#17 in Contemporary fiction
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
- 306
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” is a lyrical coming-of-age novel about sexual discovery and its uncertainties in early-1980s Pittsburgh. Chabon’s sentences are the main pleasure, and some readers are carried back to the intensity of their own student years. Others find the narrator, Art Bechstein, too passive and self-pitying to warm to. It suits those who value style above story.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a 1988 novel by American author Michael Chabon. It is a coming-of-age tale set during the early 1980s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 79 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 35% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Contemporary fiction average of 7.7. That is how 7.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.2 | 5 | 6% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 74 | 94% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Mysteries of Pittsburgh?
It has 306 pages — shorter than 60% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.2 and 8.2, closest to this book.
