spacekadet

It would take more than the likes of skilled thespian, Michael Douglas, to pull off the magnitude of Grady Tripp's pot-induced haze. So after (finally) reading Michael Chabon's novel, Wonder Boys, I wonder - why try?

Grady is a loser: he's fat; he smokes too much weed; his wife just left him; his girlfriend is pregnant; and his latest novel, Wonder Boys, 7 years and 2,611 pages in the making, shows no sign conclusion.

Through the misadventures of Grady and his maverick crew of wonder boys, Chabon makes self-destruction seem almost fun. Dead dogs and tubas, red boots and sedars, their tomfoolery is fun, frustrating, and only occasionally too academic.

Wonder Boys reminds me of my own exhilarating, but not always glamorous, moments of chaos. But hey: life's a mess, right? Roll with it.

I give Wonder Boys two thumbs up.