Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
by Michael Chabon
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.95 You Save: $19.00 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
Book Review: Jews with Swords, Secular Humanists with Sharpened Sticks
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Chabon originally called this tale JEWS WITH SWORDS, and I can't gainsay the choice. In three words, he captures the elements of humor, history, and horseplay that inform this wonderful lark of a book. This book's design, along with Gary Gianni's excellent illustrations, make the volume a spirited homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs' early 20th century canon.
And I love Edgar Rice Burroughs. (Or at least did when I was a kid.)
I'd like to point out that while this book IS a lot of fun, Chabon clearly didn't just "toss it off." GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD is hardly a trifle; there are sentences aplenty here to relish, to wit: "The agent only nodded his head and smiled a Radanite smile, which was not a smile at all but rather a promissory note to deliver one at some unspecified future date."
It's an amusing romp, larded with fascinating historical information and amusing wordplay. If that sounds appealing, I encourage you to sample from L. Sprague de Camp or Arturo Perez-Reverte's canons, starting perhaps with The Best of L Sprague De Camp and Captain Alatriste respectively.
Book Review: A Tale of Two Musketeers: Read the Real Thing
Summary: 3 Stars
This novel certainly is unique, and Leonard Fleisig's spotlight review here sheds much needed light on the historical context of its rather obscure setting and unusual characters. Although Leonard's scholarship helped him enjoy this book perhaps more than most, I have to admit that, in my ignorance, I found myself treading through it, as if entangled in a bizarre backwater of words, geography, and history. At first the iconoclastic outlook of the two main characters, Amran, the giant African, and Zelikman, the brooding, slender Jewish soul from Francia, reminded me of "The Three Musketeers" (minus one), particularly when these two pull off all kinds of stunts, feats of bravery, and legerdemain. The plot, in spite of its being embedded in a smothering veneer of historical references and obscurities, still manages to entertain, much like an action movie entertains.
Ultimately, this work is a forgettable bauble, good enough for a quick airplane ride read, as Chabon himself suggests, but not something I would recommend to any serious reader or even one seeking a good laugh. I rate it 2.5 stars.
Book Review: Reminds Me of a Dungeons and Dragons Adventure
Summary: 2 Stars
By reputation, Michael Chabon is one of America's finest young writers. When I read that he had an adventure tale set in Tenth Century Khazaria, I thought this book is going to be great. Having finished the book, what a great dissapointment! First and foremost, he lifted his two main characters from Fritz Lieber's "Fafhrd and Grey Mouser" series. Chabon changes the color and profession of the characters but they are the same characters with the same dynamic. The whole book reminded me of those terrible Dungeons and Dragons' adventure novels that I read as a teenager. While those books may have been terrible, they had the virtue of being simple and honestly written. It is hard to write a good adventure story with something new to say. If you want to read a good historical adventure story written by a serious novelist, check out the works of Arturo Perez Reverte. One day, when academics study the works of Michael Chabon, "Gentlemen of the Road" is going to be the embarassing novel that will amuse them.Book Review: An old-fashioned adventure tale...
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael Chabon continues to prove himself one of the best working writers today. It is tempting just to support him because he has dedicated his life to blurring the line between the artificial constructions of "genre" and "literary" fiction, but that would be overlooking his mastery of prose, pacing, description, and characterization.
Gentlemen of the Road is an incredibly readable adventure story that was first published in serialized form in the New York Times. Chabon famously claims that the working title was "Jews With Swords," and in the "Afterward" he explains why this isn't as funny as it seems.
Chabon's purpose was to write a classic adventure story, and he has succeeded brilliantly. Each chapter ends in a cliffhanger, owing to its serialized publication. Critics will form a separate category for this book, along with The Final Solution, as being part of Chabon's "non-serious" works. That is missing the point.
Book Review: Pure Pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the fourth Chabon novel I've read in the past few months and it is surely my favorite. Though K & C and Yiddish policeman were both fun and had more weight to them (not just in pages, but in pathos, too), this one is instantly a timeless classic, meant to sit on the shelf next to "the three musketeers" and "treasure island." Chabon is having so much fun writing this book, in the language and frantic plot twists, it feels like he has been freed from the bonds of "literature," and is now flying on the wings of "pulp." But of course many of today's classics are yesterdays pulp. And honestly the language is so complex and stacked, you could hardly say it doesn't have literary value. The funniest thing (or do I mean pathetic) is the reviews here that complain there isn't enough explanation of the ancient world that is the setting of the book. Gosh, sorry if it made you think or go to wikipedia, next time read some Michael Crichton.