Michael Chabon - Telegraph Avenue

Financial Times“Simply too clever to fall for the tropes of pop nostalgia...” Chabon marshals his forces with brio, and there is a palpable sense of self-enjoyment in his dense prose. That makes it easy to forgive some almost comical overwriting...

Scotsman“Reveals a purpose as earnest as that of the great Victorian novelists...” In keeping with a novel full of jazz, the prose glimmers with accidentals, chromatic flats and sharps and syncopated rhythms. Like the wonderfully described clothes of the characters, the prose is “hepcat wide, black with silver flecks”...

The Independent“Chabon's extended verbal riffs are exhilarating...” It's riotous, baggy and brilliant, and the imagery, like a Martian poet's, constantly startles. Chabon is like Archy playing bass in his P-Funk tribute band Bop Gun: "Brother puts his heart into it, you can see that. A lot of heart"...

Washington Post“His tribute to vintage vinyl...” I wish I weren’t so conflicted about recommending this novel. I love its sensitive and comic treatment of parenthood...But “Telegraph Avenue” often feels as though it requires more labor than it deserves...

Los Angeles Times“Marks the author's return with poetic grace...” A vibrant affection for a place, time and culture — 1970s Oakland/Berkeley, blaxploitation films and funky jazz — feeds that energy, but there's more. His sentences spring, bounce, set off sparklers, even when dwelling on mundane details...

Guardian“Skilfully challenges America's attitudes to race...” There is something deeply current about this wise and soulful novel, even as its main characters are so deeply mired in the past...

The New York Times“Rich, comic new novel; a homage to an actual place” There are pathos and suspense in these tribulations, but the world of “Telegraph Avenue” is safe, symmetrical and fundamentally comic. At times the humor arises from Tarantino-esque exchanges among would-be gangsters...

Publishers Weekly“Chabon’s approach to race is surprisingly short on nuance...” All the elements of a socially progressive contemporary novel are in place, but Chabon’s preference for retro quickly wears out its welcome...