Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son
Michael Chabon
Harper Perennial
336 pages
I'll be honest...
I'm not a husband. I'm not a father, either. I am, however, a son... 1 out of 3 isn't so bad. I have imagined being both a husband and a father, at times with envy, and other times in defeat. With this book, Michael Chabon gives you random tales about his life being a husband, father, and son. He tells about the trials and tribulations, about the norms of being a parent, about the fear of being a parent, about loving his wife for the first time and everything in between.
If you haven't heard of Michael Chabon, he is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys (which was made into a movie), and a few other novels. He is an author I enjoy, so be warned that if you do not like his novels that you may not like this book, if only for the fact that his writing style is very unique.
Manhood For Amateurs displays Chabon's humor in full force. He details how when he was a child his mother helped him raise money and organize to put on the first comic book convention for his small town, in which only one other boy showed up. He openly details how awkward it can be discussing the dangers of drugs with his children and, wanting to be nothing but honest, has to answer "yes" when they ask him if he had done any drugs when he was younger. About how he moped about after having his heart broken, only to finally cave in to his friends and meet a woman on a blind date, and then to marry her a short while later.
He also tells the reader about how, while he was in line at a grocery store with his two kids, a woman told him what a remarkable husband/father he was to be with his children and grocery shopping. While recalling this Chabon, with great wit and surprising fury, unleashes a silent tirade in his head against this kind stranger. He chuckles, wondering:
I don't know what a woman needs to do to impel a perfect stranger to inform her in the grocery store that she is a really good mom. Perhaps perform an emergency tracheotomy with a Bic pen on her eldest child while simultaneously nursing her infant and buying two weeks' worth of healthy but appealing break-time snacks for the entire cast of Lion King, Jr. In a grocery store, no mother is good or bad; she is just a mother, shopping for her family.
It is this honest evaluation of the "mother/father" role in society that quickly grabbed me to finish the book. It does have a few slow points, but not many. He changes the topic and periods in his life at such a random pace that the reader never knows what is coming next. He also breaks up each memory and insight into short chapters, which helps if you just want to read one more before bed (guarantee you can't stop at just one).
So to be honest...I thought this was a great biography that is not in your normal biographical format. It is one man (forget the fact that he's famous, because he does) talking in a sincere and earnest manner about being a son, a husband and a father. He didn't know he met his future wife until he decided to propose. His palms were sweating profusely when his daughter "asked permission" (told) him that she was going out on a date. He learned how to truly cook only after becoming a father. All of these grueling, sweat-inducing, nerve-shattering stories describing what it's like being a son/father/husband. And you know what? I can't wait.
