I hated this book. For me the characters were not only unlikeable but lifeless. The whole thing was contrived and pretentious and painful to read from start to finish. I am dumbfounded by people's enthusiasm for this book. Dumbfounded.

While being a fun and interesting story, K&C does not feature deep character development and was IMHO about 100 pages too long. That being said, I found it highly entertaining and even instructive about the origins of comics. The descriptions of New York in the 30s, 40s and 50s was nice and the comics Chabon invented to tell the story were very creative. There is a bit of sentimentality here, but not too much and it was interesting to read this book just after Roth's I Married a Communist as the commission at the end was inspired by the same inquisitorial period of the 50s. Overall, I did enjoy it but wonder if Joyce Carol Oates or Joy Williams fans felt ripped off but I have read neither Blonde nor The Quick and the Dead which were respectively their books that were Pulitzer runners up when Chabon won in 2001. Perhaps someone else has? How about Chabon’s other books?

this is a bit of a rant. i liked this book, but it just did not live up to my expectations. what to say. not quite sure. it opens great. sammy's background with his father and joe's escape from prague are a wonderful set up. but in some ways, in particular joe's very adventurous beginning, the beginning is unbalanced. we never really see that kind of adventure again. but nor do we want to, because the beauty of this novel is that "the amazing adventures" of these two men are not super-hero like escapades, but the everyday triumphs, ordeals, and suffering two middle-class men in america might face in that time. they are not saving women and foiling super villains. they are doing the unglamorous and unfullfilling: creating their art of which they do not reap the full benefit, living a lie and losing a chance at love because of others' closed minded views on sexuality, and living with extreme guilt because you live comfortably while your family abroad is killed for no good reason and on top of that feeling powerless to stop it. at times all of that great, everyday desperation comes out. i like that sammy is kind of joe's side-kick in keeping with the comic book theme. though i think not enough attention is given sammy through most of the book. chabon's talent for detail and research or very evident here. the wet streets and smokey dinner rooms of prague, the inky, long hours of the comic business. awsome.
but for me the book seems to lose its sturdy ground after the first 200 pages or so and not gain it back until the end. for me too much detail or space was focused in the wrong place. chabon's writing is solid, which comes out is his descriptions of action, work, cities, food. but the writing does not dig the reader deeper into the story, into the characters. so many mini adventures happen in the middle, and they are always easily solved by a phone call to the president's wife or a quick fight. these little adventures are wrapped up faster than a comicbook. many of these take place during the tease regarding thomas's situation. everything's fine, not fine, fine, not fine, then you know...the you know lost it's power for me. the situation from the beginning seemed to rely on a fix that was too quick. i did not get the build up of sweat and ingenuity that put it in place. so when the end of that smaller story came, i did not feel it was earned. this also goes for characters whose background takes up nearly as much space as their actual interaction in the book. for instance the other comic book creators who start with joe and sammy or the american facist who joe stops in one single move. then there is one of the biggest characters of all; cigarette ash. a lot of time was given to describing cigarette ash. and instead detail is missing that builds the relationships between joe and sammy, sammy and rosa, and to a lesser extent rosa and joe. for me it was not until the end where rosa and sammy are married that any real intimacy is conveyed. but even there the relationship is not explored much. not to give it away, but that to me is the most interesting part of the book, the dynamic twist. but we end up knowing little about it's day to day life.
which leads me to joe's disappearance. like "to the lighthouse" this could have been an opportunity for change based on an event larger than the story and the event's personal effect it has on the characters causing them to take on new roles, grow if you will. joe's absence set's up rosa and sammy's relationship, but what does it serve. joe does return. and he is the same. we learn very little about what he has been doing, people he has been in contact with, if he has truly come to terms with the holocaust. a fourth of the book is taken up telling about him being stationed in antartica after his attempt to actually fight in the war effort. so he can't do anything about his family? we already knew that. and all the time rosa still loves joe. and sammy still hates having to live a lie about his sexuality and work by selling his soul. joe's disappearence simply serve to createa reunion. but no one changed, which means the drama of the reunion is limited. joe and sammy even want to start doing comics again together. it's like the beginning of the book.
last i feel the theme of the golem is never really taken advantage of. certainly their comic hero nor any of the individual characters embody that role. and maybe it is that they are all at times playing that role for each other, taking care of each other.
i liked it. but it could have been much better. the book is torn about what to focus on and i think chabon was weighed down by the volume he took on, and simply skimmed the surface of the incredible characters he created.

Classic novels eh? We've all seen adverts at train stations and the tube. We all get nagged to read latest "buzz book" or the recommendations from friends/colleague/acquaintance/social board pseudonyms that are guaranteed to be the most amazing collection of words committed to paper and will change your life. Sometimes we get burned by these tips: Heart of Darkness, On Chesil Beach, Brave New World and most significantly for me, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

There are other times when the term "must read" is such a disservice, a misrepresentation of how incredible a book is, that you are almost unable to describe how superb it is. It's the feeling of not wanting a story to end, a love of the rich characterisations, a total immersion in the plot. This is how The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was for me. A book that people raved about that actually lived up to all the praise 100%. A book I would happily read again. 650 pages flew by.

