Rating: 
Summary: I don't see what all the fuss was about
Review: I read the reviews on Amazon (check), it won the Pulitzer Prize (check), I thoroughly enjoyed 'Wonder Boys' (check), the premise sounded interesting (check) - so I was looking forward to a great read. I started this book with a hopeful and positive frame of mind. Alas I was very disappointed. It was a huge mess of a novel that jumped all over the place in the narrative. Seemingly important and interesting plot points are not described, missed or glossed over. For example one minute they are refusing an offer to do the comic strip under the publisher's terms, the next they are actually working under those terms. It is not explained why or what lead to this change of heart. The Antarctic sidebar made no sense in terms of the story - or even what happened there. I only persevered with the book as I thought it must get better right? It won the Pulitzer, right? I don't think this book is for anyone who prefers a clean and clear narrative. I just didn't think their adventures were amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful fiction
Review: The much-lauded "Kavalier and Clay" deserves all of the praise it has received. The prose is lovely and fresh, descriptive without being overdone. This is one of the best novels written in recent years.Set in the turmoil of the times surrounding WWII, also the "Golden Age of Comics", a story unfolds of two young men who are trying to succeed in the comic book industry, and by so doing, save themselves. Chabon explores the reasons for the popularity of superhero comics, namely among disenfranchised young men, without isolating readers who are uninterested in men in tights. He is so on target with human emotion and the drama inherent in life that one cannot help but feel for his characters. Joe Kavalier is a particularly captivating creation, a hero, and a hero more fascinating than any of his own paper progeny. Enough has been written of the plot without my adding to it. I mostly just wanted to express appreciation for the only adult novel I've come across in recent months that was original, exciting, and great. There's a reason that this book won the Pulitzer.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good - but not as good as the reviews
Review: Over 600 pages and I still managed to finish the book. I guess that says something in itself. The story encompassed numerous sub-stories that were in themselves fascinating: Comic Book Characters - Jews escaping from Nazi controlled Europe - World War 2 - The South Pole - Saving the Family - Homosexuality during oppressive times - Sons and Fathers - The Golom of Prague - New York City - Long Island Suburbs - Senate Sub-Committees. Wow, that's a lot of material. However, after 500 pages I was still waiting for that "something" to happen that would make me cry (as one reviewer put it) or at least would pull the entire story together. Sorry, but after finishing the 600+ pages it still hadn't happened for me. A very good book - yes. Did it need 600 pages - no. A Pulitzer Prize? I don't think so.
Rating:
Summary: Not understanding the hype
Review: I became interested in this book after reading a Rolling Stone article on the author. It turns out that the magazine article was more interesting than the book. Oh, how I wish writers got more coverage than movie and tv stars in our press, but I digress. I read 400 pages and it never got as good as the scene early on where Josef practices his "escapism" in a near frozen river in Prague. So what's the big deal about this book, to win the Pulitzer Prize? The author has obvious writing talent, but let me tell you, it's just not too interesting. And I thought a fun subject like comic books would be! Then I thought of the problem with the movie "Wonder Boys". Everyone who saw it said "you know, I didn't really like it, but I think you will". Turns out I didn't, and I did not know why until I read my 400 pages of K&C....like "Wonder Boys", K&C has characters that are not that incredibly interesting or likable! I kept plodding on, thinking that I should finish, and finally I realized that I did not really care what happened. I'm reading a Pete Dexter book now and am very happy, try one. And just listen to the Bob Dylan song from "Wonder Boys" as long as I'm giving suggestions.
Rating:
Summary: No escaping Chabon's brilliance...
Review: This is the first book I've read by Michael Chabon, but I can already say he's one of my favorite contemporary writers. "Kavalier and Clay" is a long, fat, engrossing and enjoyable story. If you like John Irving, or Charles Dickens, give this one a shot. You'll be glad you did. Chabon's writing is stylistically dazzling. His sentences are like coiled, brightly-colored image-confetti that you can just keep pulling and pulling, without ever seeming to reach an end. The style, as with much of everything else about this novel, verges on the excessive, without ever tipping the balance. Chabon uses the strong mortor of his sense of plotting and character to sandwich together his long, image-choked sentences, and the result is a structure of truly amazing proportions. If you're looking for a really great book, one that will exercise your imagination, your heart, and your mind all at once, one that manages to be as heavy as lead and light as air, this is the one.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated!
