Michael ChabonThe Mysteries of Pittsburgh

Just love Charon and this early novel holds all the promise of his later work.

Michael Chabon's debut novel is also his thesis and was written when he was just 21 years old. It is an accomplished, funny, coming-of-age novel that tackles bi-sexuality, not over-graphically you'll be pleased to note, but with remarkable bravery. Art Bechstein meets the eccentric and exciting Phlox through his friend Arthur, a pale, ascetic librarian with whom he has become fascinated. The story of their on and off affairs and the adventures of their other friend Cleveland, who desperately wants to be introduced to Art's father, who has mob connections, plus assembled low-life hangers-on, is entertainingly quirky and unfailingly well written, albeit with a (literal) dying fall at the end. Phlox in particular has a habit of the dramatic aphorism - for example: "In the church of my heart, the choir is on fire," and when asked why she is crying she says, "Because vampires are so beautiful." Art says, "I tried to keep track of her thousand quotes and citations, as though assembling a Barlett's of Phlox. My love of her was like scholarship - an effort to master the loved one's corpus, which in Phlox's case, was patchwork and vast as Africa." This is quite a short book, (240pp) and I wished there were more of it, though I will admit that Chabon took his premises around as far as they could stretch. Chabon knows of what he speaks. He is married to a woman but admits to previous affairs with men. This novel is wholly enjoyable.

A coming of age novel that has moments of fine prose from Chabon with his characteristic humour and sharp turn of phrase. The majority of the book is Art trying to grapple with his two love interests. The problem is that this sort of a story has been told so many times in the thirty years since this book was written in various movies and TV shows, that it feels almost cliched. Now this isn't Chabon's fault, but reading this as a millennial, having consumed many such POST-PITTSBURGH stories, my enjoyment was reduced because of this. I came to this book after reading Wonder Boys, which I thought was very good, and in all honesty this didn't live up to my expectations. Luckily it's not a big book - just under 250 pages. And considering Chabon was 23/24 when he wrote this it's not a bad effort.

Brilliant book

This is the tale of Art who, after finishing college, hangs around Pittsburg waiting for something to happen. Art is a bit of a trustfund baby but the source of his income is an embarrasment to him. But the life he starts to lead starts to become an embarrasment to his income...This is a book that burns slowly but gradually builds and takes you in, along with Art, on a journey. I loved the way he develops new relationships and how he described the adulation for his new friends, his fears and his doubts. The relationships are so delicately drawn that it feels like reportage and I really liked that.I gave it only four stars because there is a spark missing from this book. There are no sympathetic characters, the lazy days of summer - though well evoked - made me a bit lazy as a reader. I felt a little bit like Art in this book - continually waiting for something to happen, but when it did it was neither surprising nor exciting. I did enjoy the book, but I don't miss it and was glad to finish it.I don't want to be too negative because it was a good book and it is worth reading.

I've only recently discovered Chabon, and this was only my second read after Kavalier & Clay. Given that it's his debut novel from '88, I can see how reviewers would have been excited. Whilst the story is little more than a cousin to Reality Bites, the narrative is refreshing and crackles with ideas, revealing hints of the mastery in his later style to come.However, quite often I found it unnecessarily beguiling, as the author sought to begin yet another chapter with an off-the-wall opening sentence - as if he'd taken the publishing rule of grabbing people with your opening line, and nervously applied it to his work as a whole.And for one who possesses such an inspired ability to grasp and define the more elusive qualities of what it is to be human, and the fireworks of consciousness, this first work sees the author bizarrely getting himself bogged down in more basic descriptions. MOst notably when trying to describe character orientated scenes to us: who sat where, or how two people have a spat and slap each other. To me, it was as if Chabon couldn't decide whether he was writing a novel or a screenplay, and the complexities of his directorial aspirations got the better of him.That said, this is a genuine treasure of a novella, and ultimately gives more than it takes.

