Rating: 
Summary: A Truly Amazing Adventure
Review: I don't agree with the review below, after all, the reviewer never finished the book. Chabon's first two novels are absolutely wonderful, but "Kavalier and Clay" is a masterpiece. I admire Chabon for his daring, for his vocabulary, and for his extreme devotion to wonderful characters who are almost always sentimental, longing for the past and terrified of the future.
Rating:
Summary: An epic with heart
Review: It's about time somebody mined the rich, fascinating history of comic books for a "great American novel." Michael Chabon's latest is a rollicking meditation on family, love and vengeance, all set in the 1930s to 1950s golden age of comic books. This novel roams the globe from New York to Prague to Antarctica, telling the story of Josef Kavalier and Sam Clay, boy geniuses who create the strapping Escapist, who goes on to become one of the great superheroes. But this isn't just about comics - it's about both Kavalier and Clay's journeys to find themselves, Kavalier facing his Jewish expatriate past and hatred of Nazi germany, while Clay wrestles with his own sexuality. A beautiful, riveting novel in Chabon's florid, insightful and ALIVE prose - if you liked his "Wonder Boys," you'll love this!
Rating:
Summary: Another Reader
Review: This is an amazing book from one of, if not, the most talented writers in America today. If you want to be lifted away on a magic carpet ride of adventures, beautiful and hauntingly accurate descriptions of people and places, humor, pathos, intriguing facts, in depth history, and real human relationships, then read this book. It will be well worth your time. If you want straight plot with no delicious decriptions or wonderful and tantalizing prose, as it appears another "reader" does than go to the grocery store and buy some Tom Clancy.
Rating:
Summary: Delerious Magical World of Comics
Review: A huge, magical book, full of humour, poignancy, and startlingly acute observation. The language is imaginative and almost musical, like jazz riffs that carry you along new paths of pleasure. It explores worlds of heartbreak, but fills you with delight and laughter at the same time. A completely engrossing, enchanting book.
Rating: 
Summary: No
Review: I tried to read this, but gave up. I can't stand florid writing. If you love florid writing, this is your dream. There is no one more florid than Michael Chabon. Jonathan Braine in his book on novel writing, said that in his highly regarded novels he tried never to use an adjective. Chabon LOVES those adjectives. Hemingway in "A Moveable Feast" relates advice given him (I think by Ezra Pound) to use adjectives very sparingly. There is Hemingway heeding advice that Chabon fails to. Oh, and Chabon loves cliches, too. But he's no Theodore Dreiser whose over-all impact transcends the clumsiness of some of the word-for-word writing. I want to like Chabon. I really do. I think he portrays characters with kindness and sensitivity, when so many writers--like Tom Wolfe--traffic mainly in brutal and/or shallow portraits of people. I mean, I imagine Chabon makes for a great friend! But the way he delivers those characters makes me grind my teeth. The "NY Times" raved about this, so Chabon will shortly become THE literary dude of the moment. And, again, if florid writing, and purple prose, and adjectives and cliches are your thing, by all means click that shopping cart!!
Rating:
Summary: A boffo book
Review: When young Josef Kavalier arrives at his aunt's house in Brooklyn, he has already achieved one escape of note. Denied the right to leave 1939 Prague despite the fact that his family has bankrupted itself to pay the right bribes, he makes a surprise exit to the east, packed in a coffin with that mystical Jewish monster, the Golem. It is not surprising that he and his New York cousin Sammy Klayman seem to have dwell on the same planet. The two young men's mutual interest in magic, heroes, and the triumph of good over evil send them right into the dotcom of its time - the comic book market. Their hero, the Escapist, is the first graphic hero to battle real villains - the Nazis - and before the U.S. had entered the war this gave this masked man an edge that made him very popular, and both Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay quite rich. Joe wants the money to buy his family out of Europe. Sammy wants wealth with the hunger of the outsider who wants his piece of the American dream. Character-filled, youthful, busy, bursting with opportunity, New York is the place to be, and comic books the line of work to be in. Michael Chabon's portrait of the city at a golden time between the Depression and a World War is as delightful his hopeful characters, only one of whom has any idea of what might be coming.You'll care about these guys, worry about Joe's family, Sam's sexual proclivities, and what will happen to them when the war is over and the superhero craze is at an end. Theirs is a funny and heartbreaking journey, guided more than they know by memory, hope, and magic.
Rating:
Summary: The Great American Novel.
Review: I'm no lover of comic books. My husband indulges this fancy far too much, to my mind, and I certainly didn't expect to enjoy this novel so profoundly. I didn't expect to fall absolutely and totally in love. Chabon has fulfilled the promise he exhibited in his previous novels and short stories. With this towering literary acheivement he proves once and for all that he is that miraculous thing, a great writer. In Joe Kavalier Chabon has created a romantic hero -- a superhero -- with grace and strength and charm galore, whose foibles make him all the more admirable and attractive. And Rosa -- I want to BE Rosa Saks. Buy this book. Read it twice. Make everyone you know do the same.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant look at the golden age of 20th century culture.
