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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780312282998 
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Awards
Powells.com Staff Pick
The story of two young comic book artists in 1940s New York City, Jewish boys, one of whom fled the German steamroller heading toward his home in Czechoslovakia in a coffin, Chabon's third and best novel is utterly original, a generous fictional addition to the literature of twentieth century New York.
Chabon's agile prose guides readers through the ins and outs of comic book history; his language delights in retelling of original comic book stories about The Escapist and Luna Moth. From Prague to Levittown to Antarctica, the story spills from page to page with unbridled momentum, a war story, a romance, a fictional biography, a historical record of the comic book industry, all at the same time. Dave, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
From Powells.com:
At the heart of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay are Sammy Clay and Joe Kavalier, two cousins who forge a comic book empire in forties New York. What's so extraordinary about Chabon's novel is how much ground he is able to cover. Sprawling across several decades and a handful of continents — from war-torn Prague to New York City, California, and even Antarctica — Chabon's remarkable characters provide a virtual tour through the classic themes of the human experience: good, evil, romance, friendship, longing, despair — the whole package. Like all artists, Chabon accesses the power of the universal through the idiosyncrasies of the particular. And it's fun, to boot. Kavalier and Clay was both a critical success, receiving the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and an international bestseller, and is widely regarded as one of the best novels published in the past ten years. Farley, Powells.com
Publisher Comments:
It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun.
The brilliant writing that has led critics to compare Michael Chabon to John Cheever and Vladimir Nabokov is everywhere apparent in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Chabon writes "like a magical spider, effortlessly spinning out elaborate webs of words that ensnare the reader," wrote Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times about Wonder Boys – and here he has created, in Joe Kavalier, a hero for the century.
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
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uncle_loki, September 15, 2007 (view all comments by uncle_loki)
Both the plot and the character development in this book are fantastic. The scope of the story was much larger that I expected. Chabon explores varius aspects of the characters lives including escape artistry, comic art, jewish mysticism, war politics, sexual orientation, and family. And he does it a coherent, realistic way that makes his characters believable. It's one of those books where you become so attached to the characters that you actually miss them once the book is over.
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dlhallin, January 18, 2007 (view all comments by dlhallin)
This book was great... then I got to the last section (the last 1/3), and it was a huge struggle to force myself to keep reading. It felt like the author felt like he had so many loose ends to tie up, there was little further character development. And that's what made the first 2/3's of the book so page-turning. So, its worth the read, just beware your "pages-per-hour" might diminish greatly toward the end. I just started skipping paragraphs.
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Brett, July 1, 2006 (view all comments by Brett)
Man, this is one of those books that leaves you wanting more. I wanted to know more about the characters of the story, as well as the characters in the story within the story, their superhero creation. This guy uses way too many commas for my taste but that is a small price to pay for a fun and entertaining read. The story also has its very poignant moments even if some of these seemed to be there just for pathos. Then again, read what happened to Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster and dozens of others in real life and maybe they aren't. Definately worth reading once if not re-reading again.
View all 3 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780312282998
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Picador USA
- Location:
- New York
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Historical
- Subject:
- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Subject:
- Humorous Stories
- Subject:
- Artists
- Subject:
- Historical - General
- Subject:
- Young men
- Subject:
- New York
- Subject:
- Cartoonists
- Subject:
- Czech Americans
- Subject:
- Heroes in mass media.
- Subject:
- Bildungsromane.
- Copyright:
- 2001
- Edition Number:
- 1st ed.
- Edition Description:
- First
- Series:
- Bestselling Backlist
- Series Volume:
- 60
- Publication Date:
- August 2001
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 656
- Dimensions:
- 831x550x116 118
