Product Description

Art Bechstein steps out of the library into the summer of his graduation year. Not yet ready for respectability, he falls in with the exotic, charming Arthur Lecomte, and ricochets between a homosexual relationship and an intense affair with a strange and beautiful girl called Phlox. Before long, the world of his new friends and the underworld of his father must collide, with consequences that Art cannot control.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110457 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Sunday Times
'A strikingly accomplished debut'

Review

'A strikingly accomplished debut'

(Sunday Times )

'His style has an enviable suppleness and fluency which offers the perfect vehicle for the moral feints and shifts of the cool crowd he portrays' (TLS )

'Hard as it is to write about youth when you're young, Chabon has done it brilliantly' (Cosmopolitan )

'Mingles wit, sex and fine writing' (Sunday Telegraph )

'His control over his story, the wonderful use he makes of each description, of Pittsburgh itself, are often astonishing...a young writer with a tremendous skill' (New York Times Book Review )

Sunday Times
'A strikingly accomplished debut'

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Customer Reviews

Strangely compelling
This book was slow to grab my attention, but once it had I was then hooked. I read it in one sitting and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it turned out to be. It's crammed with humour and dry wit but also has moments of great poignancy. The main character, Art, whose father is a big time gangster, gets caught up in a love triangle with his homosexual friend Arthur and a girl called Phlox. The story relates the summer that he spends trying to discover who he really is and what his true feelings are for his partners. Events reach a traumatic conclusion when his father hears about his gay relationship, and steps in to put an end to it. This is a beautifully written book, and one that I found strangely compelling.

The awakening of Art
Art Bechstein, fresh out of college, notices an attractive young man in the library, no sooner is he outside the library than this attractive young man, the very appealing and flamboyant Arthur is standing beside him. In addition the attentions of Arthur, Art struggles with his uncertain feelings for Phlox, the strange girl who works in the library. So begins a summer of friendships, sex and parties, and a beautiful relationship that eventually dispels any doubts Art might have had about his sexuality. Add to that the hint of gangsters and the mysterious smoke from a factory; it all contributes to captivating read.
This is a thoroughly engrossing and interesting story, beautifully written and full of vitality, wit and humour.

Lazy, hazy days of college
This is a great book for those of us caught up in the rat race of the working world. It takes us back to those days of college where the biggest problem in life was getting over a hangover from drinking too much the night before. Life is the twilight world of summer semester at college, filled with parties. The characters are fun; the dialogue witty.