The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay 117
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay | |
author | Michael Chabon |
pages | 636 pages |
publisher | Picador USA (paperback edition) |
rating | Excellent |
reviewer | Frank Krasicki |
ISBN | 0312282990 |
summary | A convincing historical fiction of the Golden Age of Comics |
As someone who grew up reading comics during the Silver Age of Comics (approximately 1958 - 1970 or so), I was fortunate to own, read, and come to love the comics from the Golden Age (approximately 1939 - 1949 or so). Michael Chabon's novel spans the years from 1939 through the mid-fifties and comic books are the thematic motif he uses as a vehicle to explore that time and that jaw-dropping social innocence. Anyone who has even a passing interest in comic books and their origin will enjoy this book. In it, Chabon creates a convincing parallel universe that includes a historical facsimile of what the Golden Age of Comic books may have been like.
This is a book that explores the very big ideas of human transformation, Jewish mysticism, and the subtle variations on the concept of escape, all sugar-coated in rich layers of wishful but impossible remembrance.
The setting of the book is a mythical New York City. Chabon revisits The Empire State Building - home of Empire comics, the General Motors pavilion of the World's Fair (1939), and a Naval base in Antarctica.
Our first hero, Samuel Louis Klayman (Clay) may as well be the skinny boy we all remember from the body building ads that illustrated a bully kicking sand into the boy's face as the ad exclaimed, "Tired of being picked on?". Clay is described as, "seventeen when the adventures began: big-mouthed, perhaps not quite as quick on his feet as he liked to imagine, and tending to be, like many optimists, a little excitable. He was not in any conventional way, handsome.", "He slouched, and wore clothes badly; he always looked as though he had just been jumped for his lunch money.", and "...an omnivorous reader...". Clay is an inventory clerk at Empire Novelties Incorporated Company who occasionally gets, "to do an illustration" for an ad.
Josef Kavalier, on the other hand, is Clay's cousin who, in 1939, escapes from German occupied Prague via Asia, Japan, and finally San Francisco to Brooklyn, NY. Josef arrives believing that Sam is a commercial artist who can get him a job doing the same thing.
Joe is older than Sam. He is nearly nineteen and his hobby is stage magic and it is learned from Bernard Kornblum, "an 'eastern Jew, bone-thin, with a bushy red-beard". It is Kornblum who smuggles Josef Kavalier out of Prague along with the clay body of a giant-sized, androgynous Golem disguised as a cadaver. The Golem's casket is Joe's first significant escape. The character of Josef Kavalier will remind older readers of Jerzy Kozinski, author of The Painted Bird whose late night television appearances in the 1960's recounted his own talent for hiding from the authorities.
Once Sammy discovers Joe's ability to draw, he announces, "... I'll tell you what. I'm going to do better than just get you a job drawing the Gravmonica Friction-Powered Mouth Organ, all right? I'm going to get us into the big money." From here on forward, the young men team up to become Kavalier and Clay. The analogy to Golden Age comic's masters such as Simon and Kirby, Siegel and Shuster, and others is unmistakable and, in the hands of Chabon becomes a transcendent metafiction that is replete with real and manufactured historical acknowledgments that will have many readers rubbing their chins in admiration of the precision of Chabon's clever inventions.
Kavalier and Clay create a comic book character called The Escapist. Their comic quickly rivals the economic success of Superman and Captain Marvel. In the hands of Kavalier and Clay The Escapist becomes a vehicle through which Joe Kavalier expresses his hatred of Hitler and all things Nazi. Chabon uses The Escapist comic book as a vehicle to meticulously describe the historical development most comic book heroes explored from the early forties until the Congressional hearings that challenged the influence of comics on children and eventually, temporarily, censored the industry.
Concurrent to describing the evolution of The Escapist from comic book sensation to radio show and product merchandising windfall, Chabon traces Kavalier and Clay as their lives are woven by their venture.
