Cargando
Información sobre el libro
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Escrito por Michael Chabon
Narrado por David Colacci
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a escucharNota del editor
Modern classic…
Chabon’s magnum opus blends comics, Jewish lore, and American history to create a page-turning, smart, and deeply enjoyable novel that's been hailed by critics and readers as a modern classic.
Descripción
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
The beloved, award-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a Michael Chabon masterwork, is the American epic of two boy geniuses named Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay. Now with special bonus material by Michael Chabon.
A "towering, swash-buckling thrill of a book" (Newsweek), hailed as Chabon's "magnum opus" (The New York Review of Books), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a triumph of originality, imagination, and storytelling, an exuberant, irresistible novel that begins in New York City in 1939. A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. From the shared fears, dreams, and desires of two teenage boys, they spin comic book tales of the heroic, fascist-fighting Escapist and the beautiful, mysterious Luna Moth, otherworldly mistress of the night. Climbing from the streets of Brooklyn to the top of the Empire State Building, Joe and Sammy carve out lives, and careers, as vivid as cyan and magenta ink. Spanning continents and eras, this superb book by one of America's finest writers remains one of the defining novels of our modern American age.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award and the New York Society Library Book Award
Named one of the 10 Best Books of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a escucharInformación sobre el libro
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Escrito por Michael Chabon
Narrado por David Colacci
Nota del editor
Modern classic…
Chabon’s magnum opus blends comics, Jewish lore, and American history to create a page-turning, smart, and deeply enjoyable novel that's been hailed by critics and readers as a modern classic.
Descripción
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
The beloved, award-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a Michael Chabon masterwork, is the American epic of two boy geniuses named Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay. Now with special bonus material by Michael Chabon.
A "towering, swash-buckling thrill of a book" (Newsweek), hailed as Chabon's "magnum opus" (The New York Review of Books), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a triumph of originality, imagination, and storytelling, an exuberant, irresistible novel that begins in New York City in 1939. A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. From the shared fears, dreams, and desires of two teenage boys, they spin comic book tales of the heroic, fascist-fighting Escapist and the beautiful, mysterious Luna Moth, otherworldly mistress of the night. Climbing from the streets of Brooklyn to the top of the Empire State Building, Joe and Sammy carve out lives, and careers, as vivid as cyan and magenta ink. Spanning continents and eras, this superb book by one of America's finest writers remains one of the defining novels of our modern American age.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award and the New York Society Library Book Award
Named one of the 10 Best Books of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly
Acerca del autor
Reseñas
Winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers' Award, New York Library Book Award Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, Los Angeles Times Book AwardJoe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City.His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America - the comic book.Drawing on their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men.With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility.
There are some highly diverting pages early in this renowned piece, with various passages in which I took delight. However ... as the story wore on, I began to wear out. This story took a very labored route to its main point, the Hebrew legend of the Golem, and became weighed down like the Golem's clay legs. This book just seemed like such an effort to get through, and when I did slog my way fully through it, I grudged the effort. I could have spent my time more profitably.
I love Michael Chabon's writing and characters, but the subject matter of this novel doesn't really move me.
I really liked this novel. It's sort of quiet, and sad, and ends with tentative hope.Sam and Joe are both interesting characters who go through signficant changes as life knocks them around a bit. I've been mulling over who in this duo is the hero and who is the sidekick (since the concept of sidekicks is important in the novel), and I can't quite decide. I think Joe and Sam trade off in this regard; they father each other, and they look up to each other. It's an interesting dynamic.I expected a novel that was bigger, brighter, more WOW! and THWACK! and SWOOSH! This isn't a comic book, though. This is about the minds behind the comics, the people who aspire to touch readers with art and story.At the end, it felt like the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay may just be beginning.
Escaping from the Nazis, leaving his family and the world of magic in Prague, Josef Kavalier enters the new world of the comic book with his Brooklyn cousin and temporary bedmate, Sammy Clay. Together they create an incredible character, THE ESCAPIST. I loved this perfect book and Josef until he allowed his loyal and loving one-eyed dog to be murdered.No way. He would have searched for a better solution even if it involved skinning dead men.He would never again be responsible for the death of another innocent.
