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| The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Chabon
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $1.60
You Save: $13.40 (89%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $1.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  (596 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2472
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 656
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312282990
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312282998
ASIN: 0312282990
Publication Date: August 25, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The novel reads like a film July 14, 2008
This is an amazing book. There are so many novels being published today that are written so simplistically they are more screenplays than literature. What is special about Kavalier and Klay is the depth and beauty of the visuals. About the golden age of comic books and other exceptionally significant parts of the twentieth century you are carried away by the perfect, constant descriptions of place, atmosphere and human emotion and it is in this way that the book reads like the very best aspects of the very best film. I literally look forward to the film that demands to be made to bring this incredible work of fiction to life.
I see Adrian Brody as Kavalier, Elijah Wood as Klay and Zoey Deschanel as Rosa but that's just me.
Well-written, but I see what many are saying . . . July 7, 2008
First off, this novel never gets boring, which is quite an achievement for something so long. Chabon does an impressive job of telling the tale of two cousins with different backgrounds. Yet while the story and delivery are first-rate, there isn't exactly a literary message per se beyond keys, locks and imprisonment, be this last of the physical, social, mental or emotional sort. Sure, you could go back and write a book report about that sort of symbolism, but you don't really come away from the novel the same way you might with "Catcher in the Rye," "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," "Elmer Gantry" or "The Great Gatsby," but then those have weathered the test of time and "Kavalier and Clay" might suffer from being a work of contemporary fiction in that regard. What author who writes today really attains that kind of status in the here and now? Irving, Updike and Cormac McCarthy . . . maybe.
 A world of its own June 19, 2008
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!
Tour de Force June 14, 2008
Now THIS is truly an exemplary work of art. This book works on a very high plane on so many different levels. One can certainly read and enjoy this book for the plot, which moves along at a brisk, entertaining pace. At the same time, the characters are so well developed, so realistic, so believable and so fascinating. Given the quasi-historical backdrop of the novel, some historical persons, such as Salvador Dali, Orson Wells, and Alfred Smith, are interwoven into the story in a meaningful way, giving us a window into time and place. Along the same line, Chabon gives what I understand to be a relatively accurate account of the development of the American art of comic books, both pre and post-World War II. Apparently, comics books not only reflected the times, but helped shape them. For me, the icing on the cake was the wonderful symbolic interplay between the characters of the novels, the characters of the comic books they created, elements of judaic folklore (particularly, the "golem," being a clay "protector"==the ancient equivalent to a superhero (while a main character's surname was Sam Clay), and the repeated use of themes, most significantly, "escape," to tie these elements together. These themes were so cleverly interwoven into the story, I suspect a second reading would uncover many missed the first time around.
In creating my Amazon reviews, I am generally a tough critic. Typically, I am only willing to bestow 5 stars on those very special, very deserving, very rare books--my own personal best of the best of the best. For me, this book fits into that category, deserving of all of the plaudits it has received. One of the best books I have read in a long time, a compelling store, written in the timeless manner of truly fine literature--a true tour de force.
Enjoy.
Kenny
Rich, Detailed, Extravagant. A Wonderful Book. May 14, 2008
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the story of Sammy Clay and Joe Kavalier, cousins, Jews, reaching their young manhood during WWII. It ends in 1954 in a suburb of New York.
Sammy and Joe invent a comic book hero, The Escapist, based on their early childhood experiences. They grow up, fall in love, have disappointments... I want to tell the WHOLE STORY here, but there's so much to it that I couldn't do it justice. You just have to want to read a book about Jewish boys, New York in the 40s and 50s, Czechoslovakia, WWII, comic books, suburbs, the Navy, The Empire State Building, and love.
This book is rich. It's rich in the storyline and in the language and sentence structure. Michael Chabon is generous with detail and subplots and lets you enjoy his characters as he develops their lives. I really liked Sammy and Joe and Rosa and Tommy.
Joe is the most complicated of the characters and if I actually stand back and review his actions I'm still puzzled at some of the things he did in response to the crises of his life. It's a pleasant sort of puzzlement and doesn't detract from my loving this book.
It is a very long book - 635 pages in trade paperback - and there were a few slow parts for me, but once I got to about page 250 or so, it took off. In looking back, I see how everything Chabon wrote in the early parts that were less interesting to me contributed to the book as a whole.
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