The third, main character is Rosa Saks who is first a model for Joe Kavalier, then lover, and eventually a romance comic book creator. In a perfectly plausible subplot, she first engages Joe Kavalier to underwrite the cost of helping Jewish children escape from occupied territories on a ship called the Ark of Miriam in an effort to save his own brother Thomas.
Rosa also becomes the inspiration for The Luna Moth, a female superhero comic book that expanded the number of titles Kavalier and Clay created. "Luna Moth was a creature of the night, of the Other Worlds, of mystic regions where evil worked by means of spells and curses instead of bullets, torpedoes, or shells. Luna fought in the wonderworld against specters and demons, and defended all us unsuspecting dreamers against attack from the dark realms of sleep." Rosa falls in love with Joe as his art blossoms in The Luna Moth. A footnote informs us that, "Thirty years later" The Weird Worlds of the Luna Moth "quickly became a head-shop bestseller".
Sam Clay, on the other hand, discovers his homosexual preference. Through Sam Clay, Chabon explores the social mores of that time and masterfully examines the topic as a third rail subject pertaining to the comics industry.
Further adventures and life complications evolve these characters - too many to describe without spoiling the fun of reading. This is an entirely pleasant and entertaining book that is nothing more or less than a light, leisurely read assuming you have an interest in the general topic or historical period.
I will add that, like the comics of that time, there is nothing heavy about the reading despite the introduction and resolution of a remarkable pastiche of sublime themes and subplots. These are all handled with a genuine love and thorough understanding of the subject matter.
In an Author's Note, Chabon closes with this remark, "Finally, I want to acknowledge the deep debt I owe in this and everything else I've ever written to the work of the late Jack Kirby, the King of Comics." The book is a wonderful tribute.
Michael Chabon's website is: http://www.michaelchabon.com/ and well worth a visit.
You can purchase The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:1)
Re:Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:1)
Re:Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:1)
uh, there's one for literature . . . (Score:1)
see here [nobel.se]
isn't that close enough? does that mean I deserve one? cool!
No Nobel prize for fiction? (Score:2)
Re:Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:1)
Thanks to all for the correction.
- krasicki
Re:Nobel prize? No! Pulitzer prize? Yes! (Score:1)
Pulitzer Prize (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2001/fiction/works
Re:Pulitzer Prize (Score:1)
Reviews? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where homer is the food critic, he says he loves everything and gives everything about 9 thumbs up. Everyone gets really fat.
I wonder if everyone of
But a serious warning here, the critic police are going to come to you and warn you not to like everything, so you will have to be really snooty and hate everything good like movie critics, and your daughters will stop writing the reviews for you.
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
-aiabx
Re:Reviews? (Score:4, Insightful)
People know that this is a free forum where shit-tons of people are going to see it.
We haven't seen the likes of "Katz", who would fucking destroy most movie reviews and glorify others that were utter shit and "we" complained. Now, we have mostly positive reviews and "we" complain.
Are you fuckers ever happy?
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
The exception will be books like Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science, where the book has such high visibility that the Slashdot community will want to hear either way, good or bad. And it got a mixed-to-negative review, as I recall.
This isn't a book-review site, so it won't be comprehensive. To make it so, we'd have 20 times as many articles as we do now, most of them with so-so or negative reviews.
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
Conqueror's Heritage by Timothy Zahn. Boring, predictable plot, didn't do anything new. Avoid.
There. That's the only book I've read in recent memory that I didn't like. And I read a
They're at the Association of C & C++ Users (Score:5, Informative)
If you're thinking of buying a technical book, it's well worth your while to check out its ACCU review just in case it turns out to be a stinker.
Here's an example of a "not recommended" review [accu.org].
here's a "highly recommended" review [accu.org].
I don't expect that the ACCU will be reviewing works of fiction, but they do reviews on quite a wide variety of subjects [accu.org] and not just C and C++.
The ACCU has some great mailing lists too. If you program in C, C++, C# or Java, you really should join.
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
IIRC, they've occasionally shown up on Slashdot.
Reviews shouldn't just be "This was very very very good and everyone should read it"...
