#10: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

This is Michael Chabon’s first novel and in reading it I could see glimpses as to the writer he would eventually become. I didn’t love the story as much as the critics (someone compared it to Catcher in the Rye!), but it did have its moments. Mysteries follows a young man just out of college for the summer, who finds himself in a tangled web of love and the mafia. The characters are a bit unfathomable as I have never met anyone remotely like the people in the book, but they all have the flaws that seem to be universal to anyone struggling to find an identity. As a whole, I think I just had a hard time connecting to the story.  Plus, the movie looks pretty horrible.