Obtain Immediately Čudesne Avanture Kavaliera I Claya Written By Michael Chabon Supplied As Online Book
was so close to being my favorite book of all time but it just couldn't dethrone sitelinkA Confederacy of Dunces, Before anyone gets confused, these two books are nothing alike so don't think I'm comparing them, Anyway, the story of Kavalier and Clay is one of family, loss, and selfdiscovery,
Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay are comic artists in New York City before, during, and after American involvement in World War,
The story of Kavalier feels more tied to reality, Throughout the book, he is just looking for something tangible to give his anger and frustrations an outlet, He feels guilt for being the only member of his family to escape Czechoslovakia and escape the Nazis, His success in America furthers that guilt because it should be something he shares with his family and can't even fight them as an American until Pearl Harbor.
His partner and cousin, Sam, on the other hand, supports Kavalier's fight but never feels the same burden as Joe who is not just trying to fight for and save the Jewish people, but specifically his family.
It's a whirlwind of emotions and well worth the read, I don't think I've ever read apage novel which wouldn't have been a betterpage novel, Initially I wasn't quite sure about this, InJosef Kavalier arrives in New York after escaping the Nazis but leaving behind his family in Prague, Almost immediately we're taken back to Prague and shown how Josef trained as an escape artist with a famous magician, we're shown something of his relationship with his family and especially his younger brother.
And then we're shown the escape from Prague itself when he is concealed inside a coffin with Prague's golem, It's all very well done but it was an odd decision on Chabon's part to start the novel with a spoiler, We know Josef will succeed so there's no tension, We're then shown his blossoming relationship with his cousin Sam and their mutual love of comic books, Together they create a character called The Escapist and Josef deploys him as a means of fighting thinly disguised Nazis, They are soon contracted by a publisher and begin making money, Josef's driving ambition is to pay for his family's passage from Prague to New York,
The relationship between Josef and Sam is one of the best depictions of male bonding I've ever read, There's a barely a female in sight for a long period of this novel, Just as well then that when a lead female does arrive she's another brilliant character, This is Rosa Saks and the first time Josef sees her she is naked, By now it's becoming clear Sam is gay, As the possibility for Josef of freeing his family increases the tension cranks up,
This is a very long novel and there were parts I was less enamoured with often the comic book stuff itself but on the whole when it's good it's outrageously good.
I read here complaints that it was included in a list of best feminist fiction but feminism is often about how men behave and between them Josef and Sam do an exemplary job under difficult circumstances of allowing Rosa to find and express her creative juices, so for me it's much better feminist novel than more crudely overt feminist novels like Sarah Moss' Ghost Wall for example.
Whenever I mentioned the name of this book to a friend, a huge grin broke out of their face, This was a universal reaction, As were the words: "I LOVE that book, That book is GREAT. " Not just how good it was, or skilled writing though those things are also very true, but just how in love with it they were.
You can't fake that. And now I know why!
I read it in two short spurts, covering about three days each, and I was done, Once you pick it up, its hard to put it down for around another hundred pages, There are some sentences that are just so absorbing and beautiful, passages that are just built up so well that I found myself going back to read them over and over.
Parts of it were just so exhilarating to read, I had to stop and just bask in how good it made me feel to read.
Similar to the feeling I got from Jonathan Strange and Mr, Norrell.
The only complaints I had about it which is why it gets four and not five is that my attention wandered during Joe's travels in the middle.
I thought that was a bit much and it didn't make sense to me except as a metaphor so heavy handed I will hit the author if that's what he meant.
I also didn't like the way that so much time passed, and yetyears later everything could be tied up with a little shiny bow as "best for everyone," like so little had changed.
I just didn't think Chabon gave enough credit to what twelve years does to people, He sort of dealt with it, but very quickly, and it felt like after hundreds of pages of careful development he was rushing to bring it to a close.
Then again, that could be me just wanting more of the characters, who knows
Still fantastic, If you have ever loved comic books, this book is necessary to your life, It's a love letter to escapism in general, but to the comic book industry and superheroes in general, The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier amp Clay is a great American novel about two cousins whose talents, fevered dreams and crazy obsessions make them legends during the Golden Era of comic books.
Magicianintraining Josef Kavalier escapes Czechoslovakia inand is taken in by his aunt and his scrappy cousin Sammy Klayman, who live in Brooklyn.
