Taking the measure of man's experience

Despite its title, Michael Chabon's "Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son" isn't really, of course, a how-to manual.

Last update: October 31, 2009 - 2:26 PM

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MANHOOD FOR AMATEURS

By: Michael ChabonPublisher: Harper, 320 pages, $25.99.Review: These lovely essays reveal the author's experiences as a boy, and as a husband, father, son and brother.

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Despite its title, Michael Chabon's "Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son" isn't really, of course, a how-to manual. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist's first nonfiction book is a memoir, told through lovely short essays about experiences that shaped the man Chabon has become. He doesn't present these as universal -- they're the sometimes intensely personal recollections of a writer, former comic-book geek, West Coast dad, twice-married man, child of divorce and so on -- but they nudge forth larger ideas about what it means to be a man in our culture.

Chabon writes about trying to help a troubled girlfriend, hanging out with his ex-wife's father, sleeping with a friend of his mother's when he was 15, getting himself and his brother lost in a strange city, meeting his current wife on a blind date. The writing is wry, nuanced and sometimes a little sad. Among the most poignant are the lightly elegiac pieces juxtaposing recollections from Chabon's own free-form 1970s childhood against the circumscribed lives of his own children: "I grew up with a freedom, a liberty that now seems breathtaking and almost impossible," he writes. When his daughter learned to ride her bike, she was disappointed to discover that "there was nowhere for her to ride it -- nowhere that I was willing to let her go." With a self-awareness not typically found in writing about parenting, he mourns for what his children are missing, while regretfully taking responsibility for depriving them.

KATY READ

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Here are some of Books Editor Laurie Hertzel's favorite sites and blogs. Got a literary link to share? E-mail Laurie.

Twin Cities Literary Scavenger Hunt Home page for the scavenger hunt, which runs now through Dec. 26.
Reading Minnesota A blog that features Minnesota writers, illustrators, publishers, bookstores, and reviewers.
Talk of the Stacks An author series from the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.
Poets & Writers The website for Poets and Writers Magazine--podcasts, author interviews, and writing resources.
Creative Writing A place to keep apprised of writing competitions in the United States.
Gather Minnesota Readers The Website for Minnesota Public Radio's books blog.
The Loft Literary Center The Website for the Loft, a local place for writers and readers.
Good Reads A way to track what you're reading, and what your friends are reading.
Lost Manuscripts Just what it sounds like - a blog (sporadically updated) devoted to missing and destroyed manuscripts.
Maud Newton Very hip, reviews, links, a little attitude.
bookreporter.com A plethora of online book reviews and reading guides.
Rain Taxi Rain Taxi Review of Books.