Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys
Stuck: Michael Chabon’s “Wonder Boys”
Where do I even start with this book?
It is, quite honestly, one of the best-written books I have ever read, ever. I think it took me such a long time to read because the first few pages or so didn’t really attract me, in terms of plot, but Chabon’s sentences, my goodness. His sentences are flawless. I want to marry his sentences. Or, in the words of Tracy Jordan, I love his sentences so much, I want to take them behind the middle school and get them pregnant.
Chabon manages to craft a character completely the opposite of me—middle-aged, etc.—and still have me feel as though I related to him completely. He begins by talking about the “midnight disease,” described as such: “The midnight disease is a kind of emotional insomnia; at ever conscious moment its victim—even if he or …show more content…
It is my fault that I haven’t been writing anything excellent, if only for the sole fact that I haven’t been writing any fiction at all.
How to recover from this book? I’m not exactly sure. And while it does end on a mostly positive note for stuck writers everywhere, I can’t help but feel even more helpless and, well, stuck, after reading this brilliant piece of literature. (See, I have even reached the point where I use generic polysyllabic words to convey whatever simple point, whatever simple feelings I have.) Despite it being almost encouraging, I still feel like it has hurled me into a pit of quicksand, and maybe, just maybe, if I stop moving, if I stop struggling, I can get out of there alive, with a not-so-damaged reputation as a writer.
I don’t quite know how to recover from this, exactly. All I know is that this is a terrific book, mirroring so very accurately the fears of someone who is lost in more ways than one. Writer or no, everyone should read it. In the words of my Tumblr friend, Alayna, “in a perfect world, this book would never
Where do I even start with this book?
It is, quite honestly, one of the best-written books I have ever read, ever. I think it took me such a long time to read because the first few pages or so didn’t really attract me, in terms of plot, but Chabon’s sentences, my goodness. His sentences are flawless. I want to marry his sentences. Or, in the words of Tracy Jordan, I love his sentences so much, I want to take them behind the middle school and get them pregnant.
Chabon manages to craft a character completely the opposite of me—middle-aged, etc.—and still have me feel as though I related to him completely. He begins by talking about the “midnight disease,” described as such: “The midnight disease is a kind of emotional insomnia; at ever conscious moment its victim—even if he or …show more content…
It is my fault that I haven’t been writing anything excellent, if only for the sole fact that I haven’t been writing any fiction at all.
How to recover from this book? I’m not exactly sure. And while it does end on a mostly positive note for stuck writers everywhere, I can’t help but feel even more helpless and, well, stuck, after reading this brilliant piece of literature. (See, I have even reached the point where I use generic polysyllabic words to convey whatever simple point, whatever simple feelings I have.) Despite it being almost encouraging, I still feel like it has hurled me into a pit of quicksand, and maybe, just maybe, if I stop moving, if I stop struggling, I can get out of there alive, with a not-so-damaged reputation as a writer.
I don’t quite know how to recover from this, exactly. All I know is that this is a terrific book, mirroring so very accurately the fears of someone who is lost in more ways than one. Writer or no, everyone should read it. In the words of my Tumblr friend, Alayna, “in a perfect world, this book would never