Synopses & Reviews
Grady Tripp is a pot-smoking middle aged novelist who has stalled on a 2611 page opus titled
Wonder Boys. His student James Leer is a troubled young writer obsessed by Hollywood suicides and at work on his own first novel. Grady's bizarre editor Terry Crabtree and another student, Hannah Green, come together in his wildly comic, moving, and finally profound search for an ending to his book and a purpose to his life.
Review
"Chabon's chapters aren't unreadable, but they are unstrung: a series of funny scenes about not writing a novel that somehow don't hang together as a novel." Time
Review
"Michael Chabon's second novel, Wonder Boys, corroborates what his first novel (The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) and short-story collection (A Model World and Other Stories) lead us to believe: Mr. Chabon is a veritable wordsmith and a writer for our age....His dialogue is real, as always, and the development of his plot, perfectly calibrated." Elizabeth Manus, San Francisco Review of Books
Review
"[A] wise, wildly funny story...Chabon is a flatout wonderful writer evocative and inventive, pointed and poignant." Shelby Hearon, Chicago Tribune
Review
"A beguiling and wickedly smart novel....There is firstrate satirical farce in Chabon's novel but essentially it is something rarer: satirical comedy." Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review
Review
"The young star of American letters
a writer not only of rare skill and wit but a selfevident and immensely appealing generosity." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World Review
Synopsis
Grady Tripp is a middle-aged Philanderer with a penchant for pot and failed marriages, who is unable to complete the long-awaited follow up to his award-winning novel. His brilliant student James Leer is a troubled young writer obsessed with Hollywood suicides and prone to fabrication and petty thievery. In their odyssey through the streets of Pittsburgh, Grady and James are joined by Grady's pregnant mistress, his hilarious bizzare editor, and an achingly beautiful student lodger. The result is a wildy comic, poignantly moving, and ultimately profound search for past promise, future fame, and a purpose to Grady's life.
About the Author
Michael Chabon is the author of the novel
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and two story collections, including
Werewolves in Their Youth. He lives with his family in the Bay Area, California.