SOURCE: Review of Werewolves in Their Youth, by Michael Chabon. Publishers Weekly (23 November 1998): 57.

In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, the reviewer praises Chabon's verbal wit, dark ironies, and sympathetic, three-dimensional characters.

Applying his ironic talents to even darker material than in previous outings, Chabon [in Werewolves in Their Youth] has produced a winning collection of nine stories. Failed marriages haunt almost all the protagonists; personal disasters, depressive malaise and sexual violence are recurring themes. In “House Hunting,” a realtor is more intent on stealing objects from a house than on showing it to his clients, a troubled young couple. His bizarre incompetence increases the tension between them, finally driving them into one another's arms. A young man flees town in “Mrs. Box,” hoping to leave the twin disasters of his marriage and his business behind. He stops to visit his wife's senile grandmother and suddenly...