Werewolves in Their Youth

Stories

by Michael Chabon

This second collection includes stories of people stunned to find themselves facing an unpleasant reality beyond what they'd previously imagined, as when an archaeologist finds more than he'd bargained for on a dig in a small city. In another story, a couple faces a gut-wrenching dilemma when, after going childless for years, the wife becomes pregnant after being raped. The title story explores the sad, addled, supremely comic world of two troubled pre-teenage boys. A New York Times Notable Book in 1999.

Editions of Werewolves in Their Youth

	ISBN 9780312254384	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Picador USA	Date 2000	Price $2.20	Very Good
	ISBN 9780679415879	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher Random House Inc	Date 1999	Price $2.86	Used - Good

Publisher Notes

In this superb book by Michael Chabon, called by Jonathan Yardley "the young star of American letters," the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us nine stunning short stories. Beautifully crafted, powerful in its impact, Werewolves in Their Youth takes us into the hearts and lives of young people and people in midlife caught at emotional moments of turning point and change. Brilliant, frightening, funny, these stories are shot through with Chabon's unique vision and uncanny understanding of our mysteries and nightmares, hilarity and pain. In the opening story, "Werewolves in Their Youth," a boy attempts to help a troubled classmate, only to uncover the even more perplexing troubles of the adults around them. In "House Hunting," a young couple mend their strained relationship during an appointment with a strange real estate broker. In the collection's chilling final story, "In the Black Mill," a student archaeologist travels to a small American city to conduct his fieldwork, and finds himself investigating the mysterious fates of the inhabitants. The brilliance of an astonishing American talent is everywhere apparent in Werewolves in Their Youth.

Media Reviews

"[U]nlike Fitzgerald, Chabon is too fond of his characters to send them hurtling into the abyss. He always gives them one last chance to make good. In some cases..., this affection makes for his loveliest stories; in others..., it crosses the line into sentimentality. It also creates a certain sameness of rhythm that you wish Chabon would try harder to break. Still, without their author's generosity of spirit and his sense of humor, these stories would lose a considerable part of their charm. And charm is an undervalued quality these days, in fiction as in life."

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