You know, when I decided on this Summer of Chabon thing, I
neglected to mention one sort of intangible reason that pushed me onto this
path. As I mentioned in my last post, I absolutely loved The Amazing Adventures
of Kavalier & Clay and one of the main things I remember about that book is
the absolute immersive experience it provided. And so, after a particularly
trying start to the year, I wanted to plunge myself into the drawn-out reading
of novels, for sure; in addition, I was hoping for the type of complete and
utter escape the best novels offer.
For me, my first Chabon summer read did not disappoint.
Wonder Boys was published back in 1995, so this will come as no surprise to
many of you: it’s a great read. Chabon’s luckless protagonist, Grady Tripp, is
a writer struggling to complete a never-ending second novel and for its tragicomic
look at the writing life and its pretensions, goals, and tortures, the novel is
enough. For its range of vivid and fascinating characters, the novel is enough.
And it was exactly what I was hoping for in terms of engagement. Wonder Boys is not only
entirely immersive at the story level, an imaginative farce that makes for easy
page-turning, but it’s also absorbing at the sentence level, a joy for anyone
who lives intimately with and loves the possibilities of language. Honestly,
this novel does everything you could ever ask a novel to do. Perhaps it did not
move me to tears (and I do love a good cry), but it was touching and
intellectually stimulating and very, very funny.
A brief note: When I finished reading last night, I was so
high on Wonder Boys that I decided to watch the film version (2000, Michael
Douglas et al.). At first look, I thought the casting was really good. And,
well, I watched about forty minutes and that was enough. It was fine. As is
most often the case, the film couldn’t live up to the vast and vivid world of the novel.
Or maybe it was too soon. I guess I’d rather stay immersed a little while
longer.
Next up, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, probably the book
people bring up most often when Chabon is mentioned. At least to me. Looking forward to it very
much. If anyone would like to join along on the Chabonpalooza, or share your
thoughts on these novels as I move through them, please do!
