I have read a number of Chabon's books with enjoyment, while remaining somewhat skeptical of the acclaim he routinely receives. He is certainly at the front ranks of the perpetual skirmish over great American novelist (neck and neck with Franzen!), though it is rarely questioned whether he deserves to be there. Like Franzen, he is clearly a master of prose and of the old fashioned narrative novel, but I find both of them lacking something. This sprawling, energetic, multi-racial, intergenerational novel encompasses a small group of friends and family in and around Berkley and touches on family, love, adolescence, geek culture, record collecting and money, among other things. The record store culture will remind some readers of "High Fidelity." It's ambitious in its scope, but falls somewhat flat in its characterization and thematic nuance. You decide whether a chapter long sentence is virtuosic or just showing off. Obama has a cameo.

The writing in this book is spectacular. It's about race, community, marriage, friendship, politics, family relations and music. It is a remarkable book. Loved, loved, loved it.

"When ex-NFL quarterback Gibson Goode, the fifth richest black man in America, decides to open his newest Dogpile megastore on Telegraph Avenue, Nat and Archy, the owners of Brokeland Records, fear for their business until Gibson's endeavor exposes a decades-old secret history." Fiction A to Z December 2012 newsletter http://www.nextreads.com/Display2.aspx?SID=5acc8fc1-4e91-4ebe-906d-f8fc5e82a8e0&N=580458

H-mmm, this book is just not catching me! I'm such a Chabon fan, though, that i will keep trying!

Wonderful, best novel I've read in a while. Rolls amusingly along, with eloquent asides and sharp observations galore, and then every few dozen pages there's a lovely scene that elevates it to another level.

I liked this book for the most part. It reminded me a bit of Zadie Smith - other than the book having a lot of characters and focusing on 2 families, I can't pinpoint exactly why it reminded me of Zadie Smith, but it did have that feeling. I enjoyed the writing style, other than the occasional page-long sentence. And the story arc was very fun, a bit too coincidental at times, but very good. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into records or well-developed multi-character novels.

A big disappointment. I very much enjoyed several of Chabon's previous novels, but this one is greatly overwritten. All the excess verbiage and unnecessary verbal cleverness clogs the storyline. So much so, that I decided the effort wasn't worth it and stopped reading after about 50 pages.

Wide-ranging and funny, in the best Michael Chabon tradition. Which means full of trivia, bromance, and memorable turns of phrase