Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely an Amazing Book! A MUST-READ!!
Review: This book is by far the best book I have read in years, and I read dozens of books every year. I truly savored every word, relishing Chabon's amazing writing style. His ability to truly draw the reader into the middle of the story creates this aura of the awesome and fantastic. A tale of two cousins growing together in NYC during the 40's, this novel is a divine mix of history, fantasy, and revelations about what it is like to like in and try to escape from this world. Don't be scared by the size of the book, you will literally fly through the pages and finish before you realize -- and you'll wish desperately that you weren't finishing the book so soon. I'd recommend this book to any and everyone!!!
Rating:
Summary: So Damn Good
Review: I don't know, this book just clicked for me. Chabon weaves the story of two comic book creators into reality, with enough indexed information and works sited that it reads like a true accout. The story is good. I'll just put it that simply. If you give this book a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to know you.
Rating: 
Summary: It was an okay book, but...
Review: There is no doubt that Chabon has excellent writing skills? But what it comes down to when reading a novel is whether it's a good story. This story is mild. I found that I didn't really care what happened by the end. The character development was good, I knew these people, but I still didn't really care. If this were written by someone without the literary skills of Chabon it would be an absolute failure, but, Chabon was able to take a mildly interesting story (at best) and force me to give it three stars.
Rating:
Summary: wonderfull - boring - interesting - dumb
Review: that sums it up.
i had to force myself to finish, yet i was glad to have read it.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Is Not Enough
Review: If you are a fan of wit, adventure, marvelous writing, wonderful storytelling, characters that jump off the page, charming prose with depth, then this novel is for you! I am an avid reader and this is one of the most readable, memorable and wonderful books I've ever read. Plus this book is F U N and Michael Chabon is a writer's writer. ANYONE WHO GIVES THIS BOOK LESS THAN FIVE STARS IS CERTIFIABLE! It was awarded the Pulitzer and with good reason.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't make it through the middle--and I really tried!
Review: I learned long ago that seeing a book through to the bitter end is not a virtue. Too many great books, never enough time. Chabon's writing is absolutely wonderful. But...his pacing falls by the wayside with ponderous plot development and characters I just couldn't care about. Ultimately, I didn't look forward to picking up this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start - Disappointing Finish
Review: This sprawling and compelling epic is worthy of most of the exuberant praise it has received. Michael Chabon has written a tale of two prtoagonists, Sam Clayman and Josef Kavalier - two cousins who come of age during the early stages of World War II, who embark on a career as comic book creators. Their lives are influenced by their work, their loves, and the world around them. The first two thirds of the novel are written very well, and kept my interest high. Once Josef began his tour of Antarctica, I found it more difficult to suspend my disbelief. When Josef returned to the states, I often felt that the author was merely filling pages. My enjoyment level diminished. I will never find it credible that Josef would return to the family fold with such little resistance, and that Sam would finally get on that elusive train to leave those he loved the most behind. Admittedly I am being rather cryptic here, as I do not want to spoil the adventure for those who have not yet embarked. Regardless, the last quarter of the book let me down, while what preceded it is worthy of all the nascent critical acclaim.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: If Michael Chabon set out to write a book that would find itself on the syllabus of a midwest college literary course, he succeeded. If he set out to write a storyline that not only captivates readers, but holds up over the course of the novel, he stumbled along the way.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay has some of the finest writing seen in a long time. Chabon's words seem to flow in a stream of consciousness and paint elegant, seamless word pictures for the reader. But the literary quality of the writing is lost in this meandering plot. It is easy to see professors asking their students about the motivations behind the characters, the foreshadowing of the next action, the complexities of the plot. It seems as if the book were written with such a class in mind. Ultimately, what seems to be lacking in the story is a heart. Chabon wants us to care about his characters and the "adventures" they are part of, but he fails to connect the reader with the characters, as if he has forgotten how to craft a character with motivations we as readers can find compelling.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay has some very interesting parts. It is very much a rollercoaster ride, with the reader enduring long lulls of boring, flat prose and plot development, followed by a short exhilarating burst of adrenalin-pumping excitement, emotion or exposition. By the final chapter, I found myself bored with the rehashed situations and frankly flat ending. The build-up didn't reach a payoff, and ultimately, I was skimming the last 10 pages to reach the end. All in all, a disappoinment.
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly Kaptivating...!
Review: From its mythological beginnings, this is an entrancing novel of magic and heroism, love and war, spanning decades in the lives of two cartoonists and the comics that represent so much more. The plot is fragmented, bouncing around unevenly at times, but the emotions here are real and compelling, drawing you in and coaxing readers all the way through its often-bizarre transitions. This is a significant novel, evocative and startlingly well-written -- you won't regret sticking with it.
Rating:
Summary: Comics, Magic, and the American Epic Novel
Review: This is a vast, sprawling novel that features a comic book character known as "The Escapist" and the "escapist" magic world of Houdini. The metaphor of "escapism" pervades the book. People use magic and comics both to escape from the humdrum of the everyday and to have heros. During the 1930s and 1940s, as this book illustrates, people endeavored to escape from Nazi Germany and subsequently from communism. People attempt to "escape" from themselves in the book too when they deny themselves and their sexuality. The book follows the adventures of Josef Kavalier and Sammy Clay, cousins. The book and the characters are factually based, but this book, make no mistake, is a work of fiction and imagination. In a note the author tells us that "I have tried to respect history and geography whenever doing so served my purposes as a novelist, but whenever it did not I have cheerfully or with regret, ignored them." Kavalier grew up in Prague, the child of educated, assimilated Jewish parents and in Prague he studies magic and art. He escapes from Prague and joins his cousin Sammy in New York. Sammy is raised by his mother, the father having abandoned the family. Josef is a talented artist and Sammy a writer. Sammy persuades the novelty salesman for whom he works to publish a comics character he and Josef have created, "the escapist" which becomes a great commercial success. The character is initially created as a strong fighter of Hitler's Germany. Josef hopes to use the character to rescue his family in Prague. Sammy and Josef, alas, are cheated out of much of the financial reward that should have been theirs from their creation. There is a complicated love plot, as Josef meets an American woman and Sammy discovers his homosexuality. Josef enlists in the Navy and there are startling scene shifts describing his adventures in Antartica where he carries out his own war against Germany. The book is too long for its material but it mostly reads welll. Some of the finest writing is in the details with the occasional pointed metaphor. Also, the author at times departs from his story and gives us in his own voice what purports to be factual information about the comic book industry, the characters, or New York. I found this technique worked well. The characters are well developed and there are wonderful descriptions of New York City and of the comic book industry. (I liked the descriptions of Prague and Antarctica less well.) The book itself mirrors its story. It is "escapist" in that it is a robust, improbable tale different from the quiet lives most of its readers will lead. The author loves his subject, the comics in particular and New York City. He wants the reader to see the comics as something of an American art form. He is very far from persuading me to do so, but the vibrancy, liveliness, and talent of his characters is compelling. There isn't much of a focus in this book and it doesn't measure up to the epic cast that the author tries to give it. Readers that like this book might enjoy Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser. Millhuaser's book, as did this book, won a Pulitzer Prize and covers the same themes in a more succinct, evocative way. Also, Doctorow's City of God is similar to this book in the way it discusses and praises American culture (on a more highbrow level) although that book has more overtly religious themes. In spite of its shortcomings, the book is Pulitzer Prize quality. Most importantly, it shows the course and promise of American life. This is a worthy theme of an enjoyable book.
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