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Suzanne
Rating:
Review
“Amazing Adventures…” is a good title for this big, sprawling novel, set in the heyday of American comic books, and featuring two comic book creators, cousins Josef and Samuel. Josef starts out in Prague’s Jewish Quarter, apprenticed to become an escape artist like the great Harry Houdini. This was an interesting part of the story, although I thought the references to the golem might have been explained a little better for non-Jewish readers. Eventually Josef has to use his skills to escape the growing Nazi threat, and finds his way to his relatives in New York City. There he and Samuel become fast friends and business partners in the comic book world with their hero “The Escapist”, a title which could be used to describe Josef and Samuel themselves at different points in their lives. I really enjoyed the bigger than life characters they thought up and drew, especially Luna Moth, Mistress of the Dark. WWII brings confusion, love, death, hope, even the Antarctic into the story. At 636 pages it’s a meaty and satisfying read.
Best Line:
“The urban dreamscapes, the dizzying perspectives, the playful tone, and the bizarre metamorphoses and juxtapositions…all quickly found their way into Joe’s pages…”. (page 319)
Kim
Rating:
Review
This long and occasionally verbose Pulitzer Prize-winning novel begins in 1939 with Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier at their first meeting: late at night, in Sammy’s bedroom when his mother tells him to make room for his visiting cousin, Joe, fresh from Prague. Joe and Sam soon discover a similar passion for drawing and storytelling, and together they create a phenomenal comic book character called The Escapist. Another key player in this book, Rosa Saks, is enticing, exciting and an integral player in both men’s lives. As already mentioned, this is a big book at 636 pages, but for good reason. It’s descriptive, very interesting and the characters are written so well that they could’ve easily been sitting right next to me as I read. Mr. Chabon clearly has done his homework on the comic book genre also. Make the time to read this one. It’s worth it.
Best Line:
“Sammy performed the rapid series of operations – which combined elements of the folding of wet laundry, the shoveling of damp ashes, and the swallowing of a secret map on the point of capture by enemy troops – that passed, in his mother’s kitchen, for eating.”
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