A Model World

“A Model World and Other Stories” is a glimpse into the literary world to come for Michael Chabon and his readers.

The collection publishes Chabon short stories from the late 1980s and 1990. They reveal the inventiveness, flair, quirky humor and characterizations that would enliven his later novels such as “Wonder Boys,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union,” etc. 

“A Model World” has stories about a young man looking for love at his cousin’s wedding reception though all along love may have been closer than he thought; a man and woman stumble across each other after the bitter dissolution of a combined personal relationship and business partnership; two friends face a troubling evening where one hopes a faculty member doesn’t discover he plagiarized his thesis that afternoon and the other is accused of having an affair with the faculty member’s wife; a couple married to fool the INS so she can stay in the U.S. continue their icy relationship in France; etc.

Like most short story collections, some stories will likely thrill readers; others will leave them cold. But forgiving the cliched chocolate box analogy, readers will learn if they keep mashing their fingers into the stories they will find more caramels – more favorites – than coconut mango duds.

But that’s only the first half of the book. The second half features a series of coming-of-age short stories revolving around a boy whose parents divorce. Each story can stand on its own in this half but they make a great sequential read.

“A Model World” is early stuff from a master writer. A writer who has argued via interview, essay and examples of books that genre shouldn’t define good writing. Good writing can exist in any kind of story.

Good writing definitely lives and thrives in Chabon’s short stories.