Customer Reviews:
 Masterful July 17, 2008
I listened to the abridged version of this, which made me miss some of the exposition that Chabon loves to engage in. Kavalier and Clay's lives and the juxtaposition of New York as a city in those lives was very well done. NYC was almost like a third main character. Chabon also did a good job of describing the golem and other Jewish traditions without bogging down the story. Towards the end, a melancholy that stuck with me after the book ended set in. Kavalier and Clay live on, but their lives have gone from marvelous to ordinary.
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
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