There's over a million books in print. If you really want to go through reviews of all the lousy books out there, it'll take a long time. Why bother writing a mediocre review for "Learn C in 32 Days" when it will just get them to pick up "C in a Month"; write a review for "The C Programming Language" by K&R, so they know what to pick up.
Re:Reviews? (Score:2)
That's only if you review everything, which Slashdot patently does not. I definitely expect Game magazines to rate more games as stinkers than perfect 10's, but then they are supposed to cover every game out there. Personally, I'd rather only read reviews about good things I hadn't heard of, unless it was something that was hyped beyond belief and then flopped (Episode I, maybe
Anyway, I will admit that some of the reviews are of substantially lower quality than this one, but then I have yet to receive an invoice from Slashdot, so I'm not complaining.
--
Was it the sheep climbing onto the altar, or the cattle lowing to be slain,
or the Son of God hanging bloodied on a cross that told me this was a world condemnded, but bought with blood.
Re:Reviews? (Score:3, Insightful)
The second thing is that Slashdot needs money. If they post a negative review, not so many people are going to click that "buy the book" link at the bottom of the review. If they post a positive review they are likely to score some green.
Lastly, writing quality. These aren't pulitzer prize winning people writing the reviews. They are pulitzer prize winning books. Which means the quality of writing, while it may be quite good at times, it isn't super amazing besto. I myself am an ok writer. I tend to get As in my liberal arts classes, and I'm a CS major. And occasionally I'll write a review of something, usually software. And I know that if I didn't like what I'm reviewing the quality of my writing is far less than the quality when I write a positive review. I don't know why. It might have something to do with all the insults, like "This piece of crap was a totally shitty piece of crap." So assuming that people of average writing ability submit an equal number of positive and negative reviews, and that slashdot posted the ones of highest literary quality, chances are that more positive reviews would get posted than negative.
With all these factors combined you are (captain planet) bound to get very few negative reviews on front page slashdot.
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
On the other hand, I appreciate having my attention called to a *good* book which I would otherwise have been unaware of, as positive reviews tend to do.
Why tear down books (Score:1)
A restaurant critic (here in the hyper-critical world of NY restaurants and foodies) was accused of only giving good reviews, and she said she gave bad reviews when places were very popular and expensive and people might need to be warned away (since they may only serve 100 dinners a night), but otherwise it was far more pleasant and a better policy to tell people where they should go.
I like this philosophy. If a book is very expensive or popularly reviewed as "good," a warning from a Slashdot reviewer might be a good thing.
Re:Reviews? (Score:1)
It is a glowing review because the work deserves it.
However, it is a long book. Had I not enjoyed it, I would not have been able to write a critical review because I wouldn't have wasted my time.
The reason I submitted it is because so many of us grew up reading science fiction and comics. This book is the motherlode of where much of the technical imagination springs from - especially when it comes to games, heroes, and archetypes.
Finally, this is an older book that I didn't get around to reading because of my schedule. Again, I'm grateful that slashdot links it because usually only brand new stuff gets consideration and this book slipped under my reading radar for quite a while.
cheers,
- krasicki
I read it (Score:2)
Re:I read it (Score:1)
Books win Pulitzers, *authors* win Nobel Prizes (Score:4, Informative)
Pulitzer not so prestigious. (Score:2)
This book was a pleasure to read (Score:1)
Re:OMG | MODS (Score:1)
That and I happen to like the Discworld series, and happen to believe that the first volumes (granted, his later work is kinda ehhh...) are good.
Michael Chabon (Score:5, Informative)
Wadam.
http://wadam.blogspot.com
Re:This is almost incoherent (Score:1)
I did have a proof-reader (not a professional) who didn't catch my Pultizer Prize brain cloud.
Writing a review of this book is extremely difficult because of the intricate plots - I did not want to spoil the fun of discovery.
Secondly, I wanted to avoid being redundant - I consciously avoided repeating the territory of previous book reviewers. I consider this review supplementary to many other excellent reviews.
My point of view in reviewing the book comes from my own love of comic books. Without that context, my review must certainly be incoherent to you and others.
