Rating: 
Summary: Witty, evocative, gripping--and just plain fun
Review: Both an ode to comic books and a love letter to New York City, "Kavalier and Clay" will appeal to anyone who enjoys the works of Charles Dickens, John Irving, E. L. Doctorow, and (to a lesser extent) Mark Helprin. Chabon brilliantly interweaves the story of two fictional comic-book artists and their creations, showing how their lives influence their stories and how their art in turn insinuates itself into their lives (to their success as much as to their ruin). Exciting and epic, humorous and heartwarming, the novel grabbed me with its intriguing first sentence and didn't let go until--less than 48 hours later--I mournfully reached the last page. The prose is masterful. A "flatulent poison-green river" separates Brooklyn and Manhattan; a woman boasts an "extravagant flying buttress of a nose"; a man has "skin the color of boiled newspaper." Framing these vibrant phrases are such throwaway quips as "In the immemorial style of young men under pressure, they decided to lie down for a while and waste time." Even the most seasoned writer must envy Chabon's ability to fill the novel with such vivid description and snappy witticisms, all the while keeping the action flowing at a vigorous pace. Any book this popular will have its detractors. The two most-often repeated complaints are the novel's length and florid style and its meandering second half and unresolved ending. I suppose in the age of MTV and factoids, the first objection is inevitable. (One amazon reader who apparently thinks literature began with Hemingway and ended with Carver gripes that Chabon's prose contains--heaven forbid--adjectives.) The second objection is a bit more understandable, but I'm glad that the author chose not to make his novel as tightly plotted as an Indiana Jones movie. Instead, "Kavalier and Clay" is as sprawling and unpredictable and fluid as life itself.
Rating:
Summary: As close to perfect as a novel can get
Review: When my spouse, who is picky about books to the point of seldom reading them, couldn't put this down, I knew it had to be good. It is better than that, though. Truly, one of the most engrossing, enjoyable reading experiences I've had in years. Finely drawn characters, riveting stories within stories within stories, fleshed-out settings...it really doesn't get any better than this. Despite the sheer weight of the book (it is long) I lugged it everywhere with me, reading on the subway, staying up too late, yet dreading the idea that it would end. I recommend this book to everyone. It is fabulous.
Rating:
Summary: 4.5* Superb! Let A Simile Be Like Your Umbrella
Review: If it were possible to write the Great American Novel, "escape" could easily be its theme. America was, in part, founded upon escape: from persecution, famine, and class, and, for those who came to America but were denied freedom, escape from slavery. Michael Chabon's sprawling novel, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," explores the dimensions of escape: physical and psychological, literal and metaphorical, and the complex relationship between escaping from and escaping to. The first 100 or so pages of the book are incredibly powerful. Josef Kavalier is a trained escape artist who uses his talents to leave Nazi-occupied Prague for America. The oppression and suffering are palpable, as are the humanity and suffering of the persecuted Jews. To fool the Nazis, Kavalier shares a trick casket with a golem, a clay figure of Jewish religious significance; both are symbols of the Jewish community's near-death and faith. Chabon is at his tragicomic strongest here, exquisitely recreating the atmosphere of the survival of faith against brutality. This section alone stands as a superb novella. Once in New York City, Kavalier rooms with his cousin Samuel Clayman (a pun on the golem), whose own escapes from reality yield mixed results. The two young men create the eventually wildly successful comic "The Escapist," a costumed superhero who battles evil forces and rescues the helpless in an initially vicarious exercise for Kavalier. The book is again wondrous here, detailing the low-rent, fly-by-night "enterprises" of those A.J. Liebling once described as "The "Telephone Booth Indians" (Chabon cites Liebling in the book's acknowledgements, along with several other sources that show the scope of the author's research).
About midway through, the book begins to lose some of its focus and the force of its words. Chabon's wizardry with words begins (at times) to seem gratuitous, much like his introduction of various historical figures such as Al Smith, Salvadore Dali, Orson Welles, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Senator Estes Kefauver (I was glad to find that Chabon restrained himself from somehow including American icons Billie Holliday and Joe Dimaggio as well.) To be fair, though, I have a bias against this style; others will enjoy the inclusion of these characters as well as a glimpse into the mechanics of the 1939 World's Fair). In addition, the historical allusions and footnotes add to the book's verisimilitude. Chabon's spiraling, cascading sentences sometimes work magic, but sometimes seem to ignore Agatha Christie's literary dictum to "kill your darlings." At worst, the prose seems self-indulgent and congratulatory, much like the showy magicians that Kavalier's Prague teacher so disdains. Chabon's voice is so distinctive, his sentences so dazzling, that at times he almost parodies himself, and one is tempted to imagine sentences with his style and diction ("effluvium," and "detritus" come immediately to mind. The unpredictable becomes predictable; the writing seems out-of-touch and wearily linear, like an overly long drum solo or a beloved but stale verbal heirloom. The last thematic section portrays Kavalier's psychological escape, from his loved ones and from himself, as tragedy hits him. His much-criticized (among reviewers here) retreat to Antarctica is actually fairly interesting, especially if taken on a more metaphorical level, and it sets up the other theme of the book, where and how does one return after escaping. Joe Kavalier's largely unexplored 11-year absence is not as irritating when taken as a symbol of retreat after his traumatic WW11 experiences, and this last section's largesse (about reversing an escape from home to the psychological commitment journey towards belonging and reconciliation) is described with almost the same power and restraint that Chabon shows in the opening Prague scenes. (Later sections on Joe's Empire State Building escapade and the Senate hearing on comic books are somewhat superfluous.) That the characters don't develop much during this 11-year sleep is Chabon's on-target indictment of suburbia, the conformity of the 50's, and the habit-born comforts and gnawing disillusionment that equally inhabit the borders of approaching middle age. Only Joe's love interest, Rosa Saks, lacks sufficient depth here. I cannot imagine her earlier spirit so vulnerable to the effluvium of habit, a miasma pouring like ether from a culture too tired to question itself (as Chabon, though with greater skill, might put it. It must be fun to have Chabon's godlike creative productivity...so many structures and words from which to choose). Wouldn't Rosa have at least explored the new directions in arts and literature?
