Let me get this out of the way, first: Michael Chabon is a really good writer. At times, Moonglow feels almost like reading a brilliant New England gothic–meets–Catch-22 novel. Almost.
The problem is there is no suspense or tension in the book. It just keeps going. It’s not a bad story; there’s just nothing that draws you back to the book to keep going. That’s why it took me well over a month to read. A lot of stuff happens that is perhaps a bit more interesting than the average kind of stuff that happens to everyone, everywhere, all the time.
It’s a really good writer filling a book with really good writing that somehow doesn’t feel all that compelling to read.