This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 12, 2014.

Werewolves in Their Youth

By Michael Chabon – Open Road Media – December 20, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

This collection of short stories is mostly fluff. Highly engagingly written fluff, but fluff nonetheless.

While Chabon has a reputation of being a little more plot-oriented than most modern capital-L Literary authors, most of the stories here are primarily character studies and little “slice of life” stories, many with a minor epiphany towards the end. Almost without exception, the protagonist harbors some sort of deep-seated resentment towards another character (embittered husbands abound in particular), then something happens and they show some small sign of either moving on or hinting towards a reconciliation with others.

Only a few of the stories stood out for me. One involves a husband trying to cope with his wife's decision to bear her rapist's child—heavy and sensitively rendered—and another is one of Chabon's August Van Zorn series of Lovecraft pastiches. The latter stood out not only because it deviated from the formula used by the preceding stories, but because it was so much fun. Chabon gleefully borrows tropes and names from Lovecraft while still telling a legitimately good and spooky little story about a town with an ominous secret. This is the Chabon I like best, one that doesn't discriminate between high- and low-brow genres, instead mixing the best of both worlds.

Had it been written by any other author, this collection would probably warrant two stars. But even when the plots are so thin and meager, Chabon's voice and characterization are so consistently strong that even his more bare-bones, samey output is still undeniably a pleasure to read. While not recommended as an introduction to Chabon, existing fans should enjoy it.

★★★☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Literature #WerewolvesInTheirYouth #MichaelChabon