Michael Chabon. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Morrow, 1988.

Hemingway once wrote words to the effect that all American literature since 1880 derives from Huckleberry Finn. I might qualify that by saying much of it nowadays derives from F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I confess to being disappointed with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. As a native of that city, I thought there might be some distinctive things about this book. Other than a certain hollow near Schenley Park, this story could have happened just about anywhere in the modern civilized world. Having noted that, the author writes well. Well placed metaphors and allusions entertain us and keep us thinking.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh spins off from This Side of Paradise, a Fitzgerald story about a recent college graduate (still hanging around the school) with girlfriend problems. Because this came out in 1988, narrator Art Bechstein also has boyfriend problems. There are some echoes of The Great Gatsby, too, because Art’s father is a mob accountant. Art’s acquaintance named Cleveland, a former resident of wealthy Fox Chapel, has blown through his substantial inheritance. He is looking for easy work, and thinks Mr. Bechstein will help. Think Meyer Wolfsheim and Jay Gatsby.

That secondary plotline following Cleveland is somewhat interesting if derivative. The main plotline following Art is, sadly, pornographic and not something I can recommend. The Art of Fielding has a similar story line and is much more effective. Like The Great Gatsby, the book’s end tells of a funeral. But unlike that novel, no one in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is paddling against the current. They are all adrift, going with whatever flow they detect. Youth should be made of sterner stuff.