The characters are archetypes for the real-life creators of the Golden Age of comics. The creation of this fictional artist/writer team create their own characters. Again, you have to love comics to understand why any of this might make sense.
By giving the geographic scope of book events I was attempting to map significant comic myth locations with Chabon's characters. Comic book fans will associate the World's Fair with Golden Age Heroes such as Captain Marvel, Superman, and so on - much as the Statue of Liberty is significant in the X-Men movie.
The book works at so many levels that there is no short, convenient summary that I can come up with. But that's why books like this are worth reading.
- krasicki
Great Book... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Great Book... (Score:2, Informative)
>> "The sequel is being written by Michael Chabon. He is currently on a bookstore tour for his latest novel, Summerland. Chabon is writing for a familiar actor. Spiderman star Tobey Maguire appeared in Wonder Boys, which was based on a Chabon book. From ComicsContinium: "I think he's wonderful," Chabon said of Maguire"
Indeed a terrific book, but... (Score:3, Informative)
His other two "major" novels, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys were also first-rate. His current effort is for younger readers, it's called Summerland. It's on my "to read" list.
Re:Indeed a terrific book, but... (Score:1)
Plus the topic of the book (war, good vs. evil, etc.) is very timely.
Re:Indeed a terrific book, but... (Score:1)
-aiabx
Re:Indeed a terrific book, but... (Score:1)
Slashdot Subscribers Now See the Past (Score:2)
Subscribers now see stories posted on Slashdot from The Mysterious Past! These stories are recognizable by the familiar green title bar and the addition of a time stamp set several years after the publication the item being reviewed. Subscribers will be able to avoid the rush and read the links long after everyone else.
(Okay, I kid, I kid. K&K is a wonderful book and it's nice to see it getting some love on Slashdot, but the late timing of the review *does* strike me as a bit odd...)
Great Book (Score:1)
Then angain, I'd reccomned it to everyone!
Best book I've read in recent years (Score:3, Interesting)
It's an epic tale, with characters who engaged my interest far beyond my completion of the novel - I even named the computers on my network after them (I'm such a geek).
You don't need to be interested in comics to enjoy the story (I've recommended it to several people, including my wife, who have all enjoyed it). You've got youth, mystery, sex (of all sorts), death, middle age, innocence, corruption, politics, and more; there's something in it for just about anybody.
My only complaint is that it's so well written, you don't want to put it down, but the length of the book precludes reading it one sitting.
This article reads like a 9th grade book report (Score:2, Funny)
But it is nice to see that the stilted literary touch and high quality editing runs in the family
Re:This article reads like a 9th grade book report (Score:5, Insightful)
Fundamentally, both of the main characters are incomplete and ineffectual alone, but together they form a perfect whole. The task of both Kavalier and Clay is to become complete indviduals. At it's simplest, Kavalier the artist and Clay the writer, join to create a complete work, The Escapist.
Further, is the recurring theme of the Golem (a man mad of clay). Kavalier, uses the Golem to escape Nazi occupied Eastern Europe. But then continues to use the man of Clay (note the capital C) to succeed in America.
Clay, on the other hand, is only able to assert himself and use his natural brialliance when joined with the talented, worldly, and handsome Kavalier. Whenever, this bond is loosened Clay is simply buffeted around by events.
Finally, we must look at the primary comic book character they created, The Escapist. An amalgam of the two men; The Escapist blends the skills (magic) of Kavalier, and the desires (Escapism) of Clay.
This complex novel of growth is mirrored by the world of comic books, from the original juvenalia of the early 30's to the complex (some thought dangerous) works of the 50's.
When war sunders the partnership, both men wallow. Clay in suburbia and Kavalier in the Antartic and later New York. Finally, there is an explosive moment of growth. Clay acknowledges his homosexuality, rejects his dependence on others, (vindicates himself and the comic book industry), and pursues a career in Hollywood. Kavalier, returns to the woman he loves (who ultimately "completes him" (sorry)). And the Golem is undone.
