The Pulitzer Prize-winning author-- "an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist" (Michiko Kakutani, "New York Times")--offers his f... read full description
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Feb 01, 2010
Kemper
rated it: 
I've lost some respect for Chabon for dedicating an entire essay to why he started carrying a man-purse, or murse as he calls it. However, I still really enjoyed this book of his musings on how he became the 'man' he is today and how it influences his behavior as a father, husband, son and brother.
The essays are deceptively simple at first glance, but Chabon uses these stories as jumping off points for bigger ideas. His grumpy-old-man-style complaints about how complicated Legos ha More...
The essays are deceptively simple at first glance, but Chabon uses these stories as jumping off points for bigger ideas. His grumpy-old-man-style complaints about how complicated Legos ha More...
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Sep 07, 2011
Hannah
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You know, this certainly wasn't Chabon's BEST book but it was incredibly charming and I am pretty sure that every young dad should read it. Chabon candidly admits to many shortcomings and limitations that I think most straight men (fathers or not) share and would find comfort in relating to; as a woman, not only do I find these admissions to be endearing, but it was refreshing to confirm that all the idiotic things that I have always suspected men of thinking are indeed being thought. Politic
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Dec 09, 2009
J
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I can't believe this book was written by the same person who gave us The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay...
I know this book is non-fiction and the other is fiction - but it's exceedingly hard to wrap my brain around the fact that Michael Chabon couldn't bring his incredible story-telling skills to this work of non-fiction.
With the exception of two stories, I found the entire rest of the book to be dry and humourless. There were so many places where I found myse More...
I know this book is non-fiction and the other is fiction - but it's exceedingly hard to wrap my brain around the fact that Michael Chabon couldn't bring his incredible story-telling skills to this work of non-fiction.
With the exception of two stories, I found the entire rest of the book to be dry and humourless. There were so many places where I found myse More...
Nov 06, 2009
Lillian
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A beautiful and touching collection of essays on what it means to be a husband, father, brother and son with a little bit of what it means to be wife and mother of his four children. The stories are sometimes told within the construct of his Jewish heritage and sometimes not but always seem universal. They are short and sweet and several touch on some of his favorite things like baseball and comic book characters. Each one is told in Chabon's usual erudite style. Eloquently written. Remember
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Nov 15, 2011
David
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“Manhood for Amateurs” is essentially Michael Chabon’s memoirs. However, it is not told a straightforward autobiographical piece where he tries to describe his entire life story in a chronological order. Instead the book is a series of essays on extremely wide ranging topics. These topics range from what he learned in the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine to his disappointment with the state of Lego toys today. What is common is that most of these topics are merely a jumping of
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Oct 18, 2011
Walter
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With a name like Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon’s second foray into the world of nonfiction may seem rather gender-specific. Members of the fairer sex will doubtlessly walk quickly by and look to other books for their leisure reading. Even members of the book’s supposed audience are likely to pass on it with the assumption that they have already securely established their machismo, and are in no way amateurs when it comes to manhood. Well, dear reader, I am here to tell you that to pass th
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Aug 09, 2011
Joshua
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Part autobiography, part topographical map of manhood, “…Amateurs” renders fatherhood, husband-hood, son-hood, and brother-hood as a ‘great and terrible Oz’ throwing wide his own curtain to reveal the frail human behind the masculine mechanisms, admitting “I don’t know how to work this thing.” As a new father myself, I found it to be discouraging at times, particularly in the definition of a father as “a man who fails every day.” Maybe, I just haven’t been a father long enough. But for even
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Jun 26, 2011
Schmacko
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Michael Chabon is best when he soars into fantastical worlds. In his book of personal essays, Manhood for Amateurs, he rarely breaks away from melancholy musings about fatherhood and its responsibilities. But when he does slip into this other world, his essays approach awesome.
Those worlds Chabon thrives in can be the comic book history that won him his Pulitzer (The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay). He was wonderful in the weird book The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, where he More...
Those worlds Chabon thrives in can be the comic book history that won him his Pulitzer (The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay). He was wonderful in the weird book The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, where he More...
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Jun 04, 2011
Kayla
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I am a huge Michael Chabon fan, and I purchased this book for a very, very good friend who is also a Chabon fan. Despite the fact that it is probably very rude to do, I just had to read the book before I gave it to my friend.
It's a wonderful, intimate book, but as a woman there were definitely certain parts that didn't resonate with me on a personal level in the way that other pieces of literature have or will. That is not to say this book is not worth reading if you are a woman- it d More...
It's a wonderful, intimate book, but as a woman there were definitely certain parts that didn't resonate with me on a personal level in the way that other pieces of literature have or will. That is not to say this book is not worth reading if you are a woman- it d More...
Feb 13, 2011
Mark
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This sort-of memoir is, I learned after I finished it, really a collection of essays Chabon wrote for DETAILS MAGAZINE over the last few years. I had hoped it would be a more cohesive work, truly addressing his feelings and experiences as father, husband, and son; as it is, it's a somewhat uneven hodgepodge, though it does organize itself according to a rather entertaining taxonomy. None of the essays are bad, but several are slight (the "man purse" one leaps to mind), and in more th
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Jan 18, 2011
Glenn
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Perhaps I came to this book with too many expectations, given its humorous cover and Chabon's Pullitzer Prize-credentials. But Manhood for Amateurs was a disappointment for me, excepting a couple of essays. I found it slightly pretentious, and overly intellectual. Chabon often comes across as playing with manhood and especially fatherhood, more an observer than a fully engaged participant. Perhaps that is the fault of his writing, and he is in fact totally immersed in parenting. If so, good for
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Jan 03, 2011
Topher
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If the founders of America had developed their own national tongue, there would surely be a word in the language, like ennui or schadenfreude , to describe the complex emotional state particularly prevalent within its borders: namely, the act of pontificating, angsting, and generally kvetching on the nature of being and having a father.
Adding to that thematic canon is Michael Chabon's latest book, Manhood For Amateurs , a collection of essays outlining his musings on the subject of mas More...
Adding to that thematic canon is Michael Chabon's latest book, Manhood For Amateurs , a collection of essays outlining his musings on the subject of mas More...
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Oct 26, 2010
Alan
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Wise and tender, Michael Chabon's words for males speak to me, and in many cases for me, as if he were channeling my own childhood as well as whatever growing up I've managed to do along the way. This is not entirely surprising; he and I are of an age, and we both grew up in the eastern United States... but it is more than that, I think. Chabon not only understands; he can articulate that understanding, and that's a rare gift.
The flood of aphorisms comes thick and fast at first. As the More...
The flood of aphorisms comes thick and fast at first. As the More...
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Oct 06, 2010
Nancy
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In this collection of surprisingly short essays, Chabon canvasses a number of topics tied to his version of masculinity. Somehow, his essays easily reach me as a female reader--even one about his trouble understanding women. Each essay is surprisingly candid, as the best personal essays usually are. Several are autobiographical anecdotes, describing the struggles of a brother, a son, a father, and a loner, and endowed with the arch air of mythology that Chabon lends all his stories. Of course, t
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Sep 17, 2010
Kate
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Michael Chabon's recommendation is the reason why I picked up The Long Ships. Now that I am hopelessly enthralled in the fantastic story of Viking adventure, I find myself mentally re-visiting Chabon's collection of essays, Manhood for Amateurs. Some of the essays were not that appealing to me (specifically the "murse" essay), but most of Chabon's thoughts on being a son, father, husband were truly beautiful and, sometimes, bittersweet. His writing is so poetic and expressive that it o
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Aug 14, 2010
Matt
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How unexpectedly pleased was I to receive this book from Jared Lasonde as a belated birthday present? Not especially pleased. Don't get me wrong, thanks for the thought Jared, but do I really want to hear Chabon whine about his man-purse? I seem to be doing pretty well in the Manhood department, and I don't appreciate Jared and Chabon ganging up on me like this and calling me an Amateur.
The pleasant surprise would have to wait for when I actually began reading.
"Manhoo More...
The pleasant surprise would have to wait for when I actually began reading.
"Manhoo More...
Jul 25, 2010
cat
rated it:
Well, less read and more listened to, but Goodreads still has no category for that. Michael Chabon kept me company on an epic cross-country road trip earlier this summer and I found his memoir, subtitled "The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son." to be an interesting (and sometimes dry due to the amazingly detail-filled description of) exploration of manhood, masculinity, and most poignantly, his own and his children's childhoods. The essays could easily stand alone, yet
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May 19, 2010
Jennifer
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The Good Stuff
* The essay entitled "The Amateur Family" about being a family of geeks -- please adopt me I belong with you guys
* Essays are wonderfully written, interesting and extremely witty at times
* The author is obviously a geek -- and you know what they say "The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth" -- in your face oh husband of mine who is soooo not a geek
* Book starts with a great essay
* The Essay entitled "The Memory Hol More...
* The essay entitled "The Amateur Family" about being a family of geeks -- please adopt me I belong with you guys
* Essays are wonderfully written, interesting and extremely witty at times
* The author is obviously a geek -- and you know what they say "The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth" -- in your face oh husband of mine who is soooo not a geek
* Book starts with a great essay
* The Essay entitled "The Memory Hol More...
Apr 17, 2010
Erik
rated it:
One of the greatest living American writers, in my amateur estimation, is the incomparable Michael Chabon – winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. And not unlike his lost published outing with Maps and Legends, he returns here with a collection of essays; this time centered on the sometimes whimsical (as in his nostalgia for Wacky Pack stickers from the 70s when noticing his sons reading Captain Underpants books) and sometimes deeply philosophical musing
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Mar 25, 2010
Jennifer
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Chabon's book is basically a collection of essays on being a man. The subtitle is "The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son." The theme is a perfect counterpoint to his wife's book (Ayelet Waldman's "Bad Mother"), but while Waldman's book stayed on track, Chabon's book takes delightful side-trips into the lands of comic books, baseball and listening to the radio.
My Thoughts
As much as I didn't want to compare their writing (which strikes me a More...
My Thoughts
As much as I didn't want to compare their writing (which strikes me a More...
Feb 17, 2010
Matt
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Things I failed to remember, and others I hope I never forget. Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs opened the floodgates of recollection, while simultaneously dousing me with an icy shower of realization. What does it mean to be a father? My boy will be 3 in a couple of months, and you know what, he'll never be 2 or 1 or 36 days again. An existential cry of nostalgia this is not. A cruel and wicked timeline coupled with the second law of thermodynamics and increasing familial entropy emphatically
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Jan 25, 2010
Mark
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This is not a novel, but a series of essays/reflections on Chabon’s experiences, or as the subtitle aptly puts it, “The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son.” It is unabashedly about being male, albeit a curious and exceptional male – a rare entry into a genre Chabon dubs “man lit” in parallel to “chic lit.” The subtitle misleads a bit, as there are few “regrets;” instead the reflections are powerfully alive, human, and full of zest for life.
My one criticism is Chabon’ More...
My one criticism is Chabon’ More...
Jan 03, 2010
Coolmana
rated it:
Thin and rather disappointing coming from an author who is capable of much more meaningful work. It's sad to see Chabon launch this raft of cliches of masculinity in what appears to have been an effort to sell articles to Details Magazine. So many of these essays employ the structure of ostensibly lamenting some macho/boneheaded behavior and then saying "and yet, this obnoxious behavior is actually totally necessary and marvelous and we can't help ourselves," the better to reassure th
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Dec 29, 2009
Kip
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Loved this book. It's a collection of connected essays covering men and basements, murses, circumcision, pot smoking, childhood play, boyish and male imagination, pop culture from the 70s through today, and reflections on art and writing. Worth sharing a passage from an essay titled "The Splendor of Crap":
"There's no doubt that the Planet of the Apes TV show was crap. Yes, the makeup was decent for its time, and the shows tried, in the dutiful manner of early seventi More...
