Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
by Michael Chabon
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael ChabonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-30
ISBN: 0345502078
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
Book Review: Jews, look to your weapons!
Summary: 3 Stars
Politcal correctness not only concerns race but ethnicity as well. I read Chabon's novel "Gentlemen Of The Road" and assumed the author was Jewish but I never was told, not even in other reviews. Does it matter? Certainly it does not change the quality of the writing but I do think it somewhat explains the style of the writing and the exploits of the characters. Chabon admits that his original title of the book struck others to whom he confided the title as an oxymoron and even throughout the book he avoids where possible actual swordfights and slaughter, he merely tells us. Is this because he is Jewish or from ignorance as to how swordfighting was carried out at that time? The time is cast as the mid tenth century, part of the Dark Ages where not much is known about life at that time, little writing exists detailing clothing, furniture, housing, food, etc. the common details of life at that time. Army life was what? How did it travel, what were the logistics, training, pay?
The two main characters are jewish and obtained money by fraudulent means at first, by looting secondarily (looting also means stealing).
Looting is much more rewarding than fraud, and even safer. Once that is pointed out, it is ignored, our characters have plenty of money now. Their fraud starts out the book and through it they are introduced to another character, a son of the country's ruler. Things become a little chaotic here, but the two men wind up as guardians of the son dedicated to seeing him returned to power in his own country. This bond is strong and when they lose contact with Filaq they chase after him, encounter the Viking raiders, pass through raided Muslim towns, reach the capital city of the country and encounter an elephant, learn some new things about Filaq and rearrange the governance of the country although I never knew what the new ruling order was.
The author uses uses many words I did not know, and my dictionary did not carry their meanings, either. I had to guess at the meaning, I don't know how well I understood them but they were not necessary for an understanding of the book. Some of the words were obsolete. some were foreign, but I do not think any were made up by the author. My big complaint about the writing was the lack of connectedness throughout, I think the book was too short and the author should have taken us through all the steps. Instead we got installments, perhaps the fault lay in the fact that it was first presented in chapter form in a newspaper and I assume taken directly from there aand put in book form instead of tidying up in a more straightforward narrative form. Still it was an interesting read despite the mentioned drawbacks.
Summary of Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
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