Epic Adventure
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There are books that are easy to read and have gripping stories full of suspence and there are books that are beautifully written with rich characters, flowing prose and deep emotional involvement. There are rarely books that are both but this is one.
If I were a writer, I'd want to write like this. Charm, wit, love for his characters and a fantastic turn of phrase.
Make no mistake, this is a heavyweight novel in scope and theme. It's easy fo forget this and think of it as simply a well-written page-turner but that would be to miss out on the complex emotional centre.
If only all great novels were so accessible...
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All Tell and no Show
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Perhaps the Amazing in the title gave me false expectations but I didn't find anything amazing about this book at all. It never connected with either of the main characters enough for us to care deeply about them - we are expected to understand Clay's struggle with homosexuality but we are never shown any of this - we are told that Joe is mourning for his brother but he doesn't give any convincing evidence of this. And literally nothing Amazing happens - unless you count the implausible method of Joe's escape from Prague in the first place.
The only thing I found interesting was the insight into the comic book world, but even that failed to convince.
Decent enough, but hardly lives up to the Amazing hype.
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(3.5 *) Anyway, a worth and entertaining reading
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Casualties of II WW and tragic events back in the late 30's, places escapism arts apprentice, Joe Kavalier in a troubled but successful trip directly from Praga to Brooklyn, to the home of an unknown and distant cousin, the young and ambitious cartoon artist Sam Clay. It doesn't take too long for the two boys to know each other and their own creative talents and the accidental encounter between them, not only is the beginning of a deep and lasting friendship but also a popular and successful future team of innumerous stories and characters in the world of the classical comic books.
Michael Chabon creates a very intimate, magical and imaginative world largely due to the perfect portrait of Clay and Kavalier as individuals; this are really two well crafted characters with a very complex personality that the reader absolutely indentifies with, having the particularity to allow him/her to "feel" and understand their most profound and recondite emotions, differences, frustrations, etc.
The novel is also very original and appealing concerning to the way it cross "serious" and dramatic themes and issues, such as the nazi holocaust and war, sexual orientation, religion, corporate greed and putting them through the perspective of a graphic novel and the eyes of the comic heroes as well from those he sets free from the iniquities of "evil". In fact this battle between the "good" and the "bad", where justice is the final goal, where for every super hero there's a super villain, told by the simple and redeeming language of a comic, is the most exciting and distinguish accomplish of the novel; Chabon masters this two universes (reality and the imaginary world of the Escapist) so well, in such a sublime and terrific way, that in my opinion this is one of the main reasons that the novel as a whole, seems to end up being a little disappointed.
Since the beginning till the "golden age" part, the narrative is absolutely flawless, a real page turner, a vivid and colorful writing of the amazing adventures of Kavalier, Clay, Rose, the Escapist, the real villains of the world and also the imaginary ones, but after that, so suddenly as the break of sales of the comic books in the end of the 40's, also the life of our heroes loses the flair, joy and charisma of the youth, turning towards to a sad predictability that at the beginning seemed to be exactly what Chabon wanted to avoid and struggle against to, decided to make a subtle (and artistic) but powerful statement of all the dark forces and inhuman actions that still haunt and blind the human spirit. But maybe after all there is some point in this "adult" transformation, as something being part of the growing process and the loss of innocence, the conclusion that in real life there aren't omnipresent heroes with all the super powers, only average people trying to struggle the best they can against the adversities of life...but for any reason that doesn't seems to fit so well the positive, fresh and always coherent description of character's truthful nature, at least towards their friendship, one of the most important ideas as a concept of the all novel.
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if you only have the chance to read one book this year make it this one, you wont be disappointed.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was an instant popular and critical success when it came out in 2000 being nominated for a raft of awards. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001 and Hollywood has been sniffing around it ever since. Michael Chabon the author wrote the only known screenplay, which struggled to reduce a 635-page book to a 2-hour film. At one point, the cast was Toby Maguire (Peter in Spiderman) to play Sam Clay, Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) to play Rosa Saks and Jude Law to play Joe Kavalier.
The difficulties for the film is what makes the book a joy as it starts in 1938 as Superman bursts on the scene and ends in 1954 as the Kefauver Senate hearings delivers the death blow to a declining comic book industry. A central theme is the roles of the Jews in the comic book industry: it explored the mythology of comic hero and its impact Joe and Sam own struggles and personal journeys form the stories of the Escapist which in turn shape their lives. Sam struggling to come to terms with being Gay and Joe trying to rescue his family stuck in an increasingly bleak Nazi run Prague. It also explores the historical rip off the artists and writers of the period. Superman's creators did not come into the real money until the blockbuster Superman movies and a court case prised the money out of Hollywood's coffers. Historical characters from the period from the comic industry and the movie, art and political world some in and out of the story. The Escapist also draws on Joe Kavalier's training and experience of magic and Houdini type tricks and the impact this has on his life.
The writing is a tour deforce so that you hear, touch and smell the period. Each character has their own voice and even minor characters when they enter the story in a few paragraphs you have their back-story and motives seamlessly woven in so they become real characters. The point of view moves from character to character and no easy option or resolution is allowed as the story builds to the magic trick ending. Scenes are comic one minute and bitterly tragic the next as you join in the roller coaster of their lives. Yes I am going say it...if you only have the chance to read one book this year make it this one, you wont be disappointed.
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A world of its own
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The Amazing Adventures is not just one of the best books you are likely to read in a while, it is one of the most beautiful.
Beginning in Prague before moving, through various unexpected locations, to New York, the novel tracks the lives of a Czechoslovak refugee and his American cousin, both adolescents at the start of the story, in the first years of WWII. The young men are obsessed with action comics in what is the genre's golden age, and they become their own characters on the brimming, coloured pages they create. But the war, and the protagonists' family past, keep interfering.
This is a coming of age story, and at the same time it is about the healing power of art or - if that sounds trite - about redemption through dreams and imagination. It is both interesting and, to borrow from the comics' own hero, a major piece of escape artistry. It is fast paced and engrossing; I found myself wishing it wouldn't end as I neared the last few pages. But the reasons why this novel is so powerful must distil down to two: the characters are at once human and irresistibly likeable, and the book, without verging into the fantastic, creates, around comics, a world of its own, lush, vivid, pungently attractive. And Chabon's style is stunning. There is pleasure in re-reading some of his turns of phrase and at the same time it is clear and direct. It is also packed with entertaining details that show the massive research which must have gone into the work. The early chapters contain minor historical errors, seemingly intentional. See if you can spot them!
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