Curt's review of Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon
Two disclaimers: First, I love Michael Chabon's fiction. Love it. When he is at his best, his sentences unravel with the frantic grace of Coltrane jazz riffs.
Second, I gave Gentlemen of the Road four stars in part because of Michael Chabon's former work (just as, say, Scorcese receiving an Oscar for The Departed which is perhaps his sixth best film)(and, yes, I consider my reviews to have a congruous cultural weight as the Oscars) and in part, in spite of his former work. GotR is by no means his best work. It has none of the depth of Kavalier & Clay. It has none of the brilliant tone of Yiddish Policeman's Union and it has no characters as wonderfully crafted (or flawed) as the folks of Wonder Boys. Yet, middling Chabon is better than most contemporary fiction.
Perhaps the most interesting work in the book is Chabon's afterword in which he defends his choice to write genre novels. Is it serious, literary fiction? Does that term define anything or should it define any...more
Second, I gave Gentlemen of the Road four stars in part because of Michael Chabon's former work (just as, say, Scorcese receiving an Oscar for The Departed which is perhaps his sixth best film)(and, yes, I consider my reviews to have a congruous cultural weight as the Oscars) and in part, in spite of his former work. GotR is by no means his best work. It has none of the depth of Kavalier & Clay. It has none of the brilliant tone of Yiddish Policeman's Union and it has no characters as wonderfully crafted (or flawed) as the folks of Wonder Boys. Yet, middling Chabon is better than most contemporary fiction.
Perhaps the most interesting work in the book is Chabon's afterword in which he defends his choice to write genre novels. Is it serious, literary fiction? Does that term define anything or should it define any...more
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