Pleased as Punch

I like Grady Tripp so far. I'm not sure that I'd want to hang out with him, or even be his student, but to read about in a book? I like him. Out of all the characters we've encountered thus far in our reading, I think he's actually the most realistic. A little sad, and we happen to be catching him during a particularly crazy weekend, but I buy it.

I think a lot of the sense of reality I'm getting from the novel is the dialogue. Chabon has really nailed the way people talk, and not just Grady. Though I could take or leave Hannah, I find her to be totally believable, if a bit forgettable, and I love that Sarah is big. The characters all have their quirks, but there's something about the writing that makes me belief in a baseball fanatic department chair, a blind spaz of dog, the antics of WordFest, etc. I totally, totally buy it, even if I can't picture my professors popping pills (separate issue).

I'm also finding I have a lot of empathy for these far-from-perfect charters, that, if not concerned, I am a least interested in seeing how Grady maneuvers Emily leaving him and Sarah's pregnancy, what happens with Jame Leer (he's a strange one, alright), what the heck is going on with Crabtree, etc. Even if these characters aren't my friends, I want to know what is to become of them. And for the first time in this class, I have the great feeling of wanting to know what happens next and not knowing what will. Some stuff I see: James's lying, Grady going to Passover, etc, but there's a lot I really don't. It doesn't feel like a book sometimes because there isn't the same sense of inevitability that we saw in the other books.

Weirdly, I am picturing the same physical character for Grady as I did for John. Problematic, since Grady is supposed to be taller, a little overweight, and not nearly as clean cut. Maybe that's why I like him better.

I'm also loving the Pittsburgh references. Often so cheesy, in the book, they're working for me.

Whatever it is exactly, I can't put it down.