Product Description

The brilliant novel from the author of Pulitzer Prize-winning 'The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay'. Grady Tripp is an over-sexed, pot-bellied, pot-smoking, ageing wunderkind of a novelist now teaching creative writing at a Pittsburgh college while working on his 2,000 page masterpiece, 'Wonder Boys'. When his rumbustious editor and friend, Terry Crabtree, arrives in town, a chaotic weekend follows -- involving a tuba, a dead dog, Marilyn Monroe's ermine-lined jacket and a squashed boa constrictor.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40195 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Independent
'A wonderfully teasing comic novel . . . Chabon juggles all these preoccupations with a quirky deftness he employs in his first novel.'

Sunday Times
'Wonder Boys is a superb creation, a raucously comic yet deeply lyrical work. Chabon has evolved into a seriously funny writer, a master of the comic set-up.'

Review
'The natural exuberance and extravagance of Chabon's writing is matched by dazzling wit.' Sunday Telegraph 'A deliriously funny novel!Chabon's elegant style, perfectly realised characters and comic vision combine to make the most enjoyable novel of the year.' Esquire 'A wonderfully teasing comic novel!Chabon juggles all these preoccupations with a quirky deftness he employs in his first novel.' Independent '"Wonder Boys" is a superb creation, a raucously comic yet deeply lyrical work. Chabon has evolved into a seriously funny writer, a master of the comic set-up.' Sunday Times

Customer Reviews

a lush loll among louche lushes
What I loved about Wonder Boys is its droll expansiveness, the way our narrator manages to be hilariously self-deprecating, while Chabon himself uses extended metaphor and Homeric simile (and that`s as rare as hens` teeth in the modern novel) with extravagant relish. Just as certain actors look like they`re thoroughly enjoying themselves (Nicholson, for example), Chabon reads like he`s having a great time. All this in a novel about a man who`s trying hard (not) to finish a novel - called Wonder Boys!
This is in certain ways quite an old-fashioned novel, like a contemporary version of the 19th century picaresque tale. Oh, and it made me laugh out loud.
Pretty damn wonderful.

Will disappoint fans of 'Kavalier & Clay'
The story goes that Chabon composed Wonder Boys in a few weeks, after getting stuck on a 1,000 page tome. Turning his predicament around, he decided to write about being bogged down with an unfinishable 1,000 page manuscript.

I never understood why writers think writing itself, or their misdemeanours when they can't engage in it, should be of such great interest to the public. But this aside, one can't expect a work produced in a few weeks to live up to one that was matured over years; so fans of Kavalier & Clay are likely to be disappointed by Wonder Boys. The WWII, comic-book-inspired epic was a rich and deeply-felt adventure tale, but this is mostly about parties and the hangovers that follow them, and it takes the reader no further than a few miles outside the university campus. Even Chabon's normally lush, elliptical, but evocative style is only ironic in this earlier novel. And it contains minor inconsistencies. Of course, Chabon is never boring, and he doesn't fail to amuse with anecdotes and nice character portraits. But this book seemed to me atypical and unworthy of his awesome imagination.

Great! Dark and Rich Humour
Michael Chanbons prose is delightful. Jam packed with detail and wit, this is the perfect book for someone who enjoys good wholesome humour. Particular incidents with the snake are very amusing. The book sometimes is a bit hard going and requires complete concentration, but with perseverance this is an excellent book.