Rating: 
Summary: Impossible to Put Down
Review: I picked this book up off my father's shelf, after he'd tried and failed to read this book. He warned me, saying that it was drawn out and unreadable. To my great happiness, and his chagrin, I loved it. I spent all the time that I had alloted for myself to studying for finals on reading this book. My grades suffered a bit, but my mind did not. Although I'm wary of giving away too much plot, the main story is of two cousins who follow their dream in creating a comic book, and the story of their lives from that point on. At the same time, the book explors the themes of dreams, escapism, and individuality. It paints a great picture of life from 1930-195?. This book was exciting to read because of its wonderful language, ambling pace (which draws the reader in, further and further), and characters to which the reader can easily relate. I'm a voracious reader, and I have to say that it is one of the best books, if not the best book I've read as far as I can rememmber. Don't hesitate to pick this up. At the least, you'll adore it, and at the most, it'll change the way you look at your life and the world around you.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing adventure tale
Review: As Hitler conquers Europe, the Golden Age of Comic Books invades the United States in this story full of flight, transformation, and escape. Two Jewish cousins team up to make their mark on both continents. Artist Josef Kavalier arrives in New York City in 1939, having used his magician's training to smuggle himself out of Prague. His younger cousin, seventeen-year-old Sammy Klayman, has dreamed of escaping Brooklyn his whole life. When Sammy's boss approves a new comic book series, Kavalier and Clay (Klayman) together begin to brainstorm ideas for their superhero. What motivates their hero? The duo quickly creates The Escapist, whose mission is to rescue people everywhere from oppression. Taking on Hitler in their first issue, their success soon provides the money that Sammy and Joe need to seek their disparate dreams. When Joe falls under the spell of Rosa Saks, she inspires a new character, Luna Moth. Joe's repeated failures to rescue his family from Europe, Sammy's shame for his homosexual encounters, and Rosa's secret pregnancy bring about more transformations, flights, and escapes. Chabon, author of Wonder Boys (Villard, 1995) delivers rich prose that is a far cry from the monosyllabic speech bubbles of Batman. This book has the heft of an epic and fulfills that promise with descriptions of Houdini-esque escape, comic book history, an intriguing plot, wry humor, snappy dialogue, and numerous heroes and villains. Mature teens will enjoy the hows and whats of this book, but it is the motivation of the characters, the question of "Why?" that will keep them flipping the pages of this winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting.....
Review: The story takes place during and post World War II. Two young men are tyring to 'make it' in New York as comic book writer and artist. Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay are cousins who have combined their talents together in order to create superhero characters that fight evil. Joe is a Jewish artist who escaped from Prague away from the Nazis and posesses the talen for art, while Sammy Clay born and raised in Brooklyn who has an increadible imagination and a knack for creating stories for the comics. It had been Sam's longtime dream to create a comic that would be a commercial success but lacked artistic talent, which Joe was able to provide. While they enjoy success as comic book creators, they face with many person obstacles that greatly change their lives. Joe's desparate tries to bring his familiy who are left in Prague and his extreme hatred towards the Nazis for the demise of his familiy is translated into his work and decisions in life. Sam struggles with his personal identity as a gay man in the 1940's and 50's. The two men with very different backgrounds and characters come together throught the medium of comic books, together face greedy editors and owners of the comic. Their lives diverge again after Joe enlists to fight the Germans while Sam picks up the pieces of his life as well as the pieces Joe left behind (I won't give what that is away here).
This is a great book if you are looking for writing that is mature and packed with vivid imagery. The story is constantly moving keeping you on your toes. I did think story line moved a little slower towards the end, but the first part of the captured my attention and sustained me throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: A great novel, especially for fans of NYC & comic books
Review: This is the first time I've read Chabon's work - I was very impressed. This is an excellent read, with a number of delicate touches -- the character of Sammy Clay is sensitively and humanely constructed, as are most of the supporting characters. I must admit I felt Josef Kavalier was more difficult to understand and empathize with (the novel bogs down a bit about two-thirds of the way through, where the focus is on Joe). As someone fascinated with the history of New York City and with comic books in general, I found the story well researched and exceptionally well told.
