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Loading... Gentlemen of the Road (original 2007; edition 2007)by Michael Chabon
Work detailsGentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon (2007)
I didn't read this when it appeared in installments in the Sunday New York Times magazine because I am ambivalent about Michael Chabon--The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay bored me, while The Yiddish Policemans Union delighted me. But I decided to read Gentlemen of the Road because of a short review I encountered somewhere, and I am glad I did--it is fun, a quick read, and very predictable in some ways but surprising in others. I think Chabon has tapped into something by trying to write adventure novels and look forward to seeing what he does next. (  ) nmele | Apr 6, 2013 |  A funny little story (strange AND ha-ha). I kept wondering along the way what we were here for, but the ending made it all worthwhile. (  ) JenneB | Apr 2, 2013 | First published serially in The New York Times, this short, picaresque novel follows an unlikely pair of Jewish mercenaries as they become embroiled in the power struggles of the Khazar. Readers from Christian backgrounds may not appreciate how refreshing it is to read a story in which all the main characters are Jewish and are doing something beyond, well, being Jewish. To have the assumption of characters' Christianity replaced by the assumption of their Judaism is a pleasure, and possibly more delightful than the narrative, which is delightful enough. The literary style is young men's adventure plus GRE-level vocabulary. The book features illustrations in the style of the classical youth adventure tale; a pleasing type style; red headers, numbers, and decorative edging on the first page of each chapter; and a lovely map of the region. ( ) OshoOsho | Mar 30, 2013 | Or: Jews with Swords. ( ) erinster | Mar 29, 2013 | Swashbuckling Jews with swords? Who knew? Not many writers could pull this feat off, but Michael is definitely one of the few. Chabon's wit, memorable characters, and tale spinning come together in a great tale of "Gentlemen of the Road" who defend the weak, champion the intellect, and of course, revere elephants! Just read it! I couldn't put it down. (  ) hemlokgang | Feb 2, 2013 |
 The plot and voice of “Gentlemen of the Road” recall the stories found in 19th-century dime novels and the fantastic escapades invented by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. Gary Gianni’s drawings highlight particularly thrilling moments, and with chapter titles like “On the Observance of the Fourth Commandment Among Horse Thieves” and “On Swimming to the Library at the Heart of the World,” Chabon works old-fashioned niceties into a postmodern pastiche.
 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 Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:55:08 -0500) In the Kingdom of Aran, in the Caucasus Mountains in 950 A.D., two adventurers wander the region, plying their trade as swords for hire, until they become involved in a bloody coup in the medieval Jewish empire of the Khazars as bodyguards for a fugitiveprince.… (more) (summary from another edition) |
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