Joe hopes his parents and younger brother Thomas will eventually join him, but as the Nazis gain power, the noose, of course, tightens on Europes Jews.
Sammy, meanwhile, has his own issues, including the bitter memory of his estranged dad a former vaudevillian strong man and his burgeoning sexuality.
Both boys find emotional and artistic escape through creating a comic book superhero called The Escapist, who comes to the rescue of people in need around the world.
One controversial cover shows him slugging Hitler,
Those are just some of the themes and narrative strands of this big, bold, exuberant novel, which spans decades and continents
and lasts somepages.
Dont worry: its a pageturner,
The books not without its shortcomings, The third figure in the books triangle a woman named Rosa Saks isn't as carefully etched as the other two, And the occasional use of reallife figures Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Eleanor Roosevelt isn't as gracefully done as it is in, say, E, L. Doctorow's Ragtime, the obvious comparison,
But Chabons prose, befitting his colourful subject and era, is entertaining and visceral, It simply soars. Theres also lots of information about the history of comic books, Chabons done his research and obviously loves the genre, And there are several memorable scenes.
This is a book whose world is so expansive and imaginatively realized that I can't give it anything but five great big gleaming.
.stars
"The magician seemed to promise that something torn to bits might be mended without a seam, that what had vanished might reappear, that a scattered handful of doves or dust might be reunited by a word, that a paper rose consumed by fire could be made to bloom from a pile of ash.
But everyone knew that it was only an illusion, The true magic of this broken world lay in the ability of the things it contained to vanish, to become so thoroughly lost, that they might never have existed in the first place.
"
Joe Kavalier is an amateur magician living in Czechoslovakia during the rise of Hitler, His Jewish family saves enough money allowing Joe to make a daring escape to freedom and his American family, He leaves behind his loving parents, a grandfather, and a beloved younger brother but they promise to soon follow and reunite with one another once again.
After a harrowing journey, Joe eventually lands in Brooklyn where he is taken in by his aunt and his cousin, Sammy Klayman, Thus begins a new adventure into the world of comic books as the two pair up to realize a dream that of producing their own comic book hero, The Escapist.
The Escapist takes on the role of singlehandedly challenging the Nazis in order to rid the world of this evil once and for all.
Never once does Joe forget his own hearts desire to rescue his family from the terror that is seeping into Europe,
There is much that I liked about this book, The budding friendship between the two cousins, Joe and Sammy, is nothing short of heartwarming, The historical pieces are engaging and informative, I loved the adventurous bits Joes escape from Prague, some nailbiting scenes involving smallscale terrorism, a formidable venture into the lonely and treacherous landscape of Antarctica, as well as Joes various magic performances and displays of escape.
I genuinely cared what happened to each character in this novel, Even the world of comic books didnt turn me off at least not right away, I enjoyed learning about the creative process and this unique form of art, The world of comic book publishers, editors and marketing was interesting, Then, it became too much for me, I would start to lose interest as the narrative would jump from the real life story of Joe and Sammy to that of their comic book characters.
I was never a big fan of comic books as a child, only occasionally would I sit in front of the screen to see which villains Wonderwoman or Superman or even the Wonder Twins were busy fighting for our sake.
When the Marvel movies appear on my television set on a fairly regular basis , I slightly cringe and remove myself from the room with book in hand.
That is sort of how I felt for parts of this book, . . just get me out of this and into another book for a bit, But then, Chabon would thankfully switch gears and I was fully immersed once again, I was able to quickly savor the last quarter or so of this book and enjoyed the introduction of Tommy into the story, The ending was quite fitting, in my opinion,
To be honest, I have been putting off writing this review simply because I really dont want to criticize the incredible feat that this author has accomplished with this book.
I recognize his talent, his love for the comics and for his characters, The writing, when I was engaged, was superb, However, I felt I needed to express my personal hesitation with this book and explain why it took me so gosh darn long to get through it! Dont write this one off its definitely a worthy book.
You will just need to decide what works for you and your personal reading taste before you commit yourself to this fairly lengthy read, I would most certainly like to try another Chabon novel this was my first, and welcome any suggestions! 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.
Only one abnormally enormous ego could've mustered out something so monumental, so very beautiful amp elegant as this sparklyaschrome novel, It's basically flawlessvery concerned with having all sentences that make it up into wondrous, unique gems, Every sentence is constructed with care amp CRAFT,
The novel begins by grabbing the reader by the lapels to show how the bonds between cousin geniuses who build an empire out of superhero comics unravel.
