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: The Road Not Taken (2 and 1/2 stars)
Summary: 2 Stars
There's a lot of fun in "Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure". Michael Chabon, author of the well known and well written The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, wants to take us down a path of rollicking adventure and he does so in an elegant and poetic way. His attempt to write a Dickens-est serial (the book not only was first published in chapter segments for a periodical- but it's also written in a rather formal style) is both ambitious and charming. Sadly it does not work for a mass audience.
The story is not unfamiliar, two "soldiers of fortune" find themselves caught up in circumstances seemingly beyond their control. Their adventure starts when the hulk-ish black African Jew named Amram, and a rail thin Frankish Jew named Zelikman offer (for a fee) safe passage for a displaced prince . Things quickly get out of hand as the pair get caught up in a series of battles, armies, Vikings, and the siege of an ancient Jewish Kingdom called Kazar. It's a slightly over complicated plot that layers adventure over adventure until the reader is somewhat overwhelmed. The old English style of writing does not help clear the fog of the multiple adventures either, in fact it often exasperates it. Add to this an over load of 10th century mid-east political history and tons of characters. A reader looking for some nice little escapism might find them-selves quickly in over their head.
The book itself is a bit misleading. Paging though it, it looks like a young adult adventure story. There is an excellent assortment of hand drawn etchings, the story seems simple, and the tale is one that any young boy, or girl, might fancy; but in Chabon's attempt to capture the style of Dickens or Dumas, something seems lost to the casual reader. I stress that "Gentlemen..." is extremely well written, but I can't tell who it's written for. It's not for kids, it's not for escapist readers, or casuals readers. It's a story that's suppose to be fun, but all the fun seems zapped out of it by too much research on the authors part (or at least too much research seeping into the story) and it's overly complicated prose. Had Chabon perhaps pulled back a bit the writing might not have been as sharp, but the story might have shined a lot brighter.
Book Review: Historical adventure, Chabon style
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the marks of a great writer would be versatility, a quality that Michael Chabon continues to demonstrate. After making his mark with more "literary" fiction, he has taken on assorted types of genre fiction, most notably with young adult fantasy (Summerland) and science fiction/mystery with The Yiddish Policemen's Union. His latest foray has been in the realm of historical adventure with Gentlemen of the Road.
As noted in the Afterword, Chabon originally thought of this book as Jews With Swords, a title that is not entirely appropriate as one of the characters wields an axe. The two protagonists are both Jewish, but are as completely physically opposite as their initials, A and Z. Zelikman is a pale scarecrow of a man, moody but a gifted healer. Amram is a giant African who is an adept warrior with his aforementioned axe. The pair are good friends and gentlemen of the road, wanderers seeking adventure and fortune wherever it comes, particularly in the tenth century Near Eastern lands around the Black and Caspian Seas.
In this case, the adventure focuses on a young Khazar prince, Filaq, who is on the run after a coup killed his father. Amram and Zelikman agree to escort him to safe haven in exchange for suitable compensation. Besides the threats from assassins and enemy soldiers, there is another snag: Filaq has his own ideas about regaining legitimate power. Filaq also has a secret that could undermine all of them.
As much as anyone, I think Chabon was influenced by Robert Howard while writing this short novel. Though there are not the fantasy elements that would be found in a Conan story, there is a certain storytelling similarity and there are illustrations that supplement the tale that is reminiscent of various adventure tales. It is a fun story, but not a perfect one: the writing style that Chabon has adopted for this story may be appropriate but is also a bit too ornate at times. This intricate wordiness may try your patience at times, but if you stick with it, you'll find that this is a rewarding read.
Book Review: Episodic, But a Lot of Fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael Chabon first wowed me with his prose in "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." Page after page glowed with clever sentences and word play, and yet I never felt like Chabon was showing off. His non-fiction, such as "Manhood for Amateurs" and "Maps and Legends," displays the same literary magic, not only capturing ideas in fresh ways, but freeing new ideas in captivating ways.
Once again we find Chabon delivering up a story full of wit, detail, and insight into human nature. His main characters are Zelikman, a moody, brooding scarecrow of a man from Regensburg, and Amram, a giant of an African, whose brute strength hides a lively intelligence. These two "gentlemen of the road" are an odd pair as they traverse the mountains, deserts, and shores of the Caspian Sea. They are harmless, if left alone, resorting to a bit of thieving now and then. But if pushed, they are a formidable match. Zelikman is a restless wanderer, escaping a past that is never stated and seeking a dream that is yet unnamed. Amram is much more ambivalent, letting past, present, and future find him where he stands, strong and steadfast, ready to love, fight, or philosophize, whichever may be called for in the moment.
"Gentlemen of the Road" gives us a slice from these two men's lives. They find themselves caught up in skirmishes and wars that parallel certain real-life conflicts of A.D. 950, though we suspect there is a fair amount of fantasy sprinkled into the gruel. The plot is as tenuous as one would expect from these wayfaring adventurers, but in the end it does have some political and romantic threads that hold it together, along with a plot twist or two to be undone. It's episodic, sometimes losing its sense of cohesion and pace, but short enough that these tangles don't produce any lasting discomfort.
Chabon weaves a magic carpet here, one that sweeps us to faraway lands in distant times and introduces us to brave, lonely, and longing people--not so unlike ourselves.
Book Review: A New Twist on Adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
It's been sometime sense I've finished a work of fiction. Not for lack of trying, but for lack of getting into a really good story. I happened upon Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road on a free bookshelf in Fort McCoy (this will develop into a theme at some point). It was certainly the reintroduction to fiction that I needed.
Chabon provides a fast, paced and action-filled journey through the Khazar Empire as a moody, physician (Zelikman) and a weary African warrior (Amram) become unwillingly tangled in an adventure that doesn't seem to end. The book seems to have no intended direction instead following the lead of the characters who are guided by their past demons and desires to avoid further involvement in the affairs of others.
The already complex, lives of Amram and Zelikman descend into a tumultuous chain of events involving bloody battles, plundering, and the occasional coup upon the introduction of Filaq (a weak and defenseless prisoner whom they are charged to protect). Filaq's rather dubious origins and shifting connections to royalty manage to seal Amram's and Zelikman's fate and link them to an unavoidable destiny.
Chabon offers no shortage of plot twist in his beautifully descriptive short novel. He drops the reader dead into the center of the Khazar Empire and builds the environment in which the characters reside as the story progresses. Gentlemen of the Road hits the ground running leaving the reader to catch up with a story that has been ongoing for some centuries before the story picks up.
Book Review: Two Jews with Swords
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fun book to read. The story is pretty simple, but it is well done and, in places, surprising. I liked the working title, 'Two Jews with Swords,' but the author was right to change it. The new title is not so funny and is still very descriptive of the story.
Amram and Zelikman are the gentlemen of the road in some distant era, say between 1200's to the 1600's. They are traveling in Armenia or Kazakhstan area. They are introduced as con artists who are really only providing entertainment for the folks in the hostel they are at. They are accosted by a disreputable person for the purpose of conveying an unruly teenager, Filaq, to his relatives further on up the road. They agree to it, but in the meantime the fellow is shot by an arrow, so off they go, with the teenager. The going is never easy because the teenager is temperamental and always trying to go back where he came from, and so the adventure begins.
Zelikman is a physician of sorts, he is ahead of his time in many ways and he is always looking for ways to not hurt others in the execution of their job. It became such that I got to wondering how they were going to pull off various actions without hurting others. They mostly do, but there are times they fight like deamons in pursuit of their goal.
Amram is a soldier of fortune and, whatever his circumstances are, he never seems to feel he is in danger, even when he is led out to be beheaded.
In the end, of course, everything works out for the best.