This was the second time I’ve read Wonder Boys. I originally enjoyed the very faithful film adaptation, starring Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, and Frances McDormand. It was appealing to see places I recognized around Pittsburgh and hear McDormand tell someone to “be careful, it’s slippy.” As a young man with dreams of being a writer, it was also appealing to see and read about a bunch of writers’ messy lives. How complicated and interesting, right?
My assessment has changed a bit. It’s still a good read, and I still get a kick out of the setting in and around Pittsburgh. But man, the protagonist Grady Tripp and his friend/editor Terry Crabtree are irredeemably unlikable. Tripp is a serial philanderer, struggling to avoid starting an affair with one of his students, and Crabtree is similarly preying on another young student who is clearly struggling with his mental health.
Do protagonists need to be likeable to make a good tale? Of course not. But at a certain point it becomes difficult to read a story from the perspective of someone whose life is a trainwreck of his own making, while the good people around him — whose lives he is disrupting — try in vain to help him.