Failure of imagination

摘要

Readers of Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer prize-winning American writer, will be familiar with the intricate plotting of his novels. "Telegraph Avenue", his seventh, tries to weave the stories of nearly a dozen different characters into a cogent narrative. Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe own a failing record shop; their wives, Gwen and Aviva, are midwives who specialise in home births. The main character of the book, however, is the "Telegraph Avenue" of the title, a four and a half mile (7km) street bordering Oakland and Berkeley, and the point at which Mr Chabon sees the intersection of black and white Californian society.