false 16698 10 Wonder boy Michael Chabon's second collection of stories tackles the American family in all its tragic and often frighteningly funny dysfunction. In the title story, a self-professed "King of the Retards" tries to distance himself from his next-door neighbor and only friend, who has taken their games (Plastic Man, Titanium Man, Matter-Eater Lad) just a little too far. In "House Hunting," a drunk real-estate agent shows a young couple through a house far too expensive for them, pocketing knickknacks and demonstrating a strange familiarity with its rooms. The wrenching "Son of the Wolfman" follows the aftermath of a rape; after a long struggle to conceive, Cara Glanzman becomes pregnant by her rapist and decides to keep the child, even as her husband struggles with his violent thoughts. In spite of the potential for sensationalism in such a plot, "Wolfman" is moving, unsentimental, and like the rest of these tales, wholly original.<p> Chabon is a master of the lively and unexpected description, his prose studded with images that split these mostly conventionally themed stories wide open. Consider his burly Quebecois carpenter, who has "a face that looked as if it had been carved with a pneumatic drill by a tiny workman dangling from the sheer granite cliff of Olivier's forehead." Or the "local drunks" of a Chubb Island bar, "a close-knit population, involved in an ongoing collective enterprise: the building, over several generations, of a basilica of failure, on whose crowded friezes they figured in vivid depictions of bankruptcy, drug rehabilitation, softball, and arrest." Or, the narrator of "Mrs. Box" and his failed marriage: "...very soon they had been forced to confront the failure of an expedition for which they had set out remarkably ill-equipped, like a couple of trans-Arctic travelers who through lack of preparation find themselves stranded and are forced to eat their dogs." <I>Werewolves in Their Youth</I> is worth reading for such moments alone. When Chabon uses them to illuminate our darkest impulses and fears, the result is often revelatory. 18364 1999 Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories total:1251|5:160|4:521|3:472|2:87|1:11| 1251 4485 1714 94 4 0 false false Tue Oct 20 15:42:44 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 15:53:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 01:09:46 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 01:14:54 -0800 2009
Anyway, the only story that really sticks with me is "House Hunting," and I'm not even sure if that'...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 23:22:04 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 11:16:25 -0700 2009
The guy is just very good at creating fiction that splits between the literary and the more-or-less popularly entertaining story. The measured voice of the n...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat May 10 22:05:03 -0700 2008 Sat May 10 22:06:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 07:54:31 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 16:49:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 19 09:01:55 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 28 17:46:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 06 22:50:28 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 16 16:25:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 12 08:30:57 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 12 08:37:17 -0700 2008 I remember reading an interview where Chabon expressed his apprehension about publish...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 23:35:56 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 09:17:23 -0700 2008 1
I think many of the stories were firmly in the non-genre category - failed or failing marriages are the topic of most. Some of them, the title story in particular, were pleasant, but didn't grab m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Nov 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 14:29:25 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 14:32:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 10:25:51 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 11:14:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 21:14:06 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 21:32:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 14:47:17 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 14:58:22 -0700 2009
The stories seem to resonate with the same grief. The book strikes a monotone in the collection that lessens the impact (and success) of individual stories.

Disappointing overall, but I...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 25 10:05:54 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 10:11:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 04:55:27 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 04:56:27 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 17:36:22 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 18:52:36 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Thu Mar 26 19:27:18 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 19:29:22 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 08 20:35:43 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 20:37:48 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Feb 16 07:23:47 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 16 07:30:50 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 17:53:31 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 18:04:28 -0800 2008 1