This book is enjoyable at the surface in showing the golden age of comic books (even Stan Lee makes an appearance) and WWII America, but it's a disservice to the author and yourself to not look deeper. I have made only the slightest scratch (possibly wrong) in this complex work. Enjoy.
Review (Score:2)
Book review for book that came out 2 years ago? (Score:2)
Huh?
Re:Book review for book that came out 2 years ago? (Score:1)
of course (Score:2)
37 Posts in Half an Hour... (Score:2)
I do believe this story has elicited the largest collective SlashYawn of all time...
Great novel (Score:2)
Highly recommended. Nice change from the angst-ridden navel-gazing pulp we see featured by Oprah. One of the best books I've read in the last few years.
Re:Great novel (Score:1)
Re:Great novel (Score:2)
Easy read? (Score:2, Informative)
While I enjoyed the book immensely, I certainly would not call it an easy read. My advice on this one is to keep a good dictionary nearby while you read.
I like to think that I have a fairly large vocabulary, but reading this book humbled me.
Re:Easy read? (Score:1, Funny)
re: easy read? (Score:3, Insightful)
I read it shortly after it came out, mostly on the strength of an interview with Chabon that I happened across on the radio. The author struck me as an amazingly brilliant, but more importantly, interesting man. I remember he mentioned Superman, and how he was created by Jewish Americans (like the protagonists in his book). It was interesting hearing his take on Superman as being akin to a Jewish immigrant; he even has the name 'Clark Kent' as a way of fitting in, to have as WASPy a name as he could. No alien-sounding "Kal-El", no sir. Anyway, polished off K&C within about a week, but it was certainly not an easy read. I kept my collegiate dictionary handy, and I used it quite often.
I've noticed that young, intelligent men (women seem not to do this so much) often write "to impress". The writing is too self-conscious, too "look at me, ain't I brilliant?" Somebody else mentioned David Foster Wallace, and while a lot of English geeks will no doubt hate me (and think me an idiot) for saying this, I think his writing suffers from this attitude. It's a fine line to walk, I'll admit. Chabon doesn't fall into this trap, I don't think, but at times he seemed perilously close.
I recommend the book highly. I think a lot of folks here would get a lot out if it, as its extremely rich and can be enjoyed on many different levels. There was a very insightful post earlier dissecting the work, so I'll just let that one stand, as I'm sure I wouldn't be able to do a better job.
Re: easy read? (Score:1)
I have also read Wonder Boys, and it is quite different from K&C. It's also a much easier read, but I didn't like it as much.
I can't wait to read Summertime. I'm interested to see how he writes for a younger audience.
Re: easy read? (Score:1)
Re: easy read? (Score:1)
Agreed. Certain passages were so--I sound like an idiot critic for using this word--sublime that I actually had to stop what I was doing to write them down.
good stuff/bad stuff (Score:2, Interesting)
I read the book soon after it came out (and it's been out for awhile), and I thought the first half of it was excellent. Chabon's style and tone reminded me of Kerouac's The Town and the City (one of my favorites). But...I thought the second half (beginning with the scenes in Antarctica IIRC) slowed down considerably, and I actually struggled to finish the book.
I've got a soft spot for Chabon, as he went to school in my hometown, and his first book is set in the 'burgh.
Not exactly timely. (Score:2)
It's not bad. Has it's moments. Pretty post-modern so if you like Pinchot or David Foster Wallace, you might like it.
There's got to be something more timely though. Try coming up with a book I haven't already read.
Re:Not exactly timely. (Score:1)
Re:Not exactly timely. (Score:1)
Re:Not exactly timely. (Score:2)
Difficult, this book ain't.
It is post modern in the sense of a poorly defined plot conflict and a story that is driven mainly by sophisticated character portraits rather than more traditional conflicts.
Though the "pynchon" correction is quite deserved, I hope you'll forgive me for not wasting brain cells trying to remember the correct spelling of that incoherent fucks name. I wasted far too much time trying to figure out why everyone else thought he was such an incomperable genius.