Review: Honestly, I don't know why this book won the Pulitzer. I checked it out of the library because it was on the bestseller list forever and the author is from Berkeley, near where I live. I liked about the first third and then it went downhill from there. It starts out really interesting, with great historical perspective on Jewish life in Prague pre-WW2. And I'll hand it to Chabon, the characters are well developed as well. However, after the first third of the book, I started to lose patience. The guy needs an editor basically. Any book with page-long paragraphs and 75-word sentences doesn't float my boat. I got a headache every time I tried to read it. Another thing that bothered me is that Chabon inserts a lot of historical references without explaining them, doing a lot of name-dropping of political and historic and artistic (I'm guessing) figures from the 30s and 40s. But I honestly didn't know who the hell half of the people he referred to were, and you probably wouldn't unless you had lived in that era yourself. Another thing that threw me about the book is that it's supposed to read as though it's a true story, but it doesn't really work; you're aware it's fiction. Then, about every 30 pages or so, he throws in a footnote in the style of Nabokov's "Pale Fire" to make the book look as though it's a true story. I wasn't convinced. And I'm sorry, but for a book where not all that much happens, why does it have to be over 600 pages? Honestly, if my book club weren't discussing this book, I would have abandoned it about halfway through. Most friends I know that tried to read it did the same. Maybe because "The Wonder Boys" was so acclaimed, the editors of this one basically didn't touch it? I don't know ... but I'd check it out of the library if you're interested in it. I'd like to read "Wonder Boys," by all accounts a better book.
Rating:
Summary: Pow! Zap! Bam!
Review: You know the disappointment that overcomes you when you take in something that received some major award (be it movie, book, play, album), and end up leaving deep, painful gouges in your head from scratching it, dully repeating in the corner "How did THAT win the Oscar/Pulitzer/Emmy/Grammy/Tony???" I put off reading THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY in anticipation of those painful scratch-marks. I'm so happy to report that the only regret I have about this novel is that I waited to read it! This is exhilerating fiction, deeply satisfying to read and unforgettable once read. From the opening paragraph to the last word, this novel is a knockout. Chabon writes with the bold narrative colors of a comic book, and just when you feel breathless from keeping up with the beautiful zest of the plot, you blink and realize you've just read a staggeringly beautiful paragraph, something stately and perfect, both in construction and execution. The characters are lovingly drawn, full of flaws and hopes that you cannot help but love, and their adventures are indeed amazing. Able to leap through Nazi occupation in Europe to the new and exciting comics industry in New York, faster than a speeding bullet, this is fiction that will stay with you long after you read it. To read this novel is to become its champion; you will find yourself recommending it long before you've finished it (and long after as well). I can't recommend it more heartily.
Rating:
Summary: A peak at a slice of NYC life in the 1940s
Review: In this book, Chabon provides a tantalizing array of characters going about their lives in Europe and NYC during 1940s. Much of the book is about the growth of the comic book industry and its role in American propoganda preceding and during WW2 but to say that this is a book about the golden age of the comic book industry would be missing the point. Much of the book is also about the central character's dream of rescuing his family from Hitler's war machine but again to say that this is a book about Jewish American families preceding and during WW2 would be missing the point. Much of the book is about one character's search for his sexual identity in a society that was not tolerant but to say that this is a book about a gay man's life in the 1940s would be missing the point. As other reviewers note, this is a long and meandering work that earned the author a Pulitzer Prize. Chabon writes beautifully and this reader found himself lost in world of historical fiction in which this work is set. The pace is terrific and the story is not only entertaining but educational. This is the first Chabon book I have read. I plan to read all of his other work now which I suppose says it all.
Rating: 
Summary: Chabon masterfully weaves a tale of life and comics
Review: Being a comic book fan, and aspiring writer, Kavalier and Clay was an absolute pleasure to read. The book masterfully uses the golden age of comic books as a backdrop for the extraordinary story of two young men. Despite the comic book theme, Kavalier and Clay can easily be enjoyed by non-comic readers. I highly recommend this book for the coming winter months. It's a lengthy tale that will fully engross you in the lives of two young dreamers as they stake their fortune in the tumultuous period of World War II.
You're probably wondering why I only gave this book 4 stars. The reason is simple - Wonder Boys. My first introduction to Michael Chabon will always be my favorite. But The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay has cemented Chabon's place on my list of favorite authors. If you have an avid reader in the family, I recommend this novel over a Grisham or Clancy novel anyday.
Rating:
Summary: Simply The Best Book I've Read in Years
Review: This is a warm, wise and humane book. If you have ever dared to dream, or to remake the world through art, then this is the book for you. Be warned, though, that this is not a candy-coated romp through the Golden Age of Americana. Cabon's novel is too real and too smart for that kind of cheap effect. I quote Ray Bradbury's injunction when excited by art: "read it, and live forever."
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