The Wonder Boys is his second novel; written after he'd wasted several years (and spent a big advance) writing a bloated opus that he finally abandoned. One day he sat down and started The Wonder Boys and found he could focus and get somewhere again. Improbably, The Wonder Boys is the story of a semi-famous author who can't finish a bloated novel for which he's been paid a large advance.
As someone who writes, I identify with his inability to write what he's supposed to write when he's supposed to write it. So I was fascinated by this tale with such a big true-life thread. It's the old "when life gives you lemons"...
The story is pretty dark and the characters are, for the most part, not terribly appealing. But the plot carried me along and made me not really care that most of the people were self-involved jerks. Chabon has the ability to make me care about people I'd never care about in real life, and I find that a phenomenal gift.
The plot has some twists and turns that I won't give away. Suffice to say that he tells a slightly odd but compelling tale about a writer and his friend/agent. He skewers literary types, academics, novelists and their sycophants and still manages to be tender at times. I haven't read the novel for which he won the Pulitzer since I'm a delayed gratification kinda girl. But I'm sure I'll give in before too long.