Attempted to read this way back in 2006 and just couldn't get into it. But I found it again while going through my library and decided to give it another try and was surprised by it this time. I guess I just had to be in the right mood. It is surprisingly good, once it gets going, telling the story of two Jewish cousins (Kavalier and Clay) who make it big (sort of) in the comic book business. Loosely inspired by the life of Will Eisner, there are a lot of plot details that make this an excellent read.
Michael Chabon's masterpiece
This is an excellent book! Joe Kavalier has made his way to the U.S. via a daring escape and hopes to bring the rest of his family as soon as he earns the money. His cousin Sam Clay, a New Yorker born and raised, is always looking for a way to make it big. The two together strike upon The Escapist, a comic book character who can fight the fights Joe wants to fight and can earn both men money. Through the war years and into the fifties, the lives of these two men are entangled in business and personal ways. Ultimately, this is a story of family and making the best of what you have. Every event it drawn beautifully, every character comes to life in Chabon's hands. The story has hope and humor and fear and heartache aplenty. Chabon is a new author to me but I hope to read more of his work - this example is wonderful!
I really enjoyed living inside this world for awhile; was sad to see it end. A satisfying read about confinement and escape . . . about love, friendship, and imagination that sustains life, making the unendurable endurable . . . and sometimes beautiful.
A bit to get through in the beginning but well worth it - a fantastic story - I wish there was an actual comic of the characters though.
Michael Chabon knows how to tell stories and knows how to tell them well. Though this book ends with a whimper, not a bang, I thoroughly enjoyed it (would have give it 4.5 stars if possible). Kavalier and Clay are two Jewish kids who invent one of the first comic book superheroes--parallels to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who created Superman. The characters are well-drawn (no pun intended), and though I haven't been an adult fan of comic books--or "graphic novels," as they're now called--their story so involved me that, in addition to wanting to see what twists they'd experience next, they also got me better understanding what comic book artists are really out to accomplish. Made me interested in perhaps picking up and studying a comic book one of these days--and that in itself is an accomplishment!
A wartime saga unfolding against the backdrop of the golden age of comics. There is certainly adventure and escapism throughout, as well as the harsh realities of the Holocaust and exploitation of artists by big business. The novel rambles in places, but the small cast of characters allow for a lot of depth.
A sweeping romantic tale of the comic book and the lives of two of their creators as imagined by Chabon. It is a fantastic romp of a story with joyful narrative drive, bringing to life a lost age of New York and European immigrant culture.For me, the story was in three parts, the initial story of Joe Kavalier coming from Prague to America to meet up with his cousin Sammy Clay to form the Kavalier & Clay partnership who create "The Escapist"; Joe Kavalier's time in Antarctica during WWII; and Joe's return from hiding in 1954 to be reunited with Sammy Clay, for a short time.The first and third parts worked well, but Antarctica, although I understood the necessity for the narrative, was not as engaging. Wonderful!
So close to the real lives of the creators of "Superman" it makes you wonder where the fiction starts and reality ends.
I am always fascinated by the accomplishments of the Jewish people. I knew that they have achieved much in the fields of science, business, finance, the film world. As a boy I was a great fan of Marvel comic books. Through this work of fiction I learnt that here too, in the world of comics, Jewish creative genius has been the driving force. A great story.
I really recommend this book. It is well written, informtive and emotional. Some of the highlights: this history of comics, what it was like for Jewish people in the US during WW II and what being gay was like in the 40s and 50s.
Five reasons I'm a Chabon fan: * His plots are creative, dense and satisfying * His worlds and the characters that people them are so vividly drawn, they practically blind. * The worlds he creates are always based on (exhaustively researched) reality, yet somehow "bigger", leaving room for magic, fantasy, and fate to convincingly operate * He never lets literary gimmickry (allusion, themes, etc. - of which there are always an abundance) get in the way of telling a good story * He has a postively swoonworthy way with the English language! (They say a picture paints a thousand words: Chabon is an artist who paints with adjectives and metaphors.) I confess I don't always enjoy Pulitzer Prize books. Too often, the plots seem overthought, the characters unconvincing, and the literary devices contrived. But this book left both sides of my brain - the emotional left side and the critical right side - wholly satisfied and thoroughly entertained!