Brilliant

The cover attracted me, and the contents were at just as interesting.The story starts slowly, there is a little mystery and no real action at the beginning, but a pleasant read which builds up to a climax towards the end.

I had no preconceptions about "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh." It popped up in a $2.02 book sale on my Kindle. I read "The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay" years ago, and remember loving the researched, nuanced knowledge of comic books. I read "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" and could take it or leave it; nothing resonated with me."The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" is the story of four friends and their final summer after graduating college. The authentic characters, quick narrative, short dialogue, and lush Pittsburgh descriptions warrant a 5-star review.The main character, Art Bechstein, eating dinner with his mobster father, having just broken up with his girlfriend, describes his post-college plans:"On the way to the shining needle at the top I will wear a lot of neckties, I will buy five or six works of genius on 45 rpm, and perhaps too many times I will find myself looking at the snapped spine of a lemon wedge at the bottom of a drink." (p 9-10).Art's working at a Bookstore, still living in Pittsburgh. And with that, the story takes off, and never looks back. The pacing and speed of this book is perfect: each chapter is 10-16 pages long, and documents a specific event over the summer. The other characters quickly fall into place, somewhat randomly, but also endearingly. Art first meets Arthur Lecomte, an older, gay student, outside the library. Arthur introduces Art to Phlox, a co-worker at the library who starts to date Art; and Cleveland, a rebel alcoholic.Having attended college in Pittsburgh, Chabon writes great detail about the city; the city proves to be a central character in the story. As Art is riding to a party with Arthur, the driver "...made a U in the fortunately bare middle of Craig Street, and pulled, with a loud rumor of tires, back out onto the avenue." (p 24). The party they're attending is at "...a Tudur hugeness off the campus of Chatham College" where the host's father taught Farsi (p 24). Soon after the party, Art and Arthur visit their secret place:"Between the arrogant stupid prow of Carnegie-Mellon University and the ugly back end of the Carnegie Institute, between the little shrines to Mary in the front yards along Parkview and the park itself, lies the wide, dry ravine that contains, essentially, four things: The Lost Neighborhood, the Cloud Factory, train tracks, and a tremendous amount of garbage." (p 48).Revolving around only a few characters, the dialogue in the book is crucial, and Chabon nails it. Conversations don't seem forced; don't seem like a writer writing dialogue, but a natural interaction among early-20s youth. The short, staccato sentences seem real, like something overhead in a college library.Alternating between stories of Phlox, Arthur, and Art is Art's tenuous relationship with his father. His father is portrayed as a nice, generous, likeable man, who Art cannot seem to connect with. Art's father, "Joe the Egg", is never fully explained, but he works for organized crime in Pittsburgh handling and investing money. References are made to truncated childhoods with family secrets, and to Art's missing mother.The mob connections emerge as a central theme, especially as Cleveland, after episodes of animal abuse and binge drinking, turns to working for associates of Art's father. Here, Chabon loses some of the authenticity and credibility central to the book, and I wondered: was there organized crime in Pittsburgh? Was Chabon ever exposed to it? Nonetheless, wrapped up in the mob activity is Art's emotional state. A trip with Cleveland around Pittsburgh collecting money from debtors starts a back-and-forth emotional twist for Art; he explores sexual relationships with both Arthur and Phlox.Cleveland's downward spiral ends in the book's climax: a jewelry heist gone wrong. With a run around Pittsburgh, police chase, and resolution in the Cloud Factory, the book reaches a pace normally reserved for action movies. Coming from this height, the story falls to lows of broken friendship and renewed loneliness.Overall, the book feels real and authentic, like one could go back to a college campus, grab these characters from the library, and shake the truth from them: Phlox and her constantly changing clothing styles, Cleveland's emerging drinking problem, Art's uncertain sexual identity, and Arthur's obsession with social status.

