The enthralling debut from bestselling novelist Michael Chabon is a penetrating narrative of complex friendships, father-son conflicts, and the awakening of a young man's sexual identity. Chabon masterfully renders the funny, tender, and captivating first-person narrative of Art Bechstein, whose confusion and heartache echo the tones of literary forebears like The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield and The Great Gatsby's Nick Carraway. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh incontrovertibly established Chabon as a powerful force in contemporary fiction, even before his PulitzerPrize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay set the literary world spinning. An unforgettable story of coming of age in America, it is also an essential milestone in the movement of American fiction, from a novelist who has become one of the most important and enduring voices of this generation.

"Inspired by the true-life events of Antje Paarlberg, So Big is a Pulitzer Prize award-winning drama that depicts the life of Selina Peake de Jong as she navigates the challenges of turn-of-the-century Chicago, Illinois. Selina, a schoolteacher, is determined to inspire her students to pursue their dreams, even if they are unconventional. When she marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus and welcomes a baby boy named Dirk into their family, she nicknames him “So Big.” --Amazon.