It takes its time to get us there, so we are in for a cinematographic ride through the years that bookmarked WWII in the great land of opportunity: mainly NYC.
There are collisions with history: a legacy left from Houdini is taken up by the ambitious young Josef Kavalier, Dali's life is saved by Kavalier, and Orson Welles inspires Clay to draw on his masterpiece "Citizen Kane" to change the very way storytelling is depicted in the comics.
This is a petition, very headstrong and brilliant, to elevate the craft of comic books into a substantial art form, That the heroes of the tale resemble those that they draw is a guise to imbue the fantastic world with the everso real, Film equivalents: "The Aviator", "Citizen Kane, "
In fact, it is the story of the babyfaced entrepreneur that K amp C tries to emulate, amp actually kinda surpasses it, It is about MANNY things, about history of course, but also about that pesky threesome that sometimes forms when great minds align, About the fatherson relationship, the partnership between hero amp sidekick, the building of something amazing, that lasts for future generations to enjoy or partake in.
Is there any other emblem to tie all of this together than that monstrous tower a, k. a. Empire State Building on the Čudesne avanture Kavaliera i Claya's cover Im a fan of Michael Chabon even though he carries a sitelinkman purse,
Joe Kavalier is a young artist who had also trained to be a magician and escape artist in Prague, When the Nazis invade in, Joe is able to escape to America with the plan that hell find a way to get the rest of his family out.
In New York, he meets his cousin Sam Clay, Sam is an artist of limited talent who has been doing drawings for the ads of a novelty toy company, but the recent boom of superhero comics thanks to the newly created Superman has inspired him to try and break into that budding industry.
When Sam sees Joes artistic talent, they form a partnership and Sam talks the owner of the novelty company into launching a comic line featuring masked men.
Joe and Sam create a group of comic characters including The Escapist, a magician and escape artist who is also endowed with super strength by an ancient secret society to help free the oppressed.
Sams story telling instincts and Joes art quickly make The Escapist one of the most popular comics on the market,
However, Joes inability to get his family out of Europe due to antiSemitic German bureaucracy and US government red tape continually leaves him frustrated and angry.
Falling in love only makes him feel guiltier for his happiness and success, Meanwhile, Sam buries himself in work to avoid admitting that hes a homosexual until a relationship with a radio actor forces him to confront his nature.
Chabons a comic geek, and he really understands the medium at a DNA level, This is obviously his ode to the Golden Age of comics when the industry was born, My favorite part of the book is where Joe and Sam are trying to come up with a new hero, and their conversation about what will work and what wont is a great deconstruction of what makes for a good superhero.
The following weekend they spend with a group of artists cooking up several heroes to fill out an entire comic book made me feel the energy and creativity that seemed to be present in air of the New York comic scene in those days.
The book also highlights the flaws of funny books of the time, too, Chabon makes it clear that a lot of the stuff that came out was schlock thrown together cheaply and quickly, and the stories about creators getting ripped off by publishers are legion.
We also get into how comics were thought of back then, Despite their large sales, they were shunned and mocked by the general public and seen as lurid trash for children, Joe and Sam are proud of their creations, but theyre also embarrassed to be writing about men in tights, Joe often feels that hes wasting his time with war looming and his family trapped in Europe, but its giving him the money he needs to try and get them out so he takes out his frustration by having The Escapist beating the Nazis in the pages of the comic book.
The first half of the book is the portion that I really love, Theres a point where Sam amp Joe attend the premiere of Citizen Kane, and its clever story structure and inventive camera angles inspire them to push their own work into a more adult direction.
Its also a nice nod to the way that comics eventually started breaking the old nine panel per page format and became more cinematic, To me, thats the high water mark of the book because for one brief shining moment, the two men see what a comic book could become and temporarily manage to push their own selfimposed limitations aside to create something new.
Unfortunately, like any Golden Age, it doesnt last
Joe cant let go of his desire for the kind of justice that a character like The Escapist deals out regularly because hes looking for the wrong kind of satisfaction.
Sam wants so badly to be normal and respected that he ends up living a lie and trying to be anything but what he is: a gay writer of pulp fiction.
Chabon has crafted a great look at a bygone era and meshed it with a pretty good story about a couple of likeable characters so embroiled in their own private triumphs and tragedies that they dont realize that theyre among the pioneers of a new art form even as they create it.
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