Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue is a 2012 novel by American author Michael Chabon. Set in San Francisco and the north side of Oakland, California, it follows Archy Stallings, Nat Jaffe, and their acquaintances, whose lives become tied together, symbolized by the titular Telegraph Avenue which runs between both cities. The novel’s plot begins with Archy and Nat’s attempt to keep their used vinyl store from going out of business, then branches into several parallel subplots. A “slice of life” novel, Telegraph Avenue’s focal point is its unique characterizations of the inhabitants of the two neighboring cities. The novel incorporates early-2000s current events, including the senatorial campaign of Barack Obama and problems of racism, poverty, and violence in urban areas.

Telegraph Avenue takes place in 2004. When it begins, Archy and Nat are in their twelfth year as co-owners of Brokeland Records in north Oakland. Their friendship is fast and relatively unusual: Nat is Jewish, and Archy is black, and each comes from very different families and systems of privilege (and lack thereof). Their business runs into trouble when Gibson Goode, a famous ex-NFL player now getting his fingers into the business world, seeks out a nearby plot of land to construct the second store in his budding chain superstore called Dogpile Thang. Initially confident that their local councilman, Chandler Flowers, would protect their small business and deny Goode building rights, they are shocked and betrayed when he green lights the project.

Meanwhile, Archy’s wife, Gwen Shanks, and Nat’s wife, Aviva Roth-Jaffe, co-run a midwifery business well down the road called Berkeley Birth Partners. After a birth facilitated by Berkeley Birth Partners goes awry, the mother is taken to intensive care, where her hospital physician makes a racist remark to Gwen. Gwen loses her temper, and the doctor responds by contacting the hospital administration to revoke Aviva and Gwen’s professional relationship to the hospital.



In another plot, Archy’s father, Luther Stallings, lives a sad life apart from his son. Formerly an actor who specialized in the “blaxploitation” genre of films that emerged in the 1970s, which caricatured black individuals, Luther is now retired from movies and estranged from Archy. Having spent the past several years abusing drugs and repeatedly incarcerated, he has been sober and free for the past year. He is in a romantic relationship with Valetta Moore, his former co-star. Luther was once best friends with Chandler Flowers, but their friendship ended abruptly when the two carried out the murder of a drug dealer together. The majority of Luther’s story concerns his attempt to blackmail Chandler into financing his independent film idea.

Yet another plot follows Nat and Aviva’s teenage son, Julius Jaffe. Julius befriends a new kid in town, Titus Joyner, who arrives from Texas following the death of his grandmother. It is eventually discovered that Titus is Archy’s son, though the two do not know each other. After this revelation spreads, Gwen breaks it off with Archy. The novel’s final plotline concerns Archy’s organizing effort for Barack Obama’s campaign to become a U.S. Senator representing Illinois. While planning a fundraiser, Archy hears that his friend and mentor, Cochise Jones, has passed away. He steps in and performs Jones’s speaking role at the ceremony. Obama greatly enjoys the performance and mentions it to Gwen. Gwen, inspired in her own way by Obama’s appreciation of the display of dedication and independence, decides to leave Archy. Jones’s funeral takes place at Brokeland Records. A raucous party celebrates his life, as the characters look toward their strange and hopeful futures.