"There's no doubt that the Planet of the Apes TV show was crap. Yes, the makeup was decent for its time, and the shows tried, in the dutiful manner of early seventi More...
Dec 27, 2009
Alicia
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I really liked most of this collection -- a series of reflections on fatherhood/sonhood/manhood in twentieth and twenty-first century America. Even though I'm not a parent, I identified with Michael Chabon's grumpy observations about the shameless commodification of childhood, the authoritarian nature of modern Legos, and, most especially, the way that kids are no longer allowed to roam freely in their neighborhoods, which (Chabon says) represents the "curtailing of adventure" and the
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Nov 24, 2009
Jesse
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From the impressive cover to the "adventures for boys" style binding, Chabon again reimagines a genre, a long way from "Dangerous Books for Boys." or maybe just the literary version his paens to the Wilderness of Childhood make it clear that he views the loss of "uncolonized" by adult space as a far greater threat to children than obesity.
Every one of these essays, despite me being fifteen years younger than Chabon, had the ache of recognition. I differed in More...
Every one of these essays, despite me being fifteen years younger than Chabon, had the ache of recognition. I differed in More...
Nov 04, 2009
Julia
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A wonderful collection of essays written for magazines on being a Dad, a parent, an adult, a brother, the father of four geeks who love Dr. Who together. There’s a beautiful essay about Sasha and Malia Obama and their father’s new job, called “The Binding of Isaac.” About his wife in “Looking for Trouble” he writes:
“She is quick, mercurial, intemperate. She has a big mouth, a rash heart, a generous nature (always a liability, in my view), and if my way is to opt out, to sit in the w More...
“She is quick, mercurial, intemperate. She has a big mouth, a rash heart, a generous nature (always a liability, in my view), and if my way is to opt out, to sit in the w More...
Nov 03, 2009
Mike
rated it:
Thoughtful, perceptive and maybe just a little dull. A "liberal agnostic empiricist" who is "proud to be a semi-observant, bacon-eating Jew," Chabon offers accounts of grappling with the complexities of modern manhood -- from the dreaded "drug talk" with one's children to the double standards inherent in male parenting -- all propelled by the shimmering prose that won him the Pulitzer Prize. Chabon is not the first writer to find humor in feckless attempts at home i
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Oct 19, 2009
Brendan
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Here's the thing. About 95% of these essays came out of Details Magazine. Instead of spending $25.99 on a Michael Chabon book I could just become a complete goober. Then I'd probably read Details magazine because Esquire is for snobs and GQ is kinda gay. The only plus side is knowing that people who need Details Magazine (sample article:"Old Girls Gone Wild-Behind the scenes at the first national Cougar Convention.") are accidentally getting exposed to Michael Chabon, who is much b
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Oct 05, 2009
Brittany
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How I Came To Read This Book: It was a gift!
The Plot: Michael Chabon, aka author of my fave book of all time, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, takes a stab at nonfiction with this collection of short anecdote-type essays touching on many elements of being a man and the various roles one fills as a man - father, son, husband, friend. From the trials of telling your children about drugs when they analyze the lyrics of the Beatles to the OCD-nature of great writers to the expe More...
The Plot: Michael Chabon, aka author of my fave book of all time, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, takes a stab at nonfiction with this collection of short anecdote-type essays touching on many elements of being a man and the various roles one fills as a man - father, son, husband, friend. From the trials of telling your children about drugs when they analyze the lyrics of the Beatles to the OCD-nature of great writers to the expe More...
