Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

This books is almost an easy 5 stars. One thing I would do though is that the few female characters in the book don’t have much autonomy. Still a fantastic book and one of my favorites!

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raybudbury's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was huge both in page/hr length and in the amount of stuff that was going on. I both loved it and was like I need you to be over. I think I may have to reread a paper copy instead of listening to it.

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ra22ouille's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What an unexpected story. I knew it was gonna be jewish, queer, holocaust era, comics—but I could not have ever ever ever predicted the story I got. The characters were so rich and I loved the dual focus on Sammy and Joe. I could feel how intentional the choices were in building these characters and they felt so natural and alive.
The grief in this book was very poignant. So was the joy and elation and fear and hope. Really loved it.

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podanotherjessi's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My expectations going into this were quite off. I thought this was like a non-fiction style account of these men, but it's much more narrative than that. When I adjusted my expectations, I could enjoy it more, but it was still confusing to get real facts about comics interspersed with the fiction. That said, I really liked the characters in this. Sammy, Joe, and Rosa are very complex and deal with such interesting struggles. Rosa, in particular, was incredibly relatable to me.
The plot, however, had ups and downs for me. Tonally, it was awkward because I was expecting whimsy, and this was a dark and sad story for large portions of it; not surprising given it's about Jewish people during the mid-20th century, but when the main character is an escape artist-turned-comic artist, it's just a little jarring for me. And a felt the time jumps really interfered with my emotional attachment.

I would have loved to see Rosa and Sammy trying to make a family together rather than hearing about it after 13 years.

Overall, this was well written and compelling. I'd recommend it to people that enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Or people that didn't like that but like the idea of exploring the bonds between people and their complex lives through their art.

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alexashabit's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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alisonvh's review

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Despite being a whitewashed version of New York City with sexist components, I still loved this book. It’s just so gorgeously written and I couldn’t help but fall in love with the characters.

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r_lumbrix's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

In the way that I loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow even though I’ve never played video games, I loved Kavalier & Clay even though I’ve never read comic books. The two books are similar in many ways—both track the rise of an entertainment form that became an art, through the careers of two partners with an intimate but complicated dynamic. This one was better though, for being much richer in its complexity and broader in its scope. The characters and the writing style had me hooked immediately, and my interest didn’t flag once in its 600+ pages. This is the rare novel that perfectly balances plot, character development, historical context, etc. etc. so that reading it becomes a true EXPERIENCE.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I picked up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay while browsing at Barnes & Noble, not knowing much about it except that it was historical fiction.

Blurb:

One night in 1939 Brooklyn, an imaginative and ambitious young Jewish man named Sammy Clay meets his Czech cousin, Joe Kavalier, for the first time. Joe fled from Europe to escape Nazi persecution, but he had to leave his family behind. Resolving acquire enough power and wealth to bring his family to America, Joe joins his cousin, Sammy, in creating a comic book series centering around a superhero called the Escapist. Their wild success as comic book creators launches them into a future, filled with joy, hope, tragedy, and adventure.

Review:

If I had to sum up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in one word, it would be “expansive.” Chabon goes above and beyond in every possible way, mostly to the benefit of the book. The plot, as the title hints, is imaginative, improbable, and highly entertaining in a manner somewhat similar to Forrest Gump. It follows primarily Joe Kavalier, but also his cousin and business partner, Sammy Clay, as well as several other characters who come into their lives. The writing style is clever, verbose, entertaining, and full of obscure and big words. Throughout the book, Chabon indulges in enthusiastic descriptions of any detail that strikes his fancy, whether that be a setting description, the history of some obscure pop culture item or material object, or a side character’s backstory.

If Chabon’s writing was weak, such expansiveness would have been insufferable. Luckily, Chabon proves himself to be a skilled writer and storyteller. He excels at writing tender moments between his characters, which form the heart of the story, and an exciting plot, which forms its backbone. All the extraneous details, although mostly unnecessary to the plot in any way, are mostly fun divergences. Occasionally, I found his level of detail to be mildly irritating, but I know many readers have, and will, absolutely love every word of it.

My biggest problem with the book was that I often struggled to fully understand its characters. I get the sense that Chabon has an astonishingly deep and complete understanding of his characters, right down to their individual habits, contradictions, and proclivities. This comes across in his writing, but it can be difficult for someone not inhabiting his headspace to keep up, especially since he dips in an out of the lives of multiple characters across a long span of time. What seems like a natural character progression or action to him at times feels contradictory or confusing to the reader. I often felt like I was playing “connect the dots” with the characters and their developments—if I thought hard enough, I could start to make sense of their actions and characterizations, but if I just read to enjoy the story, I felt disconnected from them on a broader level. Eventually, I stopped trying to understand the characters in their full complexities and focused on enjoying their individual moments with each other, which are beautifully written.

Despite its quirky title and fun subject matter (comic books), Chabon explores themes of queer and Jewish identity, grief, love, and the human need to escape from the realities of the world with sensitivity, dexterity, and profoundness. It is this exploration of themes that elevate the book from a fun historical fiction novel to a book worthy of the Pulitzer Prize.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay if:

· You enjoy learning and/or reading about any of the following subjects: superheroes and comics, magicians and escape artists, Jewish history, New York City, mid-twentieth-century American pop culture.

· You like well-written, fun, epic, and adventurous stories that go in surprising directions.

· You are studying for the GRE verbal exam and want a fun way to practice your vocabulary.

· You enjoy (or at least don’t mind) stories with lots of detail.

You might not like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay if:

· You get annoyed by information or storylines not relevant to the main plot.

· You hate it when authors use unnecessarily big words.

· You are looking for a simple, intimate, slice-of-life story.

A Similar Book:

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Johann Jonasson. Similarities between these books include:

· Clever, talented, “underdog” protagonists who transcend the circumstances of their youth

· Epic, improbable, and exciting plotlines

· Clever and at times humorous writing

· Themes of justice and compassion

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