SOURCE: Gilbert, Matthew. “Clever Portraits of the Twenty-Somethings.” Boston Globe (11 April 1991): 70.

In the following mixed review of A Model World, Gilbert contrasts the stories in the first half of the book to those stories in the “The Lost World” section.

Late, late, late adolescence is Michael Chabon's favorite territory, miles after coming-of-age city but just before the dunes of yuppie angst. They are the neither years, when friends mistakenly become lovers, and lovers quickly become embarrassments. Amid the drunken dinner parties and underheated apartments, confused desires run amok. In his first story collection, A Model World, which follows his acclaimed first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), Chabon takes on the terrible 20s with a fine eye and an eloquent tongue. Not to mention a little cheek. It's not a particularly original subject, really; the entire Brat Pack ouevre has depended on fecklessness and hormonal anarchy for its fuel...