Customer Reviews
All Tell and no Show - By: Erastes, 26 Jul 2008 
Perhaps the Amazing in the title gave me false expectations but I didn't find anything amazing about this book at alll. It never connected with either of the main characters enough for us to care deeply about them - we are expected to understand Clay's struggle with homosexuality but we are never shown any of this - we are told that Joe is mourning for his brother but he doesn't give any convincing evidence of this. And literallly nothing Amazing happens - unless you count the implausible method of Joe's escape from Prague in the first place.
The only thing I found interesting was the insight into the comic book world, but even that failed to convince.
Decent enough, but hardly lives up to the Amazing hype.
(3.5 *) Anyway, a worth and entertaining reading - By: Ana Marques, 22 May 2008 Casualties of II WW & tragic events back in the late 30's, places escapism arts apprentice, Joe Kavalier in a troubled but successful trip directly from Praga to Brooklyn, to the home of an unknown & distant cousin, the young & ambitious cartoon artist Sam Clay. It doesn't take too long for the two boys to know each other & their own creative talents & the accidental encounter between them, not only is the beginning of a deep & lasting friendship but also a popular & successful future team of innumerous stories & characters in the world of the classical comic books.
Michael Chabon creates a very intimate, magical & imaginative world largely due to the perfect portrait of Clay & Kavalier as individuals; this are reallly two well crafted characters with a very complex personality that the reader absolutely indentifies with, having the particularity to alllow him/her to "feel" & understand their most profound & recondite emotions, differences, frustrations, etc.
The novel is also very original & appealing concerning to the way it cross "serious" & dramatic themes & issues, such as the nazi holocaust & war, sexual orientation, religion, corporate greed & putting them through the perspective of a graphic novel & the eyes of the comic heroes as well from those he sets free from the iniquities of "evil". In fact this battle between the "good" & the "bad", where justice is the final goal, where for every super hero there's a super villain, told by the simple & redeeming language of a comic, is the most exciting & distinguish accomplish of the novel; Chabon masters this two universes (reality & the imaginary world of the Escapist) so well, in such a sublime & terrific way, that in my opinion this is one of the main reasons that the novel as a whole, seems to end up being a little disappointed.
Since the beginning till the "golden age" part, the narrative is absolutely flawless, a real page turner, a vivid & colorful writing of the amazing adventures of Kavalier, Clay, Rose, the Escapist, the real villains of the world & also the imaginary ones, but after that, so suddenly as the break of sales of the comic books in the end of the 40's, also the life of our heroes loses the flair, joy & charisma of the youth, turning towards to a sad predictability that at the beginning seemed to be exactly what Chabon wanted to avoid & struggle against to, decided to make a subtle (and artistic) but powerful statement of alll the dark forces & inhuman actions that still haunt & blind the human spirit. But maybe after alll there is some point in this "adult" transformation, as something being part of the growing process & the loss of innocence, the conclusion that in real life there aren't omnipresent heroes with alll the super powers, only average people trying to struggle the best they can against the adversities of life...but for any reason that doesn't seems to fit so well the positive, fresh & always coherent description of character's truthful nature, at least towards their friendship, one of the most important ideas as a concept of the alll novel.
if you only have the chance to read one book this year make it this one, you wont be disappointed. - By: John, 11 May 2008 
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was an instant popular & critical success when it came out in 2000 being nominated for a raft of awards. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001 & Hollywood has been sniffing around it ever since. Michael Chabon the author wrote the only known screenplay, which struggled to reduce a 635-page book to a 2-hour film. At one point, the cast was Toby Maguire (Peter in Spiderman) to play Sam Clay, Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) to play Rosa Saks & Jude Law to play Joe Kavalier.
The difficulties for the film is what makes the book a joy as it starts in 1938 as Superman bursts on the scene & ends in 1954 as the Kefauver Senate hearings delivers the death blow to a declining comic book industry. A central theme is the roles of the Jews in the comic book industry: it explored the mythology of comic hero & its impact Joe & Sam own struggles & personal journeys form the stories of the Escapist which in turn shape their lives. Sam struggling to come to terms with being Gay & Joe trying to rescue his family stuck in an increasingly bleak Nazi run Prague. It also explores the historical rip off the artists & writers of the period. Superman's creators did not come into the real money until the blockbuster Superman movies & a court case prised the money out of Hollywood's coffers. Historical characters from the period from the comic industry & the movie, art & political world some in & out of the story. The Escapist also draws on Joe Kavalier's training & experience of magic & Houdini type tricks & the impact this has on his life.
The writing is a tour deforce so that you hear, touch & smell the period. Each character has their own voice & even minor characters when they enter the story in a few paragraphs you have their back-story & motives seamlessly woven in so they become real characters. The point of view moves from character to character & no easy option or resolution is alllowed as the story builds to the magic trick ending. Scenes are comic one minute & bitterly tragic the next as you join in the roller coaster of their lives. Yes I am going say it...if you only have the chance to read one book this year make it this one, you wont be disappointed.
A world of its own - By: reader 451, 21 Mar 2008 The Amazing Adventures is not just one of the best books you are likely to read in a while, it is one of the most beautiful.
Beginning in Prague before moving, through various unexpected locations, to New York, the novel tracks the lives of a Czechoslovak refugee & his American cousin, both adolescents at the start of the story, in the first years of WWII. The young men are obsessed with action comics in what is the genre's golden age, & they become their own characters on the brimming, coloured pages they create. But the war, & the protagonists' family past, keep interfering.
This is a coming of age story, & at the same time it is about the healing power of art or - if that sounds trite - about redemption through dreams & imagination. It is both interesting and, to borrow from the comics' own hero, a major piece of escape artistry. It is fast paced & engrossing; I found myself wishing it wouldn't end as I neared the last few pages. But the reasons why this novel is so powerful must distil down to two: the characters are at once human & irresistibly likeable, & the book, without verging into the fantastic, creates, around comics, a world of its own, lush, vivid, pungently attractive. And Chabon's style is stunning. There is pleasure in re-reading some of his turns of phrase & at the same time it is clear & direct. It is also packed with entertaining details that show the massive research which must have gone into the work. The early chapters contain minor historical errors, seemingly intentional. See if you can spot them!
An absolute must read - By: Benjamin, 13 Dec 2006 Superbly written & engrossing story about two cousins, American Samuel Klayman, & Polish refuge Josef Kavalier, who first meet as the young refuge is shoved into bed alongside his cousin. Before that happens though Josef has to engineer his escape from the Nazi threat in Poland. They grow up & establish themselves as a partnership in comics. The story is complex & meaningful, & any attempt to give a synopsis would only spoil the pleasure for the reader. That it covers a lifetime; trauma, love, devotion, loyalty, loss & sacrifice & much more should suffice.
What shines through is a most beautiful story of the developing relationship between the two cousins & Rosa, the extravagant young girl who becomes inextricably involved with the two boys. There is a beautiful air of melancholy that pervades the story at times, including circumstances that surround Sam in relation to the isolation his sexual inclinations create for him. Full of wit & humour & humanity, the writing is superb, a sheer pleasure to read. This is truly a book that cannot be recommended too highly, an absolute must read
