| | |  | Books | Home » » The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers' Award, New York Library Book Award Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, Los Angeles Times Book AwardJoe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City.His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America - the comic book.Drawing on their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men.With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9780312282998
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Michael Chabon | | Paperback:
| 656 pages | | Publisher:
| Picador | | Publication Date:
| August 25, 2001 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0312282990 | | Package Length:
| 8.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.3 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 627 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 BrilliantOct 18, 2009
I have only this to say. I finished the book last week, and I have started it again.
I genuinely like Michael Chabon, although I admit I do not dash off to the bookshop when he has a new book in the stacks. But in "Kavalier & Clay," he has achieved something special, weaving traditional, well-worn themes like love and loss, family, faith, human dignity, and artistic vision and desire into an overall compelling tale with familiar yet delicately nuanced characters. I found myself backtracking a great deal, not because I was lost or confused, but because I found it joyful to find those "small connections" he makes throughout the book which make the various subplots as compelling as the main story. It's a beguiling puzzle-box of a book. I wish to say more, but I am afraid of "spoiling" the pleasure of it! And it's all set in locales that, through Chabon's descriptive power, are so familiar but belonging to another time, yet made accessible to a modern reader. I could "feel" the New York of the 1930's, the grimy comic book sweatshops, the clothing and speech patterns of the day. I was amazed, even at points, enthralled.
I note that some reviewers complain about the language, the "purple prose," the extensive vocabulary deployed. I do not understand these criticisms. While I too thoroughly enjoy writers like Hemingway and admire how he and his generation could convey so much by saying so little, I do not see how he, just to name one example, became the "exemplar of all that's holy" in American writing. And that of itself is not a criticism, just an observation. To play the apologist, I suppose I would say that sometimes lavish prose is needed to narrate a lavish backdrop and equally lavish personalities. A "Hemingway-esque" style would just not have fit this particular bill, in my personal opinion. And yes, this can be intimidating. But, I do not think this is literary "sin." I found the layered complexity refreshing and wonderful. And, in this book, Chabon actually subtley changes his style depending on what he is writing about, using language he finds fit to illuminate a given scene. This, to me, is the mark of a master storyteller.
But, I did notice that one negative reviewer, in comparing this book to "Wonder Boys," said, in so many words, "Does Michael Chabon have to have a gay writer in all of his books?" I did have to laugh out loud at that delightfully pithy observation. And I agree that perhaps he has mined that vein enough, although I do not find Chabon's characters of any persuasion to ever be formulaic, stereoyped, or - worst of all - dull. This is not a writer who has a stable of "stock" characters.
It's a masterful work from a very, very talented and erudite man. I recommend it with great enthusiasm.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Mrs.A's favorite studentOct 02, 2009
The "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" is a fantastic novel. The chemistry between two cousins who come from different parts of the world is fantastic. Michael Chabon is a very accomplished author, who's diction is portrayed in every perfectly constructed sentence.
the amazing adventures of kavalier and clayOct 01, 2009
I read this book and loved it. A history of comics in NYC and jewish life in europe and NYC the late 30's through the 40's. Great book.I bought this book for a Jewish friend. I know he will love it.
Not a Booker Winning Style of NovelSep 27, 2009
Kavalier and Clay is not a deep, moving, ponderous novel that wins Booker prizes. It is also not a typical Pulitzer Prize winner. It's difficult to explain what it is in some ways. Probably the best thing I can compare it to is a Quentin Tarantino film. I can picture Tarantino directing the film version of Kavalier and Clay.
The novel has at it's heart the comic book boom of the 1940s. Surrounding this is a plot that reads like a very well written comic.
It starts in Prague in the late 30s when a young Jewish man named Josef Kavalier trains to become an escape artist in the tradition of Harry Houdini. Magic and escape are major themes throughout the book. It follows his escape from Prague and arrival in New York. Ultimately he teams up with his cousin Sammy to create many successful comics where the superheroes are particularly hard on Hitler and the Nazis. The emergence of the comic as a popular form is told lovingly and in great detail.
There are many dimensions to the novel as it deals with WWII, loss of family, censorship, love, homosexuality in the 40s and 50s, radio, Antarctica, father son relationships, revenge and redemption.
It's not necessarily the deepest novel ever but it's exciting, fast moving and enjoyable. The author captured the atmosphere of the time perfectly. I loved it!
Like watching an old movieSep 22, 2009
I didn't live in the thirty's or forty's, but I did watch a lot of movies from that time. Whether intentional or not, Chabon did a wonderful job of capturing the atmosphere and dialog of those old movies. He very creatively blurred reality and his imaginary world in a way that was truly entertaining. Nazis, Jewish folklore, World War II, homosexuality, comic books, old time radio, magicians, the Empire State Building -- definitely an amazing adventure.
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