Forget Mackenzie
John Phillips raped all of our lives by subjecting us to Kokomo.

I guess I'm kind of confused as to why this book was selected for the club. Chabon has several books that many people are willing to call classics, but most people who read Chabon seem to think this one is not up to par. Was there a feeling that too many people have already read Chabon's best books?

I also thought of Kicking and Screaming several times while reading this, as well as other films about floundering. And also Metropolitan, which someone else has already mentioned.

I think there's been a reminder the week before for every book but this one—or at least I didn't see it a week ago if it went up. Was there a reminder?

I don't think she was quoting, but if so, it still fits, maybe even better.

Search function in upper right corner: key words "wrapped up in books"

mmmmmmm drop.

Having read and enjoyed Kavalier and Clay, I also hoped for more than this from a Chabon novel and found it kind of slight.

Ah, and Cleveland was also Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief and probably others that I'm forgetting.

I think that, filtered through nostalgia as the narrator admits in the ending, it actually makes sense for Cleveland and Phlox to seem more like avatars than real people—the narrator himself viewed them celebrities and icons as much as friends.

Wanting to live big lives
So this book is about young people who transform themselves because they want to live big, important lives. Phlox has undergone many transformations to try and become as she says, a very important part of Pittsburgh. Arthur has transformed from a house cleaner's kid to a guy who hangs out…

Jesus Christ, the Chronic came out in like 1993, didn't it? Just because you were born in the 90s doesn't mean there weren't albums being made before that. When I first heard 3 Feet High and Rising…

Yee-haw?

I was addressing his claim that a black punk rocker can't get a job. It doesn't seem to be true.

I meant "the real" in the play, not the interview.

A few things:
1. This sounds like an interesting play and I think I'd like to see the movie. That whole "the real" thing is such a cliche though, and it doesn't even really mean anything or it could mean 100 different things to 100 different people—it's annoying and I wish they hadn't used it.

Well, the songwriters cited there don't make slurs against the Jews—I mean Byrne's song's not called Jew-Killer. So he's not really comparing apples to apples.

Maybe I'm taking this too literally, but I can think of three black punk rockers in my city—one works at a video store, one at a music store, and one in a pizza place.

"a ponderous, sleepy one-way ride up your own ass. "

As a new fan,
He said infundibular! *swoon*