The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (vuoden 2001 painos)

Interesting book about the WWII era dn the beginning of the comic books time. It was well written and interesting. The LGBTQ was a little too in the face for me, but that is probably my issue and not the issue of the book. ( )

This one ticks a few boxes for me, among them a consideration of the friction between high and low art and bits about magic and in particular Houdini, both of which were a fascination for me when I was younger. I liked it a lot. ( )

I'm a bit embarrassed that it took me so long to read this. The trade paperback was too heavy to carry around and there were other books to read, and now it's been a lot of years and the pages are starting to yellow at the edges. When I finally sat down to read it, I couldn't put it down. There's a reason it won the Pulitzer Prize: It's brilliant.

Clay is Sammy Klayman, a Jewish teen in Brooklyn, dreaming of a career in comic books. The year is 1939 and the success of National's new superhero, Superman, has other publishers looking for their own superheroes. Sammy can write, but his art hovers around ordinary. Enter his newly arrived cousin Josef Kavalier, from Prague. Joe has studied magic and illusion and is obsessed with bringing his parents and younger brother to safety in the US. Joe is also a brilliant artist and together, they create The Escapist, which they present to Sammy's boss at a novelty company. Suddenly, the novelty company is in the comic book business.

Though successful, the cousins make a tiny fraction of the money their comic book creations earn for their publisher, to whom they'd sold their rights for a pittance. Chabon's prose seems effortless as he takes us through hope and disappointment, telling the coming-of-age story of these two cousins against the backdrop of World War II and the Holocaust, as well as an exploration of popular culture and mid-20th Century New York City. Chabon did his research and I had to look up a number of characters to see if they were/had been real or not. This is a long book I didn't want to end. I love Sammy and Joe and Rosa, the woman Joe fell in love with. Thanks to Chabon's narrative voice, I quickly became emotionally invested in their lives and as I closed the book on the last page, I wanted to know what came next. That's the best compliment I can give a book. To anyone who hasn't yet read it, give it a try. ( )

I think it took me about three months to get through this book, but it was well worth the time and effort. I cannot even believe how someone would begin to write a book like this, so I guess I am a bit in awe of Chabon. I look forward to reading the Yiddish Policeman's Union soon. ( )

This book sat on my bookshelf for years until I finally recommended as a book club selection. I was wary of recommending a 600 page book and hope the members liked it. I’ll be curious to hear their opinions when we meet next week.
I really enjoyed this book. It was so different and while it involved Nazis, Hitler and WWII, it was not a typical WWII story.
I agree that the book seemed to be partitioned into 3 distinct sections. I loved part 1, liked the end third but felt the middle third dragged a bit.
The prose was beautiful and educational. i had to read with a dictionary by my side because there were oh so many words that I had to look up to be sure of their meaning.
This book had it all: family ties, friendships, magic, adventure, war, romance, comic books, coming of age......and on and on.
Definitely worth reading ( )