Mysteries of Pittsburgh

<p><strong>Chabon's writing is deft and delicate -- almost every page includes a delightful phrase or two. He mingles dialogue the Pittsburgh cityscape descriptions of the characters' activity and Art's thoughts and feelings to achieve that magical illusion good novels give -- that the reader is living the character's life with all its savors jokes and pangs. -- <em>Boston Herald</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>The New York Times</em> bestseller debut that put Michael Chabon in the pantheon of great American novelists.</strong></p><p>The enthralling debut from bestselling novelist Michael Chabon is a penetrating narrative of complex friendships father-son conflicts and the awakening of a young man's sexual identity. Chabon masterfully renders the funny tender and captivating first-person narrative of Art Bechstein whose confusion and heartache echo the tones of literary forebears like <em>The Catcher in the Rye</em>'s Holden Caulfield and <em>The Great Gatsby</em>'s Nick Carraway<em>. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh </em>incontrovertibly established Chabon as a powerful force in contemporary fiction even before his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel <em>The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay </em>set the literary world spinning. An unforgettable story of coming of age in America it is also an essential milestone in the movement of American fiction from a novelist who has become one of the most important and enduring voices of this generation.</p>