Reading this book was a real treat it was fresh, the plot exciting and driving you deeper and deeper into the lives of the characters within and the quality of writing that any writer can see is truly inspiring.

The novel doesn’t miss a thing. Chabon does an amazing job making inspiring statements without interrupting the expertly crafted sentences in his prose.

"Wonder Boys" is a treat on both levels, the intellectual and the emotional. The story in itself having a lot of drama, though from reading one cold see it is clearly a comedy and the satire is hilarious throughout. The story shows us that the geniuses in a field are just as messed up, if not more than the rest of the world. Also the story has many interesting fun ideas that are implemented throughout such as: The unbalanced nature of writers, the mentor relationship between Tripp and Leer, substance abuse, confused youth, and the in-depth outlook of mortality.

Take the characters in the story. They are quirky, unusual, and come to feel very real as you dive into their stories. The narrator whose life we dive into for the 3 days that the story takes place. Grady Tripp: an English Professor who is a doped up 40 something novelist who wrote the great American novel but with writers block not able to finish his follow up novel for seven years. He is teaching in a Pittsburgh area college. He is somewhat aware of his shortcomings but not quite which add a lot to the satire in the novel. Though he is intelligent, and insightful about the craft of writing. He is also able to see those who have a true part in the craft of writing. He refers to his craft both affectionately and sarcastically as "the disease".

A funny quote in the novel that he used when talking about his over two thousand plus page, unfinished novel is, "My book was at last going forth into the world, not, as I'd always imagined, like a great black streamlined locomotive . . . but rather by accident, and at the wrong time, a half-ton pickup with no brakes, abruptly jarred loose from its blocks in the garage and rolling backward down a long steep hill." This quote is a great example of the talent the author has in the use of language through out the novel.

The other two prevalent characters: The editor Crabtree and James Leer have very unique traits as well. James Leer is an oddball college student who is an excellent writer, suicidal genius, who develops appreciation for living as the novel progresses, but still leaves the reader questioning about him at the novels end. His character is written in amazing depth but also makes the reader constantly frustrated and confused. He always leaves you with wanting to know a little bit more. The editor, Crabtree was just a maniac plain and simple. He was a gay drug attic whom this quote sums up the oddity the author brought forward with the classification on what is a “Crabtree Night”, "Although it was only nine o'clock he had already gone around the pharmacological wheel to which he had strapped himself for the evening, stolen a tuba, and offended a transvestite; and now his companions were beginning, with delight and aplomb, to barf. It was definitely a Crabtree kind of night."

Over all reading this was a trip that I will remember with its ups and downs and getting to experience the lives of each one of his characters from their journey from the slums to there realizations at the end of the story. Even the confusions and frustrations that I was left with at the end of the novel all made a substantial impact in this most enjoyable journey of “The Wonder Boys.”