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Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

By Michael Chabon

(114)

| School & Library Binding | 9780613554015

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Book Description

With this brilliant novel, the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us an exhilarating triumph of language and invention, a stunning novel in which the tragicomic adventures of a couple of boy geniuses reveal much about what happened to America in the middle of theContinue

With this brilliant novel, the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us an exhilarating triumph of language and invention, a stunning novel in which the tragicomic adventures of a couple of boy geniuses reveal much about what happened to America in the middle of the twentieth century. Like Phillip Roth's American Pastoral or Don DeLillo's Underworld, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a superb novel with epic sweep, spanning continents and eras, a masterwork by one of America's finest writers.
        It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun.
        The brilliant writing that has led critics to compare Michael Chabon to John Cheever and Vladimir Nabokov is everywhere apparent in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Chabon writes "like a magical spider, effortlessly spinning out elaborate webs of words that ensnare the reader," wrote Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times about Wonder Boys—and here he has created, in Joe Kavalier, a hero for the century.

Critics

  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon

    Super and less-than-superheroes: a talk with the amazing ChabonSuperhuman strength, x-ray vision, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound Superman's got it all, believes author Michael Chabon. But if Chabon were a comic book superhero hi ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon

    Super and less-than-superheroes: a talk with the amazing ChabonSuperhuman strength, x-ray vision, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound Superman's got it all, believes author Michael Chabon. But if Chabon were a comic book superhero hi ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Wed, 15 Sep 2010

7 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    Afraid it's not for me...

    While I laud the technical skill, the creativity and the deep historical research... it didn't work for me. I am moderately interested in comics, and maybe this is the problem?

    I got some of the references, but I also suppose that the book wasn't written for comics historians only. And yet, if you ... (continue)

    While I laud the technical skill, the creativity and the deep historical research... it didn't work for me. I am moderately interested in comics, and maybe this is the problem?

    I got some of the references, but I also suppose that the book wasn't written for comics historians only. And yet, if you don't take in account this angle (it's maybe the first time that literature - in the sense of books - gives homage to comics, instead of the other way around, or at least I never heard of anything similar before) what you get is one more story of a group of quirky guys (and gals) in a large American metropolis, dealing with their own quirkiness, coming of age, ghosts and secrets.

    They are also Jews, or most of them are, anyway.

    For quirky Jews, I prefer Mordercai Richler. For comics, I tend(ed) to prefer Moore. I will probably try another book from the same author, sooner or later, but I am afraid this was a bit of a dud, for me.

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    Pamar said on Jun 18, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    If you cut through the story straight to its beating heart, you'll find a loving and wonderful tribute to the magic of comic books. It's a rich, multi-layered tome full of fantastic characters and their character creations. If you've ever loved comic books, and have a penchant towards thick books an ... (continue)

    If you cut through the story straight to its beating heart, you'll find a loving and wonderful tribute to the magic of comic books. It's a rich, multi-layered tome full of fantastic characters and their character creations. If you've ever loved comic books, and have a penchant towards thick books and epic stories, don't hesitate to pick this up.

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    Danelectrico said on Dec 5, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Brilliant!

    Even if I did not love this book for being a historical novel that provides an in depth look at the origons of comic books in America, of being Jewish in America before, during, and after World War II, and the relationship between fathers and sons, I would have loved it for its insightful writing on ... (continue)

    Even if I did not love this book for being a historical novel that provides an in depth look at the origons of comic books in America, of being Jewish in America before, during, and after World War II, and the relationship between fathers and sons, I would have loved it for its insightful writing on the minutia of everyday life.

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    kensington said on Nov 12, 2006 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • A thoroughly fun journey in the, previously unknown to me, world of comics, thanks mainly to the two likeable main characters as they proceed through life. Even in sadness and through difficult moments, it was still fun to read.

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    Dylaniata said on Sep 24, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Kavalier and Clay are cousins who go into the comic writing business. The book takes places during WWII. Joe Kavalier's family managed to get him out of Germany before the more serious persecution of Jews began, and his dream was to bring, first his brother Thomas, and eventually his entire family t ... (continue)

    Kavalier and Clay are cousins who go into the comic writing business. The book takes places during WWII. Joe Kavalier's family managed to get him out of Germany before the more serious persecution of Jews began, and his dream was to bring, first his brother Thomas, and eventually his entire family to the United States to join him. We follow the comic-writing careers and the personal lives of both men. It is a serious book, subtle humor creeps in as well.

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    Missmath144 said on Feb 3, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

  • A Great read

    Really opens the world of the comic book creators of the 1940s and 1950s.

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    Gary said on Aug 19, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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9780613554015 School & Library Binding $28.20 -- The Book Depository
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