Manhood for Amateurs

Loved this book as I've loved Michael Chabon's other books. With our being from Columbia and Ellicott City, Maryland we have an even more special affinity for this book and enjoyed hearing stories of the early days of Columbia and especially laughed about his CCBC (Columbia Comic Book Club) that only one other child attended. My friend's son had also wanted to attend that meeting at the Wilde Lake Center but she told her son she felt comic books were too violent. She and her son now both laugh about that event. I enjoyed hearing this story too. You don't need to be from his home town to enjoy his marvelous books. Thanks a million Michael!

I have not read any of Michael Chabon's fiction. I see how he might be a successful fiction writer, since he does have a talent for language and phrasing. But in what was essentially an autobiography -- one that focuses on the minute details of sometimes mundane subjects -- the writing seems overly self-conscious and drawn out; as if the author is attempting to mask the lightness of his subjects with an excessive vocabulary. In short, I found that Mr. Chabon in this collection was using too many words and taking too long to say very little. Another narrator may have helped. Mr. Chabon's voice tended to only accentuate the whiny self-absorption of many of the pieces. The overall subject was of interest -- what does it mean to be a man, a father, a son -- from the perspective of a modern successful writer. But the execution was off, and the messenger was ill-selected for the task.

I could not get through the first cd. It was incredibly boring to me and of no interest. Not sure what the problem was but I tried.