Book Review" "Werewolves in Their Youth" by Michael Chabon

Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars








The story of author Micheal Chabon's rise to literary fame is an interesting tale, a lightning strike in a world of rejections and frustrations. Chabon wrote a novel as his masters thesis while working on an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Without telling Chabon, his professor submitted the novel to a literary agent with the result that the manuscript was the prize in a bidding war amongst several publishing houses. At twenty-four, Michael Chabon was a best-selling author. A very long and ultimately abandoned novel followed. Chabon poured his frustrations into "The Wonder Boys," a novel that became a bestseller and a Hollywood movie. He followed up on this success with two volumes of short stories. The second of those collections is "Werewolves in Their Youth." Before we get to the review, I am compelled to say that I am an avid reader of Micheal Chabon's work, but up until now I have not read his shorter fiction.

There are nine stories in this collection and they are all very much worth the read. The author drops well-developed characters into the maelstrom of life and leaves them there to sink or swim. The struggles faced by the protagonists include floundering marriages, a very troubled youthful best friend, and an unthinkably unwanted pregnancy. Each of the characters is given the opportunity to experience revelation, rise to redemption, or drown in self-created chaos.

Chabon is a master wordsmith and these stories serve to highlight his talents, as well as to enthrall and reward the reader. The first eight stories are similar in theme, although very different in situational plot and outcome. The exception is the ultimate story, "In the Black Mill." This strange tale is an homage to the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, although with much better dialogue than Lovecraft ever managed. As a literary aside, consider this quote by Stephen King: “H. P. Lovecraft was a genius when it came to tales of the macabre, but a terrible dialogue writer. He seems to have known it, too, because in the millions of words of fiction he wrote, fewer than five thousand are dialogue.” (King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft)

I highly recommend "Werewolves in Their Youth." Readers who are fans of short fiction will not be disappointed by these finely crafted stories, and aspiring writers may well learn a thing or two about the craft. This collection of short stories is listed in Stephen King's suggested reading list for writers wishing to hone their chops. If the reader is looking for a very solid collection of short fiction, "Werewolves in Their Youth" is a fine place to start.

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