him in myself. Read this book to escape life, but at the same time...read this book to experience life.

When you consider Chabon's age at the writing of this book, it becomes even more unbelievable. This is hands down the best book that I've read in the last five years; here is, finally, a concise, dramatic representation of our young generation in the full swing of hope and misery. Chabon avoids hackneyed situations, dialogue and emotions; he avoids sentimentality in its most over-used definition, but his outlook on the characters' relationships is cogent and convincing. I was left breathless by his ability to make us care for people, to show us, with a little humor, the dark sides of us all, and Chabon makes us all feel a little less ashamed of our involvement in life. He is a truly generous writer, in love with his work, and sensitive to the reader. His characters in this book represent us all, and he has, with a single first book, raised the stakes where modern writing is concerned. This book will be remembered for generations; it would be a sign of wisdom to recognize it now.

I hate reading reviews of books that begin, "The greatest book I ever read, it changed my life!" And so I'm a little embarrassed to write that "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" is, uh, the greatest book I ever read, and it changed my life. OK, maybe it didn't exactly change my life, but when I finished the last page and went for a walk, the world was a different place. It was a world of wonder, of possiblity, and I was glad to be a part of it. I'm a Pittsburgher, and a grad student at Pitt, so reading this magical story about neighborhoods I have walked through and bars where I have been shot down had a special resonance for me. The language of the novel is so rich, so beautiful, that I have read and re-read it several times. At times funny, at times tragic, at all times fascinating, it is just a magnificent book. The book is often described, for the most part accurately, as a gay coming-of-age story, and I must at this point confess that I am not gay, not even a little bit. But I still greatly enjoyed reading about the relationship of the two Arthurs, even as I hoped Art would reunite with his wonderfully bizarre Phlox. And I haven't even mentioned the force of nature named Cleveland, or Art's mobster father, or the myriad other delights of this wonderful book. Unlike so many other books written by twentysomethings, this book doesn't dwell on slacker angst or indulge in pointless diatribes about how crummy the world is. This is a book about love, about friendship, about family, and about how precious and tenuous they all are. Like I said, I'm from Pittsburgh, and I love my hometown. Pittsburgh is a bit provincial, it lacks the glamour and glitz of New York or Los Angeles. But Chabon shows that magic can happen anywhere, even in the Hillman Library at Pitt, and that the wonderful mysteries of life can be revealed in the humblest of places. Read this book, and just enjoy the journey.