Re:Not exactly timely. (Score:1)
Re:Not exactly timely. (Score:2)
Other interesting semi-geeky stuff to note: (Score:2)
Oh, and this book deserves any amount of praise heaped on it. The writing is amazing, and characters are dynamic and fully-developed. Literally, my only regret about this book (well, okay, you have to push yourself through the VERY beginning) is that it wasn't longer.
Re:Great Book (Score:1)
As for LoEG, by all means read the graphic novel, it is beautiful, creative and entertaining. Based on the latest script I suspect the movie will be none of the three.
As for other graphic novels, you can't go wrong with anything written by Moore, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bendis, David Mack, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Brian Azzarello, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Kazuo Koike, or Katsuhiro Otomo. And that's without lookign at my bookshelf.
Re:How is this "News for Nerds"? (Score:2, Insightful)
Branch out! Don't be a stereotype and enjoy all things geeky.
Re:How is this "News for Nerds"? (Score:1)
I need to mention the emotion in this book... (Score:1)
Good writer, just can't get into the book. (Score:1)
I thought this was a much tougher read, and even though I'm into comics I'm having trouble getting into it. I don't blame the book for this, but maybe my schedule... Chabon has some great moments that will have you laughing outloud and at the same time really making your brain work for the laugh.
An excellent review of a wonderful book (Score:3, Interesting)
However, I'd like to highlight something I think was treated rather lightly. This book, though fiction, provides an amazing look at societal mores of the period. It crosses back and forth over so many cultures, classes, and cliques. It is colorful and thought provoking.
Also, if you do allow yourself to ponder the issues presented and not just focus on the fun easy read that it can be, be prepared for the very sad life of Kavalier. A young Jewish refuge of WWII forced to abandon his family in Europe. It is Chabon's masterfully touching portrayal of this man without falling into the easy (cheap) over dramatization of war victims (WWII victims in particular) that earned him the Pulitzer. It is an amazing study of a horrifying situation which so many people find themselves in as a result of war.
Chabon creates an entire world (Score:3, Informative)
Check it out!
books about comics as opposed to comics themselves (Score:1)
but then accusing literary critics of prejudice is akin to accusing a bum of homelessness.
My Chabon Anecdote (Score:2, Interesting)
Towards the end of the event he told us an anecdote about losing a child to miscarriage, and how in the aftermath of that misfortune he was lying in bed with his youngest son, stroking his hair and painfully aware of how precious he was. His son, completely unaware of his father's tenderness just then, looked up at him and said: I smell STINKY. Stinky's up your nose!!
A Dissenting Voice (Score:3, Interesting)
I read the book because it was being discussed on Plastic and I needed a book to read (I always need a book to read). Being a fairly big comic book geek helped as well.
That being said, I didn't find the book very good at all. Maybe it was because I was reading it in the middle of a David Foster Wallace binge (now there's an author), but the characters didn't seem interesting enough. Sure Joseph was cool, but he was too out there, too remote. Sammy's homosexuality also seemed forced. I have no objection to including a gay character, but it could have been handled better (like Apollo and The Midnighter's were in The Authority), it just seemed to cliched.
For a book that dealt with a lot of emotional issues and relationships I found the book to be flat.
But that could just be me.
Re:A Dissenting Voice (Score:3, Insightful)
First section (Score:4, Insightful)
Kavalier was a REAL GUY (Score:1)
No - bell Prize. Names don't ring a bell? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:No - bell Prize. Names don't ring a bell? (Score:2)
This is a great book (Score:2, Informative)
It's an excellent read, although it seemed a little light to me. Not exactly like reading a Tolstoy novel. It was much more simplistic in its language. But overall, I don't regret for a second the $20 I plunked down for the hardcover.
Go read it!
Re:But... (Score:1)
Re:Not that there's anything wrong with that (Score:1)
"Men's sexuality, I think, is...a much more fluid thing than our society really permits it to be," says the author.
And when he has written about men's relationships, there have been questions about his own sexuality.
"The things you write about people," he responds, "people automatically assume you must have done."
Chabon was invited to a gay writers' presentation (Score:1)