Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsBizarre. Strange. (Really, Really Strange.) And It's a Must-Read
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016
This is by far THE strangest book I have ever read. And maybe ever will read. The full title (and this is important) is "Moonglow: A Novel." Yes, it's fiction. But wily author Michael Chabon has written it and presented it as a memoir of his (never named) grandfather. Assuming it is based on fact and then embellished, this man led a heck of a life. But we don't even know that much! Is it really a novel that is pretending to be a memoir--or a memoir pretending to be a novel?
The writing has a touch of the genius. The story bounces back and forth in time but always in a way that works and isn't jarring. This grandfather was quite the guy--a stellar engineer who stalked Nazis in World War II, a man who spent time in prison for trying to kill his boss, a man who married a woman who already had a daughter and loved both until the day he died, a man who started and lost his own business(es), and a man who spent the last months of his life falling in love again while hunting a python. You just have to read it to really get it. And it's worth your time to read it--bizarre and strange and really odd though it is.