Rating:
Summary: District
Review: More amazing adventures follow--but reader, why spoil the fun? Suffice to say, Michael Chabon writes novels like the Escapist busts
locks. Previous books such as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys have prose of equal shimmer and wit, and yet here he
seems to have finally found a canvas big enough for his gifts. The whole enterprise seems animated by love: for his alternately deluded,
damaged, and painfully sincere characters; for the quirks and curious innocence of tough-talking wartime New York; and, above all, for
comics themselves, "the inspirations and lucubrations of five hundred aging boys dreaming as hard as they could." Far from negating
such pleasures, the Holocaust's presence in the novel only makes them more pressing. Art, if not capable of actually fighting evil, can at
least offer a gesture of defiance and hope--a way out, in other words, of a world gone completely mad. Comic-book critics, Joe
notices, dwell on "the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or
necessary service in life." Indeed.
Rating:
Summary: A loving Homage To Comic Books & NYC
Review: Not being a big fan of comic books,I thought I might find this book perhaps dull when disecting them. Quite the opposite,in fact,I now find myself browsing the Comic racks at bookstores. In other words,this book made me appreciate this uniquely American art form. Oh,and the two main protaginists are interesting as well. Sam Clay(Man),the fast-talking scrawny guy from Brooklyn and his opposite, Cousin Joe Kavalier,a handsome,talented artist who arrives from Prague,just escaping the Nazis and coping with the hopelessness he feels by collaberating with Sam on a "superhero" that can symbolically "rescue" both family and other Jews ,and, most importantly, help him finance his plan of bringing his brother over. Things don't turn out the way they're supposed to,and a series of real-life cliff-hangers intrudes on both Sam & Joe's lives,some for the better,some tragic. This is a long book,but worth the effort. And,if you're from NY and lived there circa 1939-54,the beautifully described landmarks and atmosphere will make you very nostalgic. My dad is now reading it,and says the descriptions are very accurate. The second half does drag a bit,but,again,stay with it- you'll be glad you did...
Rating:
Summary: The ending was bittersweet, but satisfying !!!!
Review: I read a review on this site from a person that said he/she had loved the novel, but the final chapter destroyed the experience and only gave it two stars. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so I respect this person's feelings. BUT, in my own personal opinion, the ending, as bittersweet as it was, I found it very moving and very just to the character of Sammy Clay. I won't give it away, but the man goes on a very difficult journey of self-discovery. A journey that as a gay person, just like the character, can completely understand. As for the child, he is not betrayed by the ending either, the boy gets what he truly needed, his father. I encourage, everyone to read this magnificent novel, I have been recommending it to everyone I meet since I read it a year ago. It's a stunning piece of literature. A true MUST READ !!!!
Rating:
Summary: Rich, deep, involving. A wonderful book
Review: I enjoyed just about every page of this book. It brings to life New York in the 30's, 40's and 50's, the Golden Age of Comics, and Jewish resistance to Nazism. All through the eyes of two cousins thrown together by fate and talent. Chabon's prose is accessible and multi-layered at the same time. Highly recomended.
Rating:
Summary: Dazzling and Heartbreaking -- A Great American Novel
Review: Humming with energy and by turns profoundly moving and sad, I rank "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" as one of the finest novels I have ever read. Only Joyce's "Ulysses" and Melville's "Moby Dick" have made me want to re-read a novel -- until I read this clever, sprawling, uniquely American work. Chabon understands perfectly well that what makes Americans unique is their relentless capacity to dream, to want to escape our everyday lives and be something greater than we are. He also -- surprisingly -- understands the joy of love and shameful heartbreak that faced men like Sammy Clay in the pre-Stonewall era. Others have complained about the ending betraying the rest of the novel. I have to disagree. Escaping the scars of the past with a greater sense of self and purpose is no simple magic trick. There is freedom and joy at the heart of Chabon's work, and I, for one, could not get enough of it.
Rating:
Summary: Truly amazing novel
Review: Few books move me enough to write a review, but K&K was simply incredible and may vie for the title of my favorite book ever. Michael Chabon really recreates the world of New York in the 1930s and the early comic book industry. It's an extremely colorful place with totally real, living characters. Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay are two of the most well-developed characters in literature. I feel like I knew them personally and felt for them in every step of their stories. Very few people could craft an epic tale like this and do it with such fluid storytelling and heartfelt emotion. This book won the Pulitzer prize last year and there's no guessing why. Truly amazing.
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