SOURCE: Henderson, David W. Review of A Model World, by Michael Chabon. Library Journal 116, no. 3 (15 February 1991): 219.

In the following review of A Model World, Henderson asserts that Chabon is one of the best young American fiction writers today.

This collection of 11 stories [A Model World] by the author of the well-received Mysteries of Pittsburgh should help cement Chabon's status as one of the best of America's young fiction writers. Each of the stories concerns an individual's adaptation to a changed relationship, be it with wife (or ex-wife), friend, lover, or parent. Particularly evocative are the five final stories which fall under the rubric “The Lost World.” They deal with a boy's response to his parents' divorce and their subsequent attempts to establish new partnerships. Chabon writes with intelligence, humor, and an obvious love of language. In the first story's marvelous opening paragraph, the protagonist goes from performing his...