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Loading... Gentlemen of the Roadby Michael Chabon
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Probably my least favourite Chabon book so far. Not because of the genre, or the plot, but because the format made the story unfairly rushed and superficial. (  )jorgearanda | Jun 8, 2009 |   A quick, fun and easy read despite frequent trips to the dictionary. Don't skip over the afterword. It gives an interesting insight into the writing of the book. (  )msl521 | May 30, 2009 | This is a short adventure novel set at the time of the Khazar Empire, and the two main characters are Zelikman, a Jew who is described as skinny, pale, blonde, and dressed all in black, and Amram, an African of opposite stature. The two men have a strong bond and make their living by their wits. They are intriguing characters, but they are never fully developed. I would have enjoyed knowing more about the history of this friendship. Anyway, the two of them wind up getting involved in an adventure in which the stakes are much higher than usual, a very serious affair in which they guard and protect an endangered prince. This novel may be short, but it's not a quick read; I found it to be slow-moving and bogged down with historical references that made the plot seem unnecessarily complicated. There is some fun humor, though I'm not sure I got all of it, and Chabon always works his magic with great phrases, but I think his longer novels may be more to my liking. Chabon has invented some wonderful personalities in his books, but Zelikman and Amram are pretty much stock characters, and this adventure lacks intensity. Oh, well. Can't love them all, I guess, but I do give this one an A for being unique. actonbell | May 28, 2009 | This is the first book I have read by Michael Chabon though I have 2 others in my library and on my list to read. I pulled the other books out and was delighted to discover that I have the first edition of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and a signed first of The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Gentlemen of the Road was a charming and entertaining read and is aptly and simply called a tale of adventure. Think about a cross between the Three Musketeers and Salmon Rushdie's the Enchantress of Florence but in a much shortened and readable novella. The story does drag a bit from time to time but keep reading. This is a good story and has a great ending. The illustrations were a lovely touch and indeed the whole format of the book is so attractive with the names of the chapters set out and the type face is perfect. I am a collector and I love the art of a pretty book, regardless of value. The illustrations enhance the enjoyment of the story by providing pictures of the characters so that you can see them in your mind as they fight and run from one tight spot to another. This is particularly enjoyable with an historical adventure story and is a pleasure which we should not give over entirely to children. These illustrations by Gary Gianni are brilliant and art and literature combine to deliver the reading experince. Many books written by the likes of Charles Dickens, Daniel Deronda, and Wilke Collins had sketches or line drawings in them but it is not very common now with adult literature. Perhaps that should change. (  )bhowell | Feb 28, 2009 | scifi_nut | Feb 20, 2009 | 0.323 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345501748, Hardcover)Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances. None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:54 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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