I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I liked it. I can see maybe why it won the Pulitzer Prize. I really never have liked Pulitzer Prize winners much. Chabon's writing is engaging and stimulating and way over my head. The characters were enchanting and charming and slipped right through my fingers like a good magician. The historical side of the comic book industry was fascinating and alluring. And surely there must have been a point to including it that I somehow missed. The writing style was complex, swift, confusing at times, and quite witty. And I'm still not sure what was based on fact and what was pure drivel. I loved it, hated it, wanted to stop reading it, fell back in love with it, and am glad I read it -- and am relieved to be done!
This book was amazing. I'm going to have trouble with this recap because three of the books I've read this year have been books I want to force on people; shove them down their throat and make them eat the goodness! I doubt I'll get anyone I know to read this because while it's fairly long (636 pages) it's also really dense. Get yourself a dictionary for this - but in the good way!! It's not like you can't understand what he's trying to say - it's like his language is so gorgeous that you read these words and understand their basic meaning but want to find out exactly when and how you can wow everyone with his words.
People raved about this book, so I was a little disappointed that it was merely very good.
The story is compelling, interesting and as the title promises, the adventures are amazing. The symbolism was a tad ham-handed for my tastes, but that was well balanced by Chabon's precise and poetic writing. If I'd never heard anything about this, I probably would have been very impressed. As it was, I enjoyed it a great deal, even if I'm a bit mystified about what the big deal is.
The story is compelling, interesting and as the title promises, the adventures are amazing. The symbolism was a tad ham-handed for my tastes, but that was well balanced by Chabon's precise and poetic writing. If I'd never heard anything about this, I probably would have been very impressed. As it was, I enjoyed it a great deal, even if I'm a bit mystified about what the big deal is.
How to summarize my thoughts regarding this one. Well, Chabon has done a wonderful job capturing the Golden Age of comic books and the buzzing energy of New York in all its World War II and post-World War II glory. He has created solid, three dimensional characters in Sammy, Joe and Rosa. I am not one of those readers who seeks to uncover the "story within the story" or to understand the symbolism the author may have imbued within his or her story, but even I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Chabon makes some interesting choices here with the Golem, the comic book superheroes and the internal demons our lead characters struggle against. The story has an epic quality to it, starting off in pre-World War II Prague before landing in the teeming streets of Brooklyn/ New York and then off to the desolation of Antarctica, which was one of my favorite sections of the story, apart from the escape artist/magician angle. While I don't know much about the history of comic books, I was able to follow along and feel the vibe of energy and passion that may have driven the artists, writers and publishers who conjured up the superheroes who graced the pages of 10 cent comic books.As much as the story has all of the desired character and plot development - with some unexpected twists - all captured in Chabon's descriptive prose, I never felt drawn in. I never felt a part of the story. It was easy for me to put the book down, even for the most mundane of household tasks, which is why it took my almost a month to read through it. Good story, but not a great page-turning read for me like Chabon's novel The Gentlemen of the Road.
I just spent over 2 weeks with this book. An amazing adventure indeed! An absorbing plot and characters you FEEL. It's for sure a page turner. It's a spellbinding story set in a time frame that has held a fascination for me my entire life. Michael Chabon's writing is (ironically!) like magic. His prose...I can't find words to describe. A reviewer wrote that Chabon's sentences are so cozy they'll wrap you up and kiss you goodnight! Oh my God his writing is a pure pleasure to read. The book is set from 1939 to 1953 and travels from Prague to NYC. It's a 655 page commitment that is so well worth it. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it.
This was one of those books that was just a joy to read. Having been so involved in comic books on both the creative and retail sides for so long, I was enthralled by this story.
If I got to use decimal points, I'd probably put this at a 3.75 but I don't so it's a four. Chabon has a amazing ability to set a story in a world that no one else would think to. And his characters are always so well written.
