Book Review
Sep. 24th, 2005 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
This is one of the best books I've read, and I enthusiastically recommend it to everybody. Especially if you like comics (you know who you are). Opening in 1939, it tells the story of Sam Clay, native New Yorker, and his cousin Joe Kavalier, who has escaped from Nazi-occupied Prague and made his way to America. Together, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, a superhero comic that becomes wildly successful. The story of these two men, their lives, and their superhero creations is entirely engaging from start to finish. One of the signs, for me, of Chabon's genius was the fact that he wrote about these people in such a way that I was able to gain deep insight into their innermost characters, not because Chabon explained their inner psychology, but because he wrote about them so convincingly, so clearly, and so plain well. The novel also makes some beautiful points about the relationship between art and escapism, what it really is to be able to escape from one's own chains, and how important this all can be to people's lives. I could say a lot more about it all, but I really don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it yet. (I might add some spoiler-laden thoughts later in the comments, though.)
by Michael Chabon
This is one of the best books I've read, and I enthusiastically recommend it to everybody. Especially if you like comics (you know who you are). Opening in 1939, it tells the story of Sam Clay, native New Yorker, and his cousin Joe Kavalier, who has escaped from Nazi-occupied Prague and made his way to America. Together, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, a superhero comic that becomes wildly successful. The story of these two men, their lives, and their superhero creations is entirely engaging from start to finish. One of the signs, for me, of Chabon's genius was the fact that he wrote about these people in such a way that I was able to gain deep insight into their innermost characters, not because Chabon explained their inner psychology, but because he wrote about them so convincingly, so clearly, and so plain well. The novel also makes some beautiful points about the relationship between art and escapism, what it really is to be able to escape from one's own chains, and how important this all can be to people's lives. I could say a lot more about it all, but I really don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it yet. (I might add some spoiler-laden thoughts later in the comments, though.)
