The exuberant geekiness of Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon’s books are available at National Bookstores.
We know Michael Chabon loves comics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, The Lord of the Rings, science-fiction, martial arts, 1970s records, 1980s TV shows, grindhouse features. This is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Where is the movie we’ve been waiting for?) and Unitard Theory after all. We remember an essay he wrote about the 2008 US presidential election in which he compared the victory of Barack Obama to bringing water to Arrakis. But we were still surprised at the sheer thrilling geekiness of his new novel Telegraph Avenue. You can turn to any page and it will contain some reference to comics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, LOTR, SF etc.
Sample: Steeled by a lifetime of training in the arts of repression, like Spock battling the septenary mating madness of the pon farr…
If you can take that on every page, no, every paragraph, this book is for you. We’re on page 146 and our attention hasn’t flagged. It reminds us of Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude. Which we also loved, so no problem there.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 3rd, 2012 at 09:27
Great, I’ll check this one out; although I”ll probably get the Kindle edition.
Last time I visited a National Bookstore, I was overwhelmed by all those copies of “Shades of Grey” novel, not to mention all editions of the bible.
(I was looking for a copy of Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World,” to give as a gift, and there weren’t any.) No science-y books, either. But if you are looking for a copy of “Grey,” or a bible, then you’re in luck–NB has mountains of them.
I liked Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures…”, and I’m looking forward to reading “Telegraph Avenue.”
Right, thanks.
October 3rd, 2012 at 15:22
Hi Jessica, for people like me who have little familiarity with the stuff Mr. Chabon references, would it be possible to simply gloss over them, and still enjoy the novel? Thanks!
October 4th, 2012 at 00:28
Most definitely a must-buy. Chabon is such an entertaining writer.
JZ, you may also want to check out the 33 1/3 book series. They’re like extended liner notes, in book form, of classic albums. I only had to let you know because Jonathan Lethem wrote a deep analysis of Talking Heads’ Fear of Music.
http://www.themillions.com/2012/05/is-fear-of-music-a-book.html
Other books in the series have covered Radiohead’s Kid A, Steely Dan’s Aja, Led Zeppelin’s IV, Pixies’ Doolittle, and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless among others.
October 4th, 2012 at 03:28
Finished the book last week. Some of the latter chapters get dragging but otherwise, it’s an excellent book! The one-sentence chapter, with the semi-magical parrot overseeing the characters, is genius!