Chabon’s first novel is
an exception to the rule
Courtesy of William Morrow and Co.
By William Rudolph
Stalf Reviewer
Michael Chabon, “The Mysteries
of Pittsburgh” (William Morrow
I and Co.)
First novels always have to over
come a tricky obstacle. They must
not only introduce an author to the
world,^ but also establish the
author’s first work as something
apart from the other masses of
books littering the store display.
Debut novels usually come across
as an odd mixture of roughness and
substance while the author tries to
Find his or her voice.
Michael Chabon’s first novel,
“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”
(Morrow, $16.95), is the exception
to the rule. From the moment the
novel opens, Chabon, a recent
graduate of the universities of Pitts
burgh and California at Irvine,
catches the reader in a consistently
smooth web of words that seem
ingly flows on and on while control
ling all unnecessary details.
Chabon’s narrator is Art Bcch
stein, just-graduated economics
major at the University of Pitts
burgh and son of an educated mob
ster. He’s at the end of both his
undergraduate career and a year
long affair with his eccentric girl
See MYSTERIES on 10
Veteran cast can't save dull plot
BAD DREAMS from Page 8
intense performance like his past
work in “Re-Animator” as Dr. Alex
Karman, a young shrink with a heart
that belongs to Cynthia. The mem
bers of the tnerapy group are also
great: E.G. Daily (Pee Wee’s girl
friend in “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”
and the blonde bimbo from “Valley
Girl”) plays Lana, the noncommuni
‘Bad Dreams’
winds up coming
across as more of
a cross between
‘Re-Animator’ and
‘Trapper John,
M.D.’
A£i<M INfNHHi MMBM8
cative nutcase who shouldn’t have
gone swimming on a full stomach.
Then there’s Miriam (Susan Ruttan,
“L.A. Law”), a chain-smoking for
mer tabloid writer; Ed (Louis Giam
balvo, last seen as Karen’s kidnapper
on “Knots Landing”), a homy idiot;
Connie (Susan Barnes), Ed’s fan and
main squeeze; and Ralph (Dean
i
Cameron, Spicoli from TV’s “Fast
Times at Ridgemont High” rip-off), a
self-destructive punker who makes a
little hole in his stomach to let all the
heavy stuff out. Damita Jo Freeman
steals the show as Gilda, a freaked-out
space case who follows Cynthia
around droning, “You are not of this
world.”
The script throws in a few classi
cally awful lines. The best of the
bunch is police detective Sy
Richardson (from the “Repo Man”
soundtrack) questioning Cynthia’s
part in the Unity Fields suicide pact:
“Hellhe snorts, “Maybe she poured
the gasoline on the babies’ heads!”
While it doesn’t have any classic
lines on the same par as “ Who’s going
to believe a talking head? Get a job in
a sideshow” from “Re-Animator” or
“Tina! Bring me the axe!” from
“Mommie Dearest,” “Bad Dreams”
has just enough to seem destined for
immortality, big grosses and legions
of fans on videocassette.
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