Essential a love story between the three main leads (Josef, Sam and Rosa), Michael Chabon has such a wealth of vocabulary at his disposal, a fantastic array of metaphors he can utilise, that the pictures of 1930's New York and of the classic "comic book age" he paints are so rich that they almost become a 4th piece in the romantic puzzle. You fall in love with New York: it's a homage to the city he loves, and he wants the reader (you) to feel the same. Some of the descriptive prose is so beautiful I actually went back to read whole paragraphs and pages as soon as I'd finished them. I can't think of another book I've read that I did that with.

One of the best novels I've read in the last 10 years, and although not flawless (the chapters set in Antarctica felt odd, but thankfully a short divergence), it would be one of the few novels I would recommend to anyone.

The incredible, magnificent, awesome, wonderful, inspiring and heart-breaking adventures of Kavalier and clay

It started with a bang and was a smooth ride until one of character decides to abandon everything and jump on the WWII wagon. It went downhill for me from then on. It became a little too long and predictable. Writing is great and I enjoyed it while reading it but it didn't leave an impression on me.

An amazingly entertaining novel whose majestic architecture, believable characters and supreme atmosphere make the book's flaws that more annoying.
Still, an incredible achievement, and a must-read for everyone who enjoys novels that defy the boundaries of genres. Or comic books. Or great historical contextualizing. Just read the thing, ok?

Pulitzer Prize winner 2001. Ugh, can't believe I'm only giving this 3 stars - sorry Mr. Chabon! I know how much work went into this. I know you did a ton of research on comic books, magic, the Jewish golem story, 1940s New York City, and WWII. Many, many of your paragraphs were pure poetry! Your characters were multi-layered, and your setting descriptions captured the place and time perfectly. So what's with my 3-stars?

In two words - too damn long! (okay, three words). It started strong and interesting. Then it began to drag. Then right before I thought I couldn't continue, you came up with a chapter of pure brilliance! The novel reminded me of a car with engine problems. Start-stop-start-sputter, losing forward momentum - then sudden acceleration.

So, I guess I would say to a potential reader - if you have not read Chabon before, please go with his most recent novel, Moonglow. It contains all of the good stuff I mentioned, and leaves out his lack of story focus and length. (Speaking of length, in the 2012 edition I read, he actually re-inserted some chapters that his editor/publisher took out in the original 2000 edition. Chabon - listen to your editor, please). Both novels of his had detailed descriptions of subjects I know nothing about and haven't really ever cared about - rocketry and comic books. HOWEVER, in Moonglow, he made it work. In Kavalier & Clay, I'm now actually even LESS interested in comic books!

This is a story that's so full of heart. I laughed, I cried, and at times I was too horrified for words. These are the kind of characters that come alive for awhile.

I really recommend it but I'm having a hard time coming up with what to say to encompass such a lengthy, complicated, epic book.

Обичам го! Шейбон застава в сърцето ми до вечните Ромен Гари, Дона Тарт, Джонатан Франзен. Не че пише по подобен начин, просто е велик и уникален като тях и има свой собствен, силно разпознаваем глас.

„Невероятните приключения на Кавалиър и Клей“ от Майкъл Шейбон не е роман за комикси. Сам по себе си той е комикс, история на света, която реди панел по панел най-непредвидимата хроника на миналото и настоящето, която може би сте чели...
http://knijno.blogspot.bg/2018/02/blo...

Tak tohle se mi líbilo opravdu hodně. Přestože komiksy mě jinak v životě úplně minuly, bylo pro mě i tak zajímavé dozvědět se, kde se vzali všichni ti Supermani, Batmani a Wonder Women. Je to moc pěkně napsané, historie a fikce se míchá dohromady tak nenápadně, že jen těžko rozeznáte, co se opravdu stalo a co se zrodilo v hlavě autora.
Děj je rozdělený do tří částí, sice těsně navazujících, ale přesto navzájem trošku odlišných. V první části sledujete cestu mladého židovského uprchlíka z Prahy do New Yorku, jeho začátky v cizím světě a hlavně ve vznikajícím světě komiksu a superhrdinů. Druhá část, válečná, si o komiksové zpracování vyloženě říká, úplně v textu vidíte ty rámečky a bubliny s dialogy - a Joe Kavaliera jako Eskapistu. Třetí, závěrečná, se odehrává v padesátých letech, době úpadku superhrdinů, což se odráží nejen na stránkách komiksů, ale i na osudech postav románu.
Ale není to jen o komiksu, to by bylo na "velký americký román" přece jen málo. Ten věčný boj superhrdinů se zlem tu odráží druhou světovou válku a osud evropských Židů v době nacismu. Pro Joe Kavaliera je to vzhledem k smutnému příběhu jeho vlastní rodiny vlastně celoživotní téma. Proto je tu Eskapista a třeba i pražský Golem. A ani to není všechno, dočtete se i o skrytém životě homosexuálů v těch puritánských dobách nebo třeba o počátcích McCarthyismu.
Podle mě tomu nechybělo naprosto nic a toho Pullitzera Chabon dostal naprosto zaslouženě.

Rumor has it that Chabon originally wanted to call this "the Pretty Good, Amazing at the Beginning but Considerably Less Interesting as Our Heroes Devolve Into Cartoon Caricatures and the Reader's Suspension of Disbelief Vanishes Entirely (Not to Mention the Wonky Prose), So in Short, Overlong, At First Pretty Cool but Then Poorly Characterized, and Unevenly Written Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," but the publishing companies vetoed it, so "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" it is.