is a picaresque adventure story set in the Caucasus Mountains Khazar Empire in the year, The protagonists are Zelikman, a nonpracticing Jewish man, and Amram, an African, The two are very different in personality, background, and stature, The storyline involves the two men embarking on a journey, finding themselves in various dilemmas, and figuring out how to get out of them, It is historical fiction written in a literary style, It reminded me a bit of Don Quixote, It is quite different from other books Ive read by Michael Chabon, There are elements of humor and wit, It is not my favorite of Chabons works, but I found it entertaining, I love these kinds of books usually, but this one lacked the grit and shamelessness that makes escapist fantasy work,
It might be a good intro to sword and sorcery for the uninitiated, but for fans of Conan, Elric and Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser it will seem milquetoast.
Michael Chabon has been making it hard for me lately, to love him in the way I'm used to doing, The Yiddish Policeman's Union was unfinishable for me, but I'm going to try again, This is something totally different however, a swashbuckling adventure story full of Turks, caravans, princes in disguise, swordfights and ruffians of many degree, He says in the afterward that he wanted to name the book "Jews With Swords" but didn't get a lot of positive feedback on that, But it made me like the book more, once I had that added perspective, Like a jewish Horse amp His Boy with whores, melancholy and less racism,in my TopBooks I Read in: sitelink youtube. com/watchvzIWkw
Michael Chabon pretending he is Jules Verne, Combines all the sheer, unbound awesomeness of Jules Verne and Michael Chabon, If all the books I read were this good I would do little in my life but read, “There was no hope for an empire that lost the will to prosecute the grand and awful business of adventure, ”
“The Gentlemen of the Road” is a buddy adventure epic set in the Caucasus Mountains region inAD, with a lapsed Jew named Zelikman and an African named Amram as the titular duo.
It is an adventure story through and through, but it is written in a literary style, It is not often that the two combine, however Michael Chabon, the author, pulls of the feat admirably, Chabon can write. There are some long beautiful sentences in this text, Not all of them necessary, but well executed nonetheless, Once you read a chapter or two you get use to the style and the text flows nicely,
The plot goes along effortlessly, and thispage story has onlychapters, The novel was originally published as a serial story in a magazine and you can see how it would work in that format,
The chapter titles are clever in this book, take for instance this chapter title “On The Belated Repayment Of The Gift Of A Pear”, After reading the chapter, looking back at the title makes you appreciate what you have just read a little more,
The book featuresillustrations by Gary Gianni, who also draws the “Prince Valiant” comic strip, It aids the text in creating the world of the story for the reader,
In the Afterward to “The Gentlemen of the Road” Mr, Chabon acknowledges what may be an issue for some of his readers, the so called “incongruity of writer and work”, This text is a fun story that moves along, and is well written by a gifted writer, Nothing wrong with a great writer writing a book whose plot makes you want to pick the text up and keep reading,
I enjoyed this text, you will too, An adult selection. I listened to this one on audio, and it was a perfect companion for a trip from Dallas to San Antonio, I haven't read everything by Chabon my mom is still dismayed that I haven't gotten to Kavalier and Clay yet, since I'm a comic book fan, but I enjoyed Summerland and I thought Chabon did a good job in Gentleman recapturing the feel of a Dumas adventure.
The language of the narrative was as antique and exotic as the setting, and I mean that in a good way, It wasn't an easy read, even in audio, I felt like I was listening to Faulkner "I know there will be a verb in this sentence eventually, if I just keep going, " I probably had a very confused look on my face as I was driving, but about the time I hit Waco, I started getting into the feel of the narrative.
The main characters your typical Jewish Ethiopian and Jewish Frankish swashbucklers were a perfect pair, I can definitely see a sequel to their adventures, although Chabon never does the same thing twice, so I'm not holding my breath! A fun little tale of adventure that comes a little too close to being trite.
Very few of the twists actually come as a surprise, I found myself both lamenting that many scenes/actions/characters were described briefