Maybe 2.5 stars. The overall impression that Michael Chabon's text gives is that it is trying very very hard to be witty and wry. In this it is reminiscent of Dave Eggers, though at least I could get through The Mysteries of Pitt and certain elements have stayed with me,* whereas A Heartbreaking Work... got summarily tossed aside mid-preface. 
 *most notably the bit at the end that reads like a coda--that I enjoyed enough to return to periodically over the two decades that has elapsed since my first encounter with it.