Because of these faults and annoyances, I dock the book a half-point, but this is a superb, imaginative book well deserving of its accolades and Pulitzer. One may like it even more if one is not familiar with his earlier works, because the literary fireworks will seem less familiar (as was my own experience with reading his beautiful, astonishingly good debut novel, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh"). Very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: I am so glad I found this writer
Review: This may be one of the very few books I have read in my life that I could thoroughly enjoy reading again. That group of books is very small and includes: The Secret Garden (from childhood), 3 readings; Wuthering Heights (from young adulthood), 4 readings; and History, a Novel (from full adulthood), 5 readings. This is one of those rare books you can crawl into and live for a while, emerging blinking at the light and slightly sad you have reached the last page, but a better person for having spent time there. I truly look forward to more and more from this young writer.
Rating:
Summary: Dog-hide flying machines and broken rubberbands
Review: I usually stay away from award winning novels and movies, only because I think many times awards are given to the wrong people. Like a couple years ago Russell Crowe won best actor for Gladiator. Come on. He barely said ten words the whole film. It was ridiculous. And, jumping back in the past a bit, Thomas Pynchon was snubbed for Gravity's Rainbow. They called it an anti-novel. Anyway, I picked up Kavalier and Clay because I worked at a bookstore at the time, and I couldn't keep my eyes off it. Also, I'm a comic book fan, so I figured I'd take a chance. It was definitely worth it. Chabon's style is very smooth, and, for this book, he had a comic book flare for telling the story. Scenes were short and choppy in certain areas, and in others long and drawn out with flashes into the chararcters' pasts in order to draw the reader ever deeper into their lives. He really was able to breathe life into these characters, painting one of the most poignant tapestries of the post-modern, surrealistic, and atomic age I've ever had the pleasure to read. As soon as I finished, I wanted to have another go at it.
Rating: 
Summary: The first half sizzled, the second half fizzled
Review: Chabon's writing is undoubtably talented and imaginative, yet I found his storytelling ( as in Wonder Boys) to be not compelling enough to make me want to keep reading. I lost interest in the characters' lives because the story turned flat and somewhat predictable, and well, basically boring. It was as if another writer took over for the second half. The first, with the descriptions of pre WWII Europe and the stories about the magic stunts was worth everything and I recommend reading the book for those rich parts in the first half. I cared, I cried, I loved those parts. And I was so disappointed with the way the book's energy and creativity seemed to melt away into a movie of the week.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised Pulitzer winner
Review: I read a review of this book in the Bangkok Post one lazy sunday afternoon and was intrigued that a book based on such a strange story could win a Pulitzer. I was intrigued enough to go out and buy the book during a recent trip to Malaysia and even more excited after reading the book. The subject is unlike any story I have read - it takes place around two boys that make it big in the comic business, during the ups and downs of WWII, Europe and New York. The characters are amazing and the writing flowing nicely. It is nice to just accidentally pick up such a book and enjoy it so much.
Rating: 
Summary: Enchanting, captivating, liberating
Review: This thoroughly enjoyable, completely engrossing novel tells the story of 2 cousins - New Yorker Sam Clay and refugee (from Prague, via Japan, in only one of his many "amazing adventures" ) Josef Kavalier - and how their hopes and dreams play out in the comic books they write and in their real lives in mid-century New York. The author displays an encyclopedic knowledge of the "golden age" of superhero comic books, but you don't have to be a comic fan to enjoy this warm, surprisingly intimate story. As a Jewish person, I was more struck by the use of Jewish (but not religious) characters, references to golems, and the looming Nazi threat in the years leading to and during the Second World War. The author loves his characters, and brilliantly evokes the physical, historical, and emotional world they inhabit through careful attention to sights, sounds, and smells. The story falters about ¾ of the way through, but recovers, and reaches a conclusion that is true to the characters and to the themes of magic, captivity, and escape expressed throughout.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written!
Review: Fabulous prose in every sentence of the book. I truly enjoyed following this comedy/drama with its many great literary illustrations. You will certainly not be bored with this book! Although this is over 600 pages, it is a quick & fun ride!
Rating:
Summary: PURE MAGIC
Review: Read this book.
It will change your life the way Velazquez paintings, excerpts from Nietzsche, the Emperor Concerto (pg. 253) and the passages of time, family and love, war and peace have changed Josef Kavalier's.
Quite possibly the most eloquent and beautiful account of life the english language will ever see...
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