Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
by Michael Chabon
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Book Reviews of Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
Book Review: Jews with swords - a reimagined past where Jews were slick and violent
Summary: 5 Stars
Gentlemen of the Road is the bound version of the tale originally titled Jews with Swords that Michael Chabon originally had serialized in the New Yorker. Chabon is a brilliant writer and this is on full display here, the narrative and pacing are excellent. Chabon conjurs an exotic vanished central Asian medieval word into fully detailed life with very efficient few brushstrokes. The narrative is classic Chabon - a buddy story of mismatched but complementary Jewish men. But where classic Chabon gives you human weakness to temper his compelling character's strengths, there's not much weakness on display here. Zelikman and Amram have mad combat skills and an air of inevitable success that takes this narrative out of Don Quixote territory (parallels with which this story initially suggest) and put it more in the family of the Three Musketeers - excellent swashbuckling fun but lacking that bit of human vulnerability that infuses the narrative with the verisimilitude that make for truly great literature (like many of Chabon's other books - such as Kavalier and Clay, or Wonder Boys).
Don't get me wrong - this is a compulsive page turner. Chabon's ability to effortlessly summon forth the vanished world of the Jewish Khazar empire and to flesh out his characters is amazing. Zelikman is like Batman - black clad and haunted by personal loss. He is nuanced - a healer as well as a brilliant killer. Amram is wonderful too - a giant Ethiopian Jew with a huge axe - brilliant with strategy and war experience and fleshed out with his own tragic past. These are wonderful and colorful characters - but they feel like superheroes. I couldn't help get the feeling that Chabon was indulging in a redemptive dream of a violent Jewish past - like Bogdanovitch's character on the Sopranos. When Dr. Melfi complains about how the mob has trashed the Italian-American reputation, Bogdanovitch isn't listening to her complaint. He gets misty eyed and remembers ancestors who rode with Meyer Lansky. "Those were some tough Jews". Having murderous swindlers in the family tree is problematic for Melfi because Italian-Americans would like to transcend that reputation. Jews are trying to transcend the reputation of being eternal victims - "Thus Spake Zarathustra"'s authors of "Slave Morality". Jews have been so beat up and victimized - both by the pogrom mobs of history and the big Anglo kids in their American schoolyard childhoods that it's natural for modern Jews to pine for some fantasy payback in the form of combat-capable Jews. Of course the reality is that there is plenty of history of Jews dishing it out, from Joshua in the Bible, Max Baer (heavyweight boxing champ in the 30s), to the defeats delivered by the Israeli army to Egypt and Syria in the 6 day and Yom Kippur wars (not to mention the often terrible oppression of the Palestinians). As Chabon notes in his afterward - "Jews with Swords" sounds funny because we think of Jews as Woody Allen - not the cold professional killer my old friend Alon became after two tours with the IDF (Israel Defense Force) as a commando.
So I'm giving this 4.5 stars (although I physically gave it 5 to make up for the many poor reviews here). I dock it .5 points for indulging in the fantasy of comic book infallible tough characters. It's a SUPER fun read however - and I recommend it to everyone. The high flying adventure narrative is reminiscent of an Errol Flynn movie, a Dumas novel, and "the Matrix" all at the same time. This is serious, yet light hearted, fun.
Why are there so many poor reviews? To read them it's that Chabon writes too well. "He uses unfamiliar words and long sentences?" How do you invoke a realistic exotic locale without using some of those? Chabon uses language to evoke time and place. Is it artifice? Sure - what's the problem? It's art. "The narrative is disjointed?" Chabon's chapters in every book are always stand alone pieces. Part of the brilliance is how he knits them and makes them reference each other and drop and pick up threads. He does the same thing in Kavalier and Clay and many folks complain about it there. It just doesn't bother me one bit. This novel is a bit shorter and the chapters more distinct than the others - signs of it's past as a serialized story for a magazine. It's just a good story despite the brevity - get over it. "He doesn't give enough background about the exotic world of Khazars?" Sometimes a novel can be a jumping off point for your own historical inquiry. I remember having that same experience reading War and Peace and Shogun - and I didn't bellyache about the author having the temerity to dump me in unfamiliar historical terrain. OK if that's stopper for you - go ahead, buy the book anyway, and I'll give you the context right here. The king of the Khazars (a middle-Asian land roughly where Kazakhstan is now - about a thousand years ago) wants to convert his kingdom from paganism and summons a Rabbi and a Priest and an Imam. The Christian and the Moslem both claim legitimacy by noting their faith's ancestry from Abraham. The Rabbi says his is the religion of Abraham. The king cuts the middleman and goes with the Rabbi. Khazaria was wedged against Islam to the South and Christianity to the West. It may have gone with Judiasm as a way of staying neutral. Whatever - it didn't last.
This is a great read and worth reading. Just because it is lighter fare than some of Chabon's amazingly brilliant previous novels is no reason to penalize it or skip it. Each book should be judged on it's own merits. Some say this wouldn't have been published if it were not for Chabon's big name - I disagree. This is hot stuff by any standard.
Book Review: Wonderful Homage to Classic Adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
This book should come with a big warning wrapper: "Michael Chabon's latest book is unlike his previous work, it is an homage to classic adventure writing -- your results may vary." That's because it's a book whose enjoyment depends heavily on the reader's expectations, and a number of reviewers seem to find fault with it because of this. If you're a fan of Chabon, be warned that it's miles away from his early work like Wonder Boys or The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and while it shares certain themes with more recent work like Kavalier & Clay, The Final Solution, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union, it's a large stylistic departure and really an experiment unto itself.
Originally written in serial chapters published in the New York Times Magazine, the story follows the stylistic and narrative conventions of the old time pulp serials. And if you've never read any old adventure classics like H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain stories, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories, or Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories, then the heavily stylized form may throw you. Indeed, some reviewers have complained that the story is confusing and hard to follow, which frankly, baffles me. Like its literary ancestors, the plot is such that a 10-year-old could follow and recount it, so the conclusion I draw is that the genre itself is defeating some readers. Sure there are leaps of setting and time, a constant stream of new characters, and plot twists aplenty -- but it's hardly daunting stuff. Similarly, a lot of people seem put off by Chabon's use of archaic and obscure words, but that's exactly how a lot of those old adventure stories were written, and the gist of the meanings can be inferred from context in almost every case.
The story itself concerns a pair of 10th-century Jewish "gentlemen of the road" who drift around the civilized world getting by as mercenaries and grifters. Following the classic template, they are a study in opposites, one a hulking black Abyssinian, the other a reedy, pallid German. Neither fits the modern Western stereotype of what a Jew is, and that's very much part of Chabon's point. His writing has long tinkered with the notion of Jewish identity, and here it is taken to colorful but historically accurate extremes. They are classic rogues with hearts of gold (or at least silver), and the story finds them in the Khazar kingdom, a small Jewish land on the west of the Caspian Sea, resting uneasily between Christian and Muslim empires (today the area includes parts of Russia, the Ukraine, and most of the Caucuses). After a great introduction to the two heroes, the story properly kicks off when they find themselves in the company of a deposed prince. Adventure ensues as they try to help him get back home, which involves raising an army and dealing with marauding Vikings, before they even get to deal with the usurper. Violence, treachery, and humor abound, however, some of the material (rape and prostitution) is rather adult and parents should read the book before handing it over to children.
The book is nicely designed -- aside from the cover, which is a total flop (the British edition has a much more evocative cover which is a homage to classic adventure book covers). Each chapter features an illustration from legendary artist Gary Gianni, which help to set the mood and tone. A few of these feel rather hasty and unfinished compared with other work of his I've seen, but he nails the style just right. On the whole, this is a wonderful little entertainment from one of contemporary fiction's big guns, and while it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it's at least worth trying.
Book Review: If you like that sort of thing...
Summary: 3 Stars
Ask yourself whether you like this sort of writing:
"The Wend, sightless and mute, knew the proper smells and bodily utterances of this man and the circular echoes of the apartment so well that on reaching it he could hear the books that had been moved from their right places, and his sapient nostrils at once discerned the intrusive brackish smell of river water and a faint ribbon of some rank attar in the air."
If you like this sort of thing, you'll find yourself right at home with "Gentlemen of the Road."
Michael Chabon's new novel, from which the above excerpt is taken, comes hard on the heels of his stunning literary bestseller, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." In fact, in an interview given in May of 2007, before "Gentlemen of the Road" came out in hardback, Chabon characterizes his newer novel as a sort of therapy from the self-imposed stylistic discipline which informed the earlier Chandleresque stylings of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." "I really kept my language tight in 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union'.... but when I turned to 'Gentlemen of the Road'... I just found these paragraph long sentences pouring out of me. The language that 'Gentlemen of the Road' is written in is really dense, lush, purple somewhat overwritten but fun I hope." Well, maybe, if you like that sort of thing.
It's fair to say that Chabon has earned the right to attempt any style of writing he wants to. But it's also fair to say that "Gentlemen of the Road" would probably not have seen the light of day had it been written by an unknown author. It's also fair to say that I would not have finished the book had I not already read "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." The first book makes the second book possible in so many ways, but it doesn't make it good.
"Gentlemen of the Road" is a swashbuckling episodic adventure story, crafted in a style which pays homage to, but does not surpass the many such stories on which is is based. It's not that the genre is, ipso facto, limited, but the style of writing is. There's nothing inherently pretty or clever in sentences like the one quoted above, or this one, again, typical of the whole book:
" For half a day the captain of the archers - a javshigar in the Army of the Khazar with fifteen years of service to the candelabrum flag - had suffered, shifting from foot to foot, pulling now at his mustache, now at the fingers of his glove, as the warrior king to whom he had sworn loyalty by oaths so ancient and binding they resisted even the power of the autumnal Disavowal haggled and pleaded for the safety of the house of Buljan with a barbarous swaggering Rus butcher whom the vicissitudes of the plunderous life had left only half a face."
In its attempt to contain all exposition within a narrative and stylistic straitjacket, "Gentlemen of the Road" violates the basic "show, don't tell" dictum of storytelling. The narration is intrusive, ham fisted, over long, and downright silly. The limitations of this style of writing - not the genre itself - make it bad.
So, did Chabon think this would be as fun to read as it apparently was for him to write? Apparently so. And yet, the writing fails miserably, because it is neither fish nor fowl, neither one thing nor the other, neither serious nor camp. The style does not transcend its limited model. If there is an in-joke that I'm missing here, it's buried pretty deeply. Sure, there are little subtleties and modern references, but I think Chabon is writing mostly out of genuine love for the Boys' Own Adventure stories of his youth, and insofar as he imitates the writing style of that genre without attempting to rise above it he seriously hamstrings his efforts - in a way that never happened with "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." In "Gentlemen of the Road" I am reading an author who seems to be having great fun, and, who knows, may think he is expanding the possibilities of literature, as he has done in the past. But this just doesn't work.... for me.
Book Review: A ripping good yarn, complete with swordfights, treachery and hidden identities
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael Chabon has always had a populist streak. Despite the fact that he has won significant literary honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, Chabon still includes elements of popular genre fiction in almost all his work --- from THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY (about a pair of cartoonists and the superhero they create) to his most recent novel, THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN'S UNION, a send-up of classic noir thrillers. Now, in GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD, Chabon indulges his taste for old-fashioned, swashbuckling adventure stories in a novel that combines old-fashioned storytelling with big ideas.
As befits a story that feels, at times, as if it were written a hundred years ago, GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD was originally released in serial installments in The New York Times. Just like the best serialized fiction of the past (Dickens's novels come to mind), Chabon's book is filled with cliffhangers, plot twists and unanswered questions, all designed to keep readers on the edge of their seats until the next installment. Gary Gianni's detailed, expressive line drawings, reminiscent of the work of classic illustrators such as N. C. Wyeth, also enhance this vintage feel.
The story begins with a bang, as a massive Abyssinian named Amram (who carries a massive axe dubbed "Defiler of All Mothers") and a lanky Frank named Zelikman wind up in an apparently deadly duel outside a caravanserai. The year is 950, and Viking marauders, violent political struggles and warring tribes have made for a very unstable situation in the eastern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, where the story is set.
But all is not as it seems in this high-stakes duel, and before long, Amram and Zelikman, both alive and well, are eager to collect their pay and be on their way to their next money-making scheme. This time, though, the Jewish confidence men's fates become inextricably tied up with that of a foul-mouthed, red-haired young Khazar (from the warlike Jewish kingdom near the Caspian Sea).
It turns out that the Khazarian adolescent is none other than Filaq, the youngest son of the deposed and murdered Khazar warlord. Despite their aversion to the prickly, fiercely private Filaq, Amram and Zelikman get caught up in the young prince's quest to dethrone the fierce Buljan and restore Filaq's family to power. Surprises --- and dangers --- abound at every turn, however, and, just like Amram and Zelikman's fight that opens the novel, little is as it first seems.
GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD is chock-full of pithy one-liners, clever turns of phrase and creative curses that showcase Chabon's wit and wordplay to its fullest. With a cast of thousands, including prostitutes with names like "Flower of Life," bloodthirsty villains and some truly personable elephants, Chabon's novel bursts with life and, yes, with adventure. Although the author's afterword attempts to posit the book in a broader Jewish historical and literary tradition, ultimately this "Tale of Adventure" is just that --- a ripping good yarn, complete with swordfights, treachery and hidden identities. It's clear that Chabon had almost as fun writing GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD as his fans will have reading it.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Book Review: The Three Musketeers with purple prose
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road reads like a classic novel, as if part of a required reading list for an English literature course. The vocabulary alone sent this reader to a dictionary more than once.
The novel opens with a thrown insult followed by a thrown axe, immediately setting the stage for a fight as well as setting the tone of the story and drawing the rough characters we will learn about and follow.
Amram, a huge African whose weapon of choice is the above-mentioned axe, and Zelikman, a Frank physician, make strange bedfellows in this wild adventure story. The unlikely pair find themselves traveling through tenth-century Asia together on a mission to reluctantly save Filaq, a prince of the Khazar empire, and help him reclaim his throne usurped by his uncle.
The characters and their relationships to each other are portrayed in subtle tone but visceral description. Grey-haired Amram has skin that is as "lustrous as the tarnish on a copper kettle and his eyes womanly as a camel's." Zelikman, on the other hand, is a "fair-haired scarecrow," a "thin-shanked fellow" whose hair falls in "two golden curtains on either side of his long face" and has an unhealthy relationship with hats. This Mutt and Jeff work their way through the Caucasus Mountains, pissing off the locals as they go, hurling insults, blades and witticisms along the way.
Whether purposeful or not, this book's prose is purple. One particularly colorful scene describes a man who is dragged from his hiding place and "slashed open like a gushing sack of wine." That painted the picture for this reader.
The atmosphere of this story compares to that of The Three Musketeers, Lethal Weapon, and several Hollywood Bible films all at once. And this story is all about guys. It is a long time before any female characters appear on the scene, though when one does, she makes up for the lack of women we don't see beforehand in a way that surprises and satisfies.
Illustrations by Prince Valiant artist Gary Gianni accompany the story, lending concrete pictures to the characters, if Chabon didn't paint them strongly enough already. Some people may argue that pictures can take away from the imagination of the reader, but if you can let that go, it doesn't take away from this well-told story. In fact, it gives it a closer resemblance to the classic novel. One doesn't see much artwork in novels these days, so it's a little refreshing.
Chabon's lengthy sentences and highbrow words do not make for a light read. In addition, the unfamiliar names and places may prevent its accessibility to the average reader, even at just under 200 pages.
Gentlemen of the Road is a literary, albeit action-packed, buddy road trip. While the map on the inside cover provides a little understanding of the geography of the story, perhaps a glossary - of the real and the fictitious - would have been more helpful.
Reviewed by Margaret Andrews for Curled Up With A Good Book