The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Most people rave about this book - but I'm not one of them. I struggled to halfway and gave up. Chabon is wildly creative, very imaginative, writes extremely well, paints a vivid picture of New York, has a sense of humour, but it was all too much for me. I felt like a goose being stuffed for Foie Gras!

The tapestry was just too crowded, the themes too numerous, the language too verbose – the sentences go on and on, twisting and turning, sometimes for half a page. The amount of detail in the story was absurd – so many tiny details are included, most of which are absolutely irrelevant. It was just hard work reading the book – and not worth the effort. I didn’t care enough about the two boys to keep going.

Just too rich for my show more palate. I prefer a more pared down, succint, understated style. show less

I feel like I've just come out of one of those 3 hour movies like Oppenheimer except this one lasted 12 hours instead.

It is so full of detail that I feel full up, like I've eaten 3 volumes of the Britannica with a knife and fork.

Yes, I liked it, if that is the correct context to use that word "liked'.

It feels like saying I liked The Industrial Revolution or I liked the Stone Age.

You don't read this book, you consume it as it consumes you, when you meet in the middle it smiles at you. lifts its hat and moves on. But you notice that the smile is warm and human, you feel momentarily lifted up and you move on too but with a lighter step.

Although I resisted when my sister thrust this on me several years ago (something about the cover put me off), I am horrified now to think I might have missed this marvelous book. It is one of my all-time favorites, a tale of New York in its heyday just before WWII and beyond. It begins in Prague and follows a young man who escapes the Holocaust to join his cousin in the NYC, where they create a comic book hero called The Escapist – part Houdini, part Superman and part the deepest personal fantasies of its two creators. This is very much an historical novel, but its fictional characters are so finely drawn that they insisted on following me home and have been living with me ever since. Rereading the book recently was like a reunion show more with beloved friends, and I enjoyed the novel even more the second time through.

Alas, I have found that it is not for everyone, but this Pulitzer Prize winner and bestseller has certainly won a lot of hearts, and will win yours if you have any interest in art, film, WWII, New York City, comic books or brilliant literary writing. show less

I have to admit I came to this book from an odd recommendation... I was watching an interview with an actor I follow, they asked him if he had a blank check what would he make a movie of, he said this book. As he is a highly intelligent actor, I became curious, what was in this book that could make that good of a movie?

There are minor spoilers below:
Well, wow. Mr. Chabon didn't set himself a small task with this book at all. To tell the story of a young man who'd lost everything to the Nazi Occupation, because he was a Jew. And the story of the birth of Super hero comics and how they grew and became popular before and during the war... OH yes, and how about throw in to tell the story of what it's like to be a homosexual man during the show more 40's trying to come to grips with who you are...

This book has almost *too* much going on, but somehow you never lose track of the humanity of the people within it. They are all so very, very real. Completely fleshed out. Somehow, even the "Escapist" character that is created for the comics by the two cousins is very real--despite being a creation of the author's creations.

A very excellent and thought provoking book. show less

I can't even begin to truly express the joy and remorse this brought to me. Not only is it superbly written with (mostly) careful attention to historical accuracy, but it's liberally sprinkled with surprise cameos and references from several forms of art. (I mean, Salvador Dali? WTF? lol) Even beyond that, it's a very touching story about two men who sought to build something greater than themselves out of the bedlam that is life (and war). It's at times heart-breaking, but somehow manages to tr...more I can't even begin to truly express the joy and remorse this brought to me. Not only is it superbly written with (mostly) careful attention to historical accuracy, but it's liberally sprinkled with surprise cameos and references from show more several forms of art. (I mean, Salvador Dali? WTF? lol) Even beyond that, it's a very touching story about two men who sought to build something greater than themselves out of the bedlam that is life (and war). It's at times heart-breaking, but somehow manages to transcend that sorrow with insights on the human condition and man's ambition to create. show less

This Pulitzer-prize winning novel, follows two Jewish cousins, living in New York City during the Golden Age of comic books, circa 1939. Together they form Empire Comics, featuring The Escapist, a Nazi-fighting superhero, which becomes a huge hit. It also follows their complicated relationships and the rising tensions of war. I loved the writing, story-telling and the finely-drawn characters. A worthy winner.

I'm a bit embarrassed that it took me so long to read this. The trade paperback was too heavy to carry around and there were other books to read, and now it's been a lot of years and the pages are starting to yellow at the edges. When I finally sat down to read it, I couldn't put it down. There's a reason it won the Pulitzer Prize: It's brilliant.

Clay is Sammy Klayman, a Jewish teen in Brooklyn, dreaming of a career in comic books. The year is 1939 and the success of National's new superhero, Superman, has other publishers looking for their own superheroes. Sammy can write, but his art hovers around ordinary. Enter his newly arrived cousin Josef Kavalier, from Prague. Joe has studied magic and illusion and is obsessed with bringing his show more parents and younger brother to safety in the US. Joe is also a brilliant artist and together, they create The Escapist, which they present to Sammy's boss at a novelty company. Suddenly, the novelty company is in the comic book business.

Though successful, the cousins make a tiny fraction of the money their comic book creations earn for their publisher, to whom they'd sold their rights for a pittance. Chabon's prose seems effortless as he takes us through hope and disappointment, telling the coming-of-age story of these two cousins against the backdrop of World War II and the Holocaust, as well as an exploration of popular culture and mid-20th Century New York City. Chabon did his research and I had to look up a number of characters to see if they were/had been real or not. This is a long book I didn't want to end. I love Sammy and Joe and Rosa, the woman Joe fell in love with. Thanks to Chabon's narrative voice, I quickly became emotionally invested in their lives and as I closed the book on the last page, I wanted to know what came next. That's the best compliment I can give a book. To anyone who hasn't yet read it, give it a try. show less