A copy of this book had been sitting around at work for a while now, so since it had been in my consciousness, I noticed when I saw a copy of it at my brother's house as well. I asked about it, and my brother highly recommended it - and plus it won the Pulitzer prize - so I thought I'd read it too!
It's about two Jewish cousins who meet in New York in the lead-up to WWII, and start in the business of comic books together. Throughout the book, their comics and superhero characters reflect on and illuminate the young men's concerns and dreams - fighting against Nazis and other evils, being father figures, objects of desire, and/or totems of wish-fulfillment.
It's well-done, well-researched, and gives insight into various aspects of life circa 1940's NYC, the Jewish Experience, and all that good literary-type stuff.
It starts very light-heartedly, gets much more serious, and finally, I thought, ended rather abruptly - which was my only complaint with the book.
It's about two Jewish cousins who meet in New York in the lead-up to WWII, and start in the business of comic books together. Throughout the book, their comics and superhero characters reflect on and illuminate the young men's concerns and dreams - fighting against Nazis and other evils, being father figures, objects of desire, and/or totems of wish-fulfillment.
It's well-done, well-researched, and gives insight into various aspects of life circa 1940's NYC, the Jewish Experience, and all that good literary-type stuff.
It starts very light-heartedly, gets much more serious, and finally, I thought, ended rather abruptly - which was my only complaint with the book.
Both R. and I thought it was amazing. Even if you don't think you'd be interested in it based on the summaries you'll see on goodreads or amazon, read it. Much longer than what I like to read, and I was so very sad when it was over and I had to say goodbye to the characters.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Michael Chabon writes beautifully... it's not often that I find a book that makes me want to re-read sentences because they are so darn well-phrased.Of course, beautiful writing is nothing without a good story, and I love this story. A war, comic books, relationships, history, coming-of-age, fighting your way to the top -- it has it all!Everyone should read this book. Everyone.
It's obvious why he won the Pulitzer. This is the epic novel for every genre: from graphic novel and fantasy to classic lit and romance. It reads as a carefully researched and thoughtfully conscience novel about two cousins who use daily life during the 1940s (in America and in Europe with the Nazi invasions) to create comic book characters that rival the classics of Superman and Batman.A perfect read from cover to cover.
I admit I wasn't aware of the existence of a Pulitzer Price for Fiction. I also admit that I am one of those stubborn people that refuse to read/listen to best sellers, just because you know: "This world sucks. This world likes this book. Therefore, this book might as well suck". And to be honest, this strategy of mine has protected my eyes and ears of various junk through the years. But sometimes...I was attracted to Michael Chabon and more specifically The Yiddish Policemen's Union due to its chess theme and the nice reviews it got from members of librarything. Then, those same people - even in this forgotten thread of mine - gave the thumbs up for this magnus-opus of Chabon's, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay .Chabon weaves an amazing story which starts with an escape from the nazi-striken Prague of a talented jewish kid destined to become one of the most important artist of American's golden superhero comic age, takes us through the World War II and this youngster's vain attempts to take revenge for his lost family - a mother held in the concentration camps and a brother at the bottom of the Atlantic, his "boat of hope" torpedoed by one of Third Reich's submarines - and ends with this man's return to normal life and New York, a hermit unable to find the proper way to reapproach his son, his son's mother and his cousin and ex-partner who live under the same roof in the suburbs.Entrepreneurship, mass-media, surrealism, a country which is about to transform from a Depression-stricken mess to world's number one superpower, the paradox of two military camps in Antarctica which on the verge of destruction by the cruel polar nature are obliged to exterminate one another, homosexuality and comics. While leafing through this 600-page-plus masterpiece world-changing events took place. A lethal earthquake that hit one of world's most advanced societies, the Arab World rising against its tormentors, the world's most frighting military machine bombing a country to "liberate" it from a dictator. One wonders if a Chabon of the future will ever be able to write a story about these events. A story with such a touch of genius.
Loved this story. The early days of comic books are probably a rich area for both fiction and non-fiction books. Nice mix of drama, family ties, comedy, magic, deception, ambition, love, loss, and talent.