Michael Chabon - Telegraph Avenue

“I hope you make it,” he said to Mr. Nostalgia, whoever the dude might be. “Truly, bro, I really hope you do.”

He eased his foot off the brake, thinking as they rolled away that, after all, perhaps one day a few years from now, he might have recovered enough to feel like he was ready to stop in. Say hi, drop a little lore and history on the man, tell him all about Angelo’s, and Spencer’s, and the Brokeland Years. See how they put the world together, next time around.

Berkeley, California

September 30, 2011

The following creditors, progenitors, enablers, verifiers, sustainers, readers, and supporters of this book are hereby indemnified against blame for its flaws:

The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire; Dagmar and Ray Dolby; Steven Barclay and Garth Bixler; Philip Pavel and the staff of the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, California; the Headlands Institute, Sausalito, California; the Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes Station, California;

Zak Borovay ( Music ); Kent Randolph ( Vinyl ); Beah Haber and Nancy Bardacke ( Midwifery ); Adam Savage ( Dirigible Liberation );

Ta-Nehisi Coates; Daniel Mendelsohn; Dave Eggers;

Jennifer Barth; Mary Evans; Amy Cray; David and Arla Manson; Jonathan Burnham; Michael McKenzie; Howie Sanders; David Colden; Scott Rudin; Sophie, Zeke ( MTO !), Ida-Rose, and Abraham Chabon;

Wax Poetics magazine, Andre Torres, Editor-in-Chief; Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide , Josiah Howard; Women of Blaxploitation , Yvonne D. Sims; Will You Die with Me?: My Life and the Black Panther Party , Flores Alexander Forbes; The Death of Rhythm and Blues , Nelson George;

Blaxploitation.com ( www.blaxploitation.com); Oakland Geology ( http://oaklandgeology.wordpress.com/); Funky16Corners ( http://funky16corners.lunarpages.net/); Birth Stories Diaries ( www.birthdiaries.com); and James Rouse, dreamer of the original Brokeland.

This novel was written using Scrivener on Macintosh computers.

MICHAEL CHABON is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh , Wonder Boys , The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , Summerland (a novel for children), The Final Solution , The Yiddish Policemen’s Union , and Gentlemen of the Road ; as well as the short story collections A Model World and Werewolves in Their Youth ; and the essay collections Maps and Legends and Manhood for Amateurs . He is the Chairman of the Board of the MacDowell Colony. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.

michaelchabon.com

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Summerland

The Final Solution

Manhood for Amateurs

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

A Model World and Other Stories

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Werewolves in Their Youth

Gentlemen of the Road

Maps and Legends

Wonder Boys

“Portrait (He Knew)”. Words and Music by Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh. ©1977 (Renewed 2005) EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC. and DON KIRSHNER MUSIC. All Rights Controlled and Administered by EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used By Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

Cover design by Milan Bozic

Cover photograph © by Shutterstock

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

TELEGRAPH AVENUE. Copyright © 2012 by Michael Chabon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012

ISBN: 9780062124609

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chabon, Michael.

Telegraph Avenue : a novel / Michael Chabon.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-06-149334-8 (Hardcover) 1. Oakland (Calif.)—Fiction. 2. Berkeley (Calif.)—Fiction. 3. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

PS3553.H15T45 2012

813’.54—dc23

2012001355

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