415.751.6983

Michael Chabon: Moonglow

Michael Chabon: Moonglow

(Fiction, 430 pp. 2016)

Masked as a memoir, Chabon’s playful novel unfolds as the final confession of the narrator’s grandfather, whose tongue has been loosened by painkillers and whose memory has been by stirred by the imminence of death. It reflects on the difficulties of love and family, the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American space program, and the importance of stories told and untold.

Resources from the Jewish Community Library

Discussion questions from the Jewish Community Library

Guide to themes in Moonglow and timeline of events from the Jewish Community Library

Moonglow or Gaslight? Thinking about Truth, Fiction, and the Contract between Reader and Writer from the Jewish Community Library

Selected Moonglow Reviews and Articles

●     Chabon, Safran Foer, and the Great American Jewish Novel, by Ari Hoffman, Lehrhaus, Mary 15, 2017

●     The Question of What We Do With Our Past by Mymes Werntz, In All Things, May 5, 2017

●     The True Meaning of Nostalgia by Michael Chabon, The New Yorker, March 25, 2017

●     Bethanne Patrick on Moonglow on the National Book Critics Circle blog, March 1, 2017

●      Review of Moonglowby Marty Roth, Jewish Currents, February 18, 2017

●      Michael Chabon’s Novel ‘Moonglow’ Illuminates as Much as It Obscures by Andrew Esensten, Haaretz, January 24, 2017

●      Michael Chabon, Daniel Gordis Among Big Winners at 2016 National Jewish Book Awards, Haaretz, January 12, 2017

●      Moonglow -– much more than a memoir by Alex Preston, The Guardian, January 10, 2017

●      Michael Chabon’s ‘Moonglow’ explores the ‘unbreakable habit of loss by Steven Whitton, The Anniston Star, January 1, 2017

●      In His Expansive New Novel, Michael Chabon Blurs the Line Between Fact and Fiction by Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, December 7, 2016

●      The Scheherazade of the East Bay by Katy Waldman, Slate, November 30, 2016

●      Wonder Boy Michael Chabon Grows Up in ‘Moonglow’ by Talya Zax, The Forward, November 25, 2016

●      Michael Chabon’s Age of Heroes by Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2016

●      Michael Chabon’s ‘Moonglow’ an ingenious, intoxicating fictional memoir by David Wright, The Seattle Times, November 24, 2016

●      Michael Chabon and his new novel, ‘Moonglow’ by Kate Tuttle, The Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2016

●      Shattering pain by Elaine Margolin, The Jerusalem Post, November 24, 2016

●      Magical family narrative’ drives Michael Chabon’s latest novel by Robert Nagler Miller, The J Weekly, November 23, 2016

●      Rocketing through memory by Diane Cole, The Jewish Week, November 23, 2016

●      Chabon’s ‘Moonglow’ reflects Jewish experience by Kevin Nance, USA Today, November 22, 2016

●      Michael Chabon’sMoonglow‘ is a cunning dance with autobiography by Ron Charles, The Washington Post, November 21, 2016

●      Michael Chabon’s Blurred Lines by Gal Beckerman, The New Republic, November 21, 2016

●      Michael Chabon Sees the Future by Juliet Litman, The Ringer, November 21, 2016

●      In “Moonglow,” Michael Chabon Builds a Scale Model of the Broken World by Cody Dellstraty, The New Yorker, November 20, 2016

●      Michael Chabon Returns With a Searching Family Saga by A.O. Scott, The New York Times, November 20, 2016

●      ‘Moonglow’ by Michael Chabon by Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle, November 18. 2016

●      Michael Chabon’s Apollo Mission to the Past by Adam Kirsch, Tablet, November 16. 2016

●      The Past, the Future, and Michael Chabon’s Moonglow by Erik Henriksen, The Portland Mercury, November 16. 2016

●      In Michael Chabon’s ‘Moonglow,’ Deathbed Stories Illuminate an Era by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, November 14. 2016

Moonglow-related Multimedia

●     Michael Chabon and Richard Price on Plot, Secular Judaism, and Remembering to Make Stuff Upon the New York Public Library Podcast, December 27, 2016 (audio)

●      The Book Chemist reviews Moonglow, December 15, 2016 (video)

●      The Audio Book Club Basks in Moonglow, Slate, December 12, 2016 (audio)

●     Michael Chabon, Politics and Prose Bookstore (Washington DC), December 6, 2016 (video)

●     Michael Chabon and Ann Patchett in conversation, Nashville Public Library, December 4, 2016 (video)

●      A Story Within a Story Within a Story: Michael Chabon on WWII, Politics and More, on the Leonard Lopate Show Book Club, November 30, 2016 (video)

●      Michael Chabon in conversation with Peter Orner at the Jewish Community of San Francisco, November 29, 2016 (video)

●      Michael Chabon blends fact and fiction to create ‘a truth,’ on PBS NewsHour, November 25, 2016 (video)

●      Michael Chabon’s ‘Moonglow’ Shines With Insight And Fantastic Storytelling by Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio, November 23, 2016 (audio)

●      Ron Charles wants to make America read again with ‘Moonglow’ for The Washington Post, November 21, 2016 (video)

●      Michael Chabon in conversation with Leonard Lopate, WNYC, November 21, 2016 (audio)

●      Interview with Michael Chabon for National Public Radio, November 19, 2016 (audio)

●      Inside The New York Times Book Review: Michael Chabon’s ‘Moonglow’ for The New York Times, November 18, 2016 (audio)

●     Michael Chabon shares the photographs that inspired his new novel Moonglowin Entertainment Weekly, September 22, 2016

On Wernher von Braun and Operation Paperclip

●     Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America, C-SPAN, February 17, 2014 (streaming video)

●     Behind the secret plan to bring Nazi scientists to US by Maureen Callahan, New York Post, February 1, 2014

●     Wernher von Braun: History’s most controversial figure? by Amy Shira Teitel, Al-Jazeera, May 3, 2013

●     Remembering Wernher von Braun from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, March 23, 2012

●     The Hunt for Nazi Scientists, WNET, October 2008 (streaming video)

●     Interview with Michael J. Neufeld, author of Von Braun: Dreamer of Space/Engineer of War, Deutsche Welle, November 29, 2007

Favorite versions of the song Moonglow

●     Moonglow performed by Billie Holiday, 1952

●     Moonglow performed by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra, 1941

●     Moonglow performed by the Benny Goodman Quartet, 1936

●     Moonglow performed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1934

●     Moonglow performed by Ethel Waters, 1934

●     Moonglow performed by Joe Venuti and his Orchestra, 1933 (first recording of the song)

DONATE