Review: Okay, I'll come clean. My name is listed in the author's note. But that aside, Michael Chabon's newest novel remains a supreme achievement even for this highly acclaimed author (Wonder Boys, Werewolves in Their Youth, Mysteries of Pittsburgh). Don't confuse this with a comic book story--though that fledgling industry provides an astonishing backdrop. It's rich and deep and calls us to relive the mid-20th century through the eyes of captivating characters. Chabon is an acknowledged master of exquisite prose, and this book reveals why. Beautiful. Vibrant. Painfully authentic. Deeply moving. And fun.
Rating:
Summary: A serious novel that manages to be full of joy and mirth
Review: This is the first book I've read in a very long time that manages to convey a sense of genuine realism and emotion without descending to the sort of maudlin hand wringing that many authors seem to think is required if their novel is to be taken seriously. Kavalier and Clay are two Jewish cousins, one a refuge from Nazi occupied Prague, the other a kid from Brookland. Together they create one of the first superheroes of the golden age of comics. The plot is original and touching and although the protagonists are put through the ringer, you get the sense when the book is done that things will, ultimately, work out. One of the interesting things about this book is the way that it switches back and forth from being inside the heads of the protagonists and acting as if it was in some ways a scholarly research paper, complete with footnotes. The descriptions of the popularity of Houdini and other "escapists" as well as the loving detail put into the print descriptions of several comic books (surely a first in a pulitzer prize winning book) indicate that a great deal of time and effort has been put into making the book as accurate as possible within the confines of the story.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Amazing!
Review:
"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" is a work that's difficult to describe. The 600+ pages cover the years from 1937 until 1954 in the lives of Josef Kavalier and Sammy Clayman, two Jewish cousins and best friends. Kavalier flees Prague in 1937 under intriguing circumstances (that are too good to give away), and ends up with Sammy's family (Sammy's mother and both boys' grandmother) in New York City. They're poor, they're approximately the same age (17 at the beginning of the novel), and they both have dreams of bringing the rest of Josef's family to America before the anti-Semitism burbling in Central Europe does more harm to the family.
Through happenstance, careful planning, and skill, the two boys end up creating a super hero comic book. Their hero, "The Escapist," fights crimes with the talents of an escape artist (a career that Joe once aspired to) and eventually superhuman strength. He wears a mask (of course), and a blue suit with a gold key emblem emblazoned on his chest. The book uses as a template the careers of many Golden Age comic book artists, but especially that of Siegel and Schuster, the creators of the greatest of all, Superman. Joe and Sammy work together, and The Escapist is catapulted to the top of the comics heap, originally conceived as a Nazi-fighter (before fighting Nazis was cool) and an outlet for Joe's rage and impotence, and an outlet for Sammy's creativity. They build up an entire comics company, Empire Comics, and their fights with editors, radio producers, and serial producers fuel the need for conflict in the book--as there aren't many between these two friends.
The novel follows them and their comic book creation through World War II, and into the 1950's...and it's not a smooth ride for anyone. It involves marriage, children, mysterious disappearances, and cameos from the elite of the time--everyone from Orson Welles to Salvador Dali (who nearly drowns at a "surrealist party"....and he doesn't drown in water...or even liquid for that matter) shows up, along with a Jewish Golem, Eleanor Roosevelt, and eight enormous braided rubber bands. We travel to many locations, the most exotic I've seen in a terrestrial book, but I don't want to give them away, because the locales themselves are major twists of the plot.
Now, just because this is ostensibly about comic books, many of you will be turned off--don't be. That's like saying you're not interested in "Death of a Salesman" because you don't like...uh...sales. The book is about human experience--about love, death, fear, regret, longing...but the two major players (of many) happen to be a comic book writer and artist. Now, if you happen to BE a fan of comic books, you'll love the scenes where comic books are discussed--Chabon references the Greats of all time: Schuster and Siegel themselves, Bob Kane, Gil Kane, Gardner Fox, Milton Caniff, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee....and uses them sparingly (for non-fans), but some of you may recognize the creators of Li'l Orphan Annie, Superman, Batman, Flash, Hawkman, The Human Torch, Captain America, The Sub-Mariner...this truly WAS a Golden Age; and although Chabon is careful to point out that "Golden Ages always seem to be in the past," he also says this was indeed a golden time for these people. So recently out of the Depression, not yet subjected to the full horrors of World War II, the bulk of the book is suffused with a hope that transcends the material.
Now, let's just say you're not a fan of Super-Heroes, of Escape Artists, of New York City, of the 1940's, or of Jews. Why on earth are you still reading this review? And why should you pick up "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay?" This is quite honestly the BEST novel I've read in a long time, possibly years. There were moments that made my eyes well up with tears, and scenes that had me laughing out loud. Chabon is literate, and has a beautiful style. His vocabulary is enormous, and it was delightful to read a novel that had words in it that I had to actually look up--or gather meaning from context. It was such a wonderful, active, immersing experience to read this book.
I give it my absolute highest recommendation. It made me want to create something important. Something lasting. Something I can be proud of. And I already have the cutest baby ever made, but this made me want to get out there and LIVE. This is a joyous (even when heartbreaking) book that you should make a part of your library. Read it. Another quick recommendation: "The Losers Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez -- a much shorter but lively, very entertaining book I enjoyed (a great "used" Amazon pick).
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