IN HIS THIRD NOVEL,, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Random House, $26.95), Michael Chabon goes back in time, braving the dangers of nostalgia to deliver the golden age of American comic books. Despite the seemingly light subject matter, the novel is epic, weighing in around 650 pages, and the author fills them to bursting, limning, in his masterful voice, the pre-war New York of the World’s Fair.
Author Archives: SJW
The World Is Not Enough
THE SUCCESSFUL, mostly non-violent protests against the World Trade Organization this week surprised only those Americans who have the luxury of avoiding all forms of media. For weeks before the fateful demonstrations, anyone who saw the news on TV, heard it on the radio or read it in the paper knew that this was going to be the Battle in Seattle.
Vacation Reading
I LIKE A PLOTTED NOVEL as much as if not more than the next person–obviously, or I wouldn’t have written so many of them. No reader, I hope, is above the pleasures of characters on collision courses, fast-ratcheting rising action and exciting climaxes. And there’s no reason why a tightly plotted book can’t be deep and thoughtful, though it’s hard to pull off. But sometimes I prefer to settle down with a quieter, more intimate book, just as, writing, I’m drawn, after passages of great urgency, to moments of stillness.
U.S. 1, Microsoft 0
WHILE THE NASDAQ responded by falling more than 600 points, most people here just shrugged at the defeat of Microsoft on anti-trust charges. Everyone knows Microsoft has worked hard to create their monopoly, and everyone knows that the decision–like the fines the government levies against corporate polluters–won’t put even the littlest dent in Bill Gates’s wallet.
Tots
WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL I got a job washing dishes at a synagogue, for the caterer there. This was in Pittsburgh, in Squirrel Hill, 1976. I was in a garage band and our bassist Marty Roth worked there, so he got us all jobs–me, Mark Gaudio (our guitarist), and our drummer, Mark Serotta.
The Works of Stewart O'Nan 