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The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel (P.S.)
by Michael Chabon

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16697.The_Mysteries_of_Pittsburgh_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel (P.S.)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166740675m/16697.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16697.The_Mysteries_of_Pittsburgh_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2715.Michael_Chabon">Michael Chabon</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19035361?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars i do love michael chabon...
 this book has been no different so far...this is his first novel and you can sort of tell...his language is a bit more self conscious and you can really feel him trying to impress you...the thing is, he does...
 his command of linguistic expression is very very good...and his ability to weave multiple characters together and build their complexity through interaction is extremely effective and affecting...you never feel him losing control of the characters or the plot threads...
 his themes, as in all his books, are sprinkled though out the narrative, given to you in various forms such as character action, symbolism, and most importantly dissociated metaphor...
 i'm only halfway through so i'm hesitant to conclude anything...
 i'll make a little comment by way of pre-analysis...the section in the beginning when art talks about the hotel is a symbolic sketch of the entire novel....
 and the snatch of dialogue between art and arthur when art asks "is is this illegal?" and arthur says, "no, but don't fall out, mohammed already has too many tickets", is also integral to understanding the book...just a wild guess...
 this is a remarkable novel...it's easy to see within these words the incredible success he will achieve with his next three...
 
 the cloud factory and the hotel...
 the cloud factory is a major image in the book...it permeates the text from beginning to end...no one knows what it's really for it just seem to be there to create clouds, billowing out it's smokestacks...
 the cloud factory is a symbolic structure meant to represent us, as individuals, as identities, as people who seek to know who we really are...but can't...
 we don't really know what we are, we just create these beautiful, ephemeral moments that define us and the world around us...
 we are all of us cloud factories...some people keep trying to find out what the factory is really for...they try to climb the fences and peek in the windows, but there is never a clear answer...
 it's possible that there is no answer...and people who can't stop climbing the fences end up like cleveland...who can't be content with any of the cloud formations that come out of his factory and ultimately he is destroyed trying to scale its walls...
 the hotel is life...endless rooms with endless floors, leading to a zeppelin moored to the roof...art makes it through the stream of identities that are living in those rooms, the stream of friends and relations in whom he tries to find his identity...in the end he steps onto the zeppelin and sails away for as he says: "he no longer needs them"...
 
 this is an astonishing book...it really is...
 identity, love, friendship, sexuality, family, masculine consciousness, themes which are dealt with with sensibility and poignance, a powerful, deeply affecting book which i will read again and will certainly teach...
 
 
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/933518?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Jason's review
rating:
bookshelves: all-time-favorites

i do love michael chabon...
this book has been no different so far...this is his first novel and you can sort of tell...his language is a bit more self conscious and you can really feel him trying to impress you...the thing is, he does...
his command of linguistic expression is very very good...and his ability to weave multiple characters together and build their complexity through interaction is extremely effective and affecting...you never feel him losing control of the characters or the plot threads...
his themes, as in all his books, are sprinkled though out the narrative, given to you in various forms such as character action, symbolism, and most importantly dissociated metaphor...
i'm only halfway through so i'm hesitant to conclude anything...
i'll make a little comment by way of pre-analysis...the section in the beginning when art talks about the hotel is a symbolic sketch of the entire novel....
and the snatch of dialogue between art and arthur when art asks "is is ...more i do love michael chabon...
this book has been no different so far...this is his first novel and you can sort of tell...his language is a bit more self conscious and you can really feel him trying to impress you...the thing is, he does...
his command of linguistic expression is very very good...and his ability to weave multiple characters together and build their complexity through interaction is extremely effective and affecting...you never feel him losing control of the characters or the plot threads...
his themes, as in all his books, are sprinkled though out the narrative, given to you in various forms such as character action, symbolism, and most importantly dissociated metaphor...
i'm only halfway through so i'm hesitant to conclude anything...
i'll make a little comment by way of pre-analysis...the section in the beginning when art talks about the hotel is a symbolic sketch of the entire novel....
and the snatch of dialogue between art and arthur when art asks "is is this illegal?" and arthur says, "no, but don't fall out, mohammed already has too many tickets", is also integral to understanding the book...just a wild guess...
this is a remarkable novel...it's easy to see within these words the incredible success he will achieve with his next three...

the cloud factory and the hotel...
the cloud factory is a major image in the book...it permeates the text from beginning to end...no one knows what it's really for it just seem to be there to create clouds, billowing out it's smokestacks...
the cloud factory is a symbolic structure meant to represent us, as individuals, as identities, as people who seek to know who we really are...but can't...
we don't really know what we are, we just create these beautiful, ephemeral moments that define us and the world around us...
we are all of us cloud factories...some people keep trying to find out what the factory is really for...they try to climb the fences and peek in the windows, but there is never a clear answer...
it's possible that there is no answer...and people who can't stop climbing the fences end up like cleveland...who can't be content with any of the cloud formations that come out of his factory and ultimately he is destroyed trying to scale its walls...
the hotel is life...endless rooms with endless floors, leading to a zeppelin moored to the roof...art makes it through the stream of identities that are living in those rooms, the stream of friends and relations in whom he tries to find his identity...in the end he steps onto the zeppelin and sails away for as he says: "he no longer needs them"...

this is an astonishing book...it really is...
identity, love, friendship, sexuality, family, masculine consciousness, themes which are dealt with with sensibility and poignance, a powerful, deeply affecting book which i will read again and will certainly teach...

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