Once or twice each year I abandon my usual genre reading for something different. And a Michael Chabon novel on deep discount made it easy to recognize that the time was right. I have a fondness for the word pictures Chabon paints and the interesting characters that populate his tales.Only in reading the afterword did I discover that The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh is Chabon's first novel. It was written while he was still a student. What an auspicious beginning!This is a coming of age story of a young man, Arthur Bechstein, whose father is a Mafia accountant. Arthur has gone to great lengths, he feels, to keep people from knowing who his family is. But Arthur learns that his secret is poorly kept. The new friends that Arthur makes during a summer that he planned to waste somehow know who his father is.This is not at all a "Mafia" story despite that background. It's more a story of a surprisingly naive young man exploring his sexuality - trying to decide if he is straight, gay, bisexual, whatever. He develops relationships with three characters who define his world for the summer in Pittsburgh. Each of the characters is somewhat quirky and interesting. The time period, as close as I can tell, is the early 1970s and the novel rings true to that period despite having been penned in the late 1980s. That's quite a feat for an author who would have been about 10 years old at the time.If you choose to read this you won't be doing so for a riveting plot. What passes for action is really quite slow moving. And, there are a few places that seem to have left holes in the narrative. But I encourage you to read this for the interesting characters and the beautiful use of language.

Okay!

I'd read other Chabon books - more recent Chabon books - so I knew the man could write. Reading his debut novel I was once again immersed in the long, graceful sentences and the brilliant eye for detail that define Chabon's work. I kept hoping to stumble upon a flawed sentence so I could at least see a dent in the perfect literary machine, but to no avail. There's not one leak in this vessel, prose-wise.The story begins with Art Bechstein settling into his summer that begins after a recent relationship has failed, opening his life to new possibilities. He becomes involved in a mix of high and low society types and feels himself drawn into their well established solar system. These early encounters bring to mind the great adventure of discovering new friendship as a young person; the shedding of childish connections and the introduction of complex, fascinating adults.Things go off the rails when Art develops an intimate relationship with one of his companions, Arthur. It's a peculiar development, to say the least. It strains credulity. All it takes for Art's sexuality to bend is one hectic day. I'm sure others disagree but the barrier of sexuality simply isn't as porous as it's made out to be here. There's a tendency in literature to present male relationships as being so intense, they can easily turn into a sexual affair. DH Lawrence comes to mind. But I think this is more of a literary nerd's need for symbolism than a common occurrence in life - the idea that one's fascination and deep interest in someone of the same sex can become a yearning to absorb that person and have them in every way. To take things to the next level in terms of intimacy.Not buying it. It's awkward and eyebrow raising, distracting irreparably from an otherwise brilliantly paced novel.

If you've read or seen Michael Chabon's "Wonder Boys," you know that Grady Tripp, the author at the center of that book, had written one masterpiece of a debut novel and was unable to finish a second book that he considered a worthy follow-up. Well, Chabon's writings are all a bit autobiographical and since "Wonder Boys" is his second novel, I decided to track down his debut piece, the one that set Chabon's own bar so high. And after reading "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," which is still one of my favorite novels, I can see why it would be so hard to follow.Though elements of the plot are, as with most books, a bit preposterous (for the lead character Art is the "son of a gangster" you don't usually find on the street), "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" cements these elements in the real emotions and situations surrounding a coming-of-age. In the summer after you finish college, you do find all of these confusing choices in front of you: what you want to do with your life, how you want to fill your time, who you want to sleep with, what your relationship with your parents should be and where you stand among your friends. None of these choices, in life or in this book, are easy ones. Often, the decisions Art makes have heartbreaking consequences. Sometimes, he operates on a whim that doesn't make sense to him. He lies, he deceives, he hurts himself and others, but he's young, he's learning and he means well.Chabon's complex and poetic sentence structure, his somewhat-bisexual hero, his approach to the coming-of-age novel and his sense of humor were on full display in "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," which signaled the arrival of an important literary talent.