The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
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Book Reviews of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Book Review: Good main narrative, but too fragmented and unfocused
Summary: 3 Stars
Amazing Adventures is a big, sprawling story about two Jewish comic book artists living in 1940s New York City, cousins Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay. Joe is an apprentice magician and Houdini aficionado who uses his skills to escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and arrive in America. His cousin Sammy, a native Brooklynite, is a small kid with a gimpy leg and vast imagination.Sammy quickly befriends Joe and shares with him his enthusiasm for comic books. With Sammy's ideas and Joe's natural artistic talent, they begin creating their own successful comics, including The Escapist, a superhero who "comes to the rescue of those who toil in the chains of tyranny and injustice" and represents Sammy's desire to be strong and Joe's hatred of Nazism.
Escapism is one of the main themes, and probably the only theme that holds together well in this book. Joe escapes from the Nazis and later tries to escape from his grief and responsibilities. Sammy escapes into marriage to hide his true desires, and his wife Rosa escapes into her work (inking romance comics) to forget the man she really loves and believes is lost (Joe). And comic books themselves represent an escape.
But the other themes disparately never link up. The plot twists, without any reason or closure, so it feels like nothing is happening. The book plugs along solidly in the first half, but then quickly falls apart before the reader feels any satisfaction. The teenage boys (to whom the book devotes 400 pages to) suddenly age by years every chapter. Suddenly, inexplicably, Joe is a WWII stationed in Antarctica; a story that begins out of nowhere and ends just as it gets interesting. We learn the fate of Sammy's lover (the development of their relationship of which took 100 pages) in one sentence. 12 years suddenly passes and we are introduced to Rosa and Sammy's (nay Joe's) 12-year old son. It seems Chabon has a lot of ideas, and rushes to start one before finishing another. Interesting events do take place, but because they aren't fully fleshed out they seem disconnected and pointless.
Another problem is Chabon's own superfluous style. Everything has to be described with long metaphors; sometimes the simplest declaration is drawn out to a page or two, making Amazing Adventures a very long and arduous read. That, coupled with his chunky, clunky storyline, makes this book, weighing in at 656 pages, extremely frustrating.
I can see how this book could become popular. It contains a well-researched, nostalgic look at old-school New York life, historical references, and a lot of emotion and romance. The main narrative - two boys creating a superhero to compensate for their physical and political desires - is very appealing. But after finally putting this book down, all I could think of was: "So?"
Book Review: The Amazing Abilities of Michael Cabon
Summary: 5 Stars
First thing's first: I have never been a reader of comic books. I read Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys several months ago, and was in such awe of his talents that I swore I'd read his next novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. I was somewhat reluctant at first, for I got the impression that the book would hold very little appeal for those who hadn't spent their formative years immersed in the panels of crime-fighting superheroes. But I couldn't have been more wrong.At the start of this epic tale, we are introduced to two young men. One is Sammy Clay, a daydreaming Jewish boy from Brooklyn, hoping one day to make something of himself. The other is Sammy's cousin, Joe Kavalier, an escapee of Nazi-occupied Prague. Through a series of events that can only be described as amazing, Joe has been forced to leave his family behind for the freedom of America, where he hopes to earn enough money to send for his family. When these two young men come together, Sam a gifted storyteller and Joe a skilled artist, an obvious solution presents itself to both of them. Comic books. The year is 1938 and comics are a relatively new cultural phenomenon. On the surface they offer the nation's youth a form of entertainment, but at a deeper level comic books provide Americans with a catharsis, a way to release the global tensions building during WWII. For Joe in particular, creating a story where the good guys are given free reign to fight evil week after week is a necessary outlet from his real life, where he is powerless to stop the attrocities happening across the Atlantic Ocean.
From there, this sprawling novel takes off, taking us through the highs and lows endured by our dynamic duo and the woman who is inextricably tied to both of their lives, Rosa Saks. Chabon has clearly done his research, and it pays off. Throughout the novel we are given an insider's view into the inner workings of New York City in the 30's and 40's, into the life of Harry Houdini and the intricacies of his legendary escapism, into WWII and Surrealist art and the World's Fair, but most impressively, into the life of the comic book, both an inspiration and a model for contemporary American fiction. And even for the uncommon reader who has no interest in romance, intrigue, power, and desperation, Chabon's miraculous prose should be reason enough to enjoy this book. I can think of no contemporary writer of fiction, from T.C. Boyle to Don Delillo, who can write sentences, whether in executing a brilliant metaphor or pulling the reader through an action sequence, like Michael Chabon.
Until reading this book, I had no idea what people were referring to when they spoke of the Great American Novel. I now know, for I have read it. And so should you.
Book Review: Shazam - Genius - an Encyclopedia of how men love.
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been years since I've been as powerfully affected by a novel as I have been by Michael Chabon's Kavalier & Clay. Chabon is a virtuoso. The book is full of discrete vignettes, distinct and perfect as cut gemstones. Riveting, humorous, human, and thematically consistent and resonant - these scenes mesh and build and reflect with dazzling skill. When I first picked it up I couldn't understand - "Pulitzer Prize for a book about a couple of kids who write comic books?" Having read it - now I know. Chabon's amazing skill vividly illuminates New York city of the 30s and 40s and evokes the vanished world of immigrant Jews, the birth of comic books, the horror of the holocaust, as well as delineates the aching expanses of the human heart. Chabon's ability to situate you in place and time is astonishing - as his ability to make characters with depth and penetrating realism. Part of this incredible ability to project depth is his eye for detail. Just like "Moby Dick" teaches you tangentially about whaling and nineteenth century nautical technology this book schools you in such diverse subjects as Golems, Antarctic exploration, shortwave radio, magician's culture, locks, escape tricks, Prague, comic book culture & lore, surrealist art, New York geography and culture and the 1939 world's fair. It's larger than life - but feels incredibly real.
But far more than detail - this book's heart is about the many different ways men love; from moving mountains to fulfill a promise, all the way to casual rape. We see men loving family, women, men, art, a dog, a son, men loving pieces of equipment (particularly one loving a radio and another an airplane), etc... We see the stupidity and the wisdom - all the human frailty; and incredible resiliency and strength. It's funny - while reading the focus seems more on the pain - but in the end it's the love and connection that breaks your heart. For all its tragic content, this book is incredibly light and hopeful - and funny. There are a bunch of laugh out loud interludes. This is a wise, human, funny and ultimately kind book.
This is, indeed, a story about a couple of kids who create comic books in the late 30s - but it is far more. It is a story of the American dream; a whiz bang novel worthy of the moniker "Great American Novel". Art, fantasy, love, loss, redemption, and life interweave through this story in a distinctly American way that is beautiful, exhilerating, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting. This book makes me want to live - and more than any book in recent memory, this book makes want to write. I only wish I could write with this kind of verve and skill. I give this book my highest recommendation.
Book Review: Amazing Indeed
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Chabon's spectacular, Pulitzer Prize winning, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" is unlike anything else you'll find on the bookshelves of your local bookstore (or Amazon, of course). It is a quirky, unique story with an enormously talented writer whose keen eye for description and characterization make what could have been a tired plot (the rise, fall, and possible reunion of a partnership between a pair of cousins who collaborate to build a comic book empire) dazzlingly fresh and new instead. The hallmark of a great writer is that they can make the old seem new again, and Chabon is truly gifted in this regard.
The titular duo whose amazing adventures the narrative chronicles are Josef Kavalier, a former magician's apprentice who escaped Europe and the Nazis to come to the U.S. but is haunted by the family he left behind, and Sammy Clay (nee Klayman), whose talent and fierce ambition set him and his cousin on a path to success in the then new field of comic books, but whose tortured sexuality keeps him from satisfaction as he must continue to live a lie. Together they create the Escapist, a masked superhero whose story embodies all of their hopes, fears and insecurities. Sammy subconsciously relates to the Escapist's dual identity and secret life - carefully hidden behind a public persona - while Joe uses the Escapist's fictional missions to Europe to fight the Nazis that are holding his family captive (the first half of the novel takes place before Pearl Harbor spurred U.S, involvement in the war, so Joe waged war on the Nazis in the pages of his comic in the hope that it would inspire the U.S. to get involved sooner). While these "Amazing Adventures" truly shine in the novel's first half, the fact that the last half is hampered by melodramatic twists (such as Joe's Antarctic revenge scenario, a leap from the Empire State Building, etc.) is imminently forgivable because of Chabon's tight control of the plot and how it impacts his characters.
Ostensibly, "Amazing Adventures" is about the friendship between Joe, Sammy, and Joe's girlfriend Rosa as they make comic book history, but there is so much more. We also get themes regarding family, love, and loss that are rendered all the more poignant thanks to the novel's WWII-era setting, and the fact that Joe and Sammy garner inspiration from their own personal hopes and disappointments says a great deal about the power of fiction and where it comes from. Chabon is a fiercely talented and thorough writer (the amount of research that must have gone in to his sumptuous period details is staggering), and reading this novel is pure, unadulterated bliss.
Grade: A
Book Review: This is Truly an Amazing Adventure!
Summary: 5 Stars
The glory days of the comic book come to life in this Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Chabon. Unlike Chabon's earlier works (The Mysteries of Pittsburg and Wonder Boys), which seemed a bit stymied by their shorter lengths, the author here is able to broaden the characters and landscapes, giving the reader a much greater feel for people, places and times.
The story begins with Samuel (Clay) Klayman being awakened by his mother as his cousin, Joseph Kavalier, arrives in America from war-torn Prague, having escaped the tyrannies of the Third Reich's Jewish persecution. Joseph, though, had to leave his family behind in Europe (his mother, father, and brother, Thomas, as well as dear friends like his magician tutor).
Joseph can't get over the feeling that something horrible is befalling his friends and family back in Prague. But he's just a very young man. What can he do? Come to find out, a lot more than he ever thought. Sam soon discovers that Joe can draw comic book sketches as well as Da Vinci painted. And with Sam's ability to write great stories, they soon launch into a profitable and controversial empire of comic book superheroes (The Escapist, Luna Moth, etc.). With their first ever episode, Joseph and Sam's `Escapist' delivers a powerhouse punch to Hitler's bloody jaw. Since America isn't in the war...yet, this begins a series of chess-like moves between what Joe wants to accomplish with his art and those who print the comics.
The battles between real life artists Joe and Sam and their big-bad superheroes who fight the world's evils against the backdrop of WW II pulls this story along at an incredible pace (even at 639 pages). Not to mention Chabon's crisp and concise use of narration in his prose! All of the characters are well thought out, necessary to the story, and make you sympathize with their various causes (from trying to bring Joe Kavalier back to the `real world' after a series of terrible events, to the ridiculous claims of homosexuality in comic book characters after a main protagonist is exposed as a gay man).
In the end this story is about accepting what we cannot change (but never giving up on trying), and those tight relationships that form out of respect, family and mutual understanding.
Some might be put-off by the words `comic books' and it's connotations within the book and this review. My advice to those who haven't yet read this is "Don't be put-off by that." Although this is what ultimately draws Sam and Joe together, it isn't necessary to have intimate knowledge of the comic book world in order to enjoy The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay.