'The Mysteries of Pittsburgh' by Michael Chabon

"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was first published back in 1988 and immediately tagged a "brat pack" novel, causing its author, the then preposterously young Michael Chabon (he was still only in his early 20s) to be spoken of in the same breath as Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney and Tama Janowitz -- admirable enough writers whose careers, it's fair to say, he has by now wholly eclipsed. Viewed in hindsight, though, "Pittsburgh" belongs to a more familiar category. It's a coming-of-age story, and a classic in that genre, the chronicle of a single summer, a structure that Chabon, always eager to flaunt his influences rather than show any anxiety about them, borrowed, lifted (whatever), from "The Great Gatsby."

By Richard Rayner

November 9, 2008