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Liked It “The best phrase I've read all year: "loofah of outrage."” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“I like Chabon's fiction.....I just could not get into this book.”
prctaxman wrote this review Saturday, October 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“The best phrase I've read all year: "loofah of outrage."”
Elizabeth C wrote this review Tuesday, August 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“In Chabon's first nonfiction venture, he offers a collection of personal and critical essays, some of which are destined to become seminal pieces on the nature of "genre vs. literary" fiction, on the (as the reader below mentions) "genre-fication" of books in mainstream bookstores, and even on the origins of fan fictions and metafiction (Chabon credits the Sherlock Holmes books, with their narratives wrapped inside narratives, as having popularized metafiction). The critical essays, in other words, seem bound for a long life of citations and anthologizing.
nholic wrote this review Tuesday, May 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The personal essays, those that discuss how Chabon developed ideas for "Yiddish Policemen's Union" and "Amazing Adventures," are interesting, also, but a bit less rewarding. They all seem to compose the final act of this collection, and so Chabon has already made his strongest arguments. When he begins delivering a personal essay about his love for golems (an essay that originated as a lecture, and that blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction), we already sense each point before he makes it. Though the essays could stand on their own, they become repetitive once collected.
That said, though, "Maps and Legends" is a book that needed to be published. Chabon is giving voice to a lot of the genre-literary ideas that many in our generation have long discussed in private, and he is essentially staking his career on his opinions. Very brave book, very well-written, as always.”
“I'm a big Chabon fan and this book provided an excellent insight into his writing and writing in general. I love his apologia for Young Adult literature. He nails it.”
slatrat wrote this review Friday, May 23 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A collection of pop-scholarship on (not exactly in defense of) "pop-literature" or genre fiction and writers, including himself, whose work straddles the artificial border between "serious fiction" and "pulp/genre fiction". It's hard to know what to do with these essays. Some resemble personal narratives providing back story into his inspirations for his novels, but without a huge depth of detail or insight, and others resemble scholarly essays sans vital background information or evidence for his arguments. So far, it reads like auto-biographic Cliffnotes to Michael Chabon's own oeuvre.”
Drew J wrote this review Monday, July 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book was a real surprise to me! My husband has been a big fan of Michael Chabon for years, yet I had never read anything by him. This is his first work of nonfiction and was a strange compilation of personal and literary essays strung together with the common thread of writing to discover the places on the "map's edge" - exploring ideas and stories that haven't been explored in those imaginary recesses of a writer's mind and the freedom and fascination he has with those unexplored areas in his own life and in his own reading and writing. He talks about his experiences with genre snobbery and that, his favorite type of writing (science fiction, fantasy, horror) are often thought of as "lesser fictions" and he examines, through this text, his struggle with genre writing. He discusses why he admires certain books, authors, and artists and then analyzes his own trials with genre vs. personal fiction, especially memoir. Personally, these are exactly the type of essays I was expected to write in college and, to read his, it brought back the English mind I started to cultivate in school. I enjoyed reading a more accomplished writer's version of the sort of writing I did in school. I also enjoyed reading about the people and books that he admired and why. Parts were a little highbrow, but I didn't mind, and the beginning section about maps and unexplored edges of places not yet defined or discovered was my favorite part. ”
Jess B wrote this review Saturday, May 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“If you're a fan of Chabon's fiction, you'll appreciate not only his book reviews (which double as suggested reading) but also his reflections on writing each of his novels. Enjoyed this from cover to cover. I agree %100 with Chabon on the over-genre-fication of the bookstore and literary criticism. Mystery and SF and Fantasy can be and often is "serious" fiction. Yet these artists remain in the B&N ghetto. Maybe with more writing from popular contemporaries like Chabon, everyone can relax and enjoy reading a little more.”
adamreck1 wrote this review Tuesday, May 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“love the cover art. i ended up enjoying the autobiographical portions (factual or not) better than the literary analysis. it's hard not to come across as arrogant when providing such detailed criticism. i did enjoy this book enough, though, to be reminded of the great experience of reading kavalier and clay, and chose "the yiddish policeman's union" as my next book to read.”
Matt H wrote this review Thursday, August 14 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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