A MODEL WORLD

by Michael Chabon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 1991

The 11 stories in Chabon's first collection explore subjects familiar from his overly praised novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988)--the puppy pangs of growing into manhood and the vagaries of adult romance. But there's less straining for elegance here, with fewer awkward sentences and clumsy idioms. Many of these pieces (some of which have appeared in The New Yorker) are really first-rate studies in modern love. The weaker half of the volume brings together five chronologically arranged stories about Nathan Shapiro, a self-conscious and rather whiny son of liberal Jewish parents in Maryland. ""The Little Knife"" records Nathan's first suspicions about his parents' marital instability, and ""More Than Human"" confirms it. At 13, in ""Admirals,"" Nathan deals with his now-divorced parents' new lovers; and, a year later, in ""The Halloween Party,"" he develops a mad crush for a much older, married woman. By 16, in ""The Lost World,"" his drunken attempt to lose his virginity results in his first real passion for a girl his own style. The other Stories here, mostly set in California, abandon adolescent dithering for a cool, somewhat bemused look at contemporary romance. The superb ""S Anger""--the tale of an L.A. wedding--culminates in a reckless moment of passion between two cousins, one of whom is the bride. The oddly touching ""Ocean Avenue"" cleverly mocks the way two ex-lovers, who parted on the worst of terms, try to disguise their desire in trendy talk and aggressive banter. Adulterous love underscores the strange title piece, in which two graduate-school scientists benefit from dishonesty. A similar injustice overwhelms the washed-up ballplayer of Smoke,"" who attends the funeral of his team's rising star, a family man killed in a car accident. Love drives men to forms of foolish behavior in ""Blumenthal on the Air"" and in ""Millionaires,"" the latter suggesting that even a perfect friendship between two men can be destroyed by a faithless woman. At his best, Chabon's tales of virtue unrewarded, with their often sinuous prose, recall Updike's short fiction: elegant stories for suburban sophisticates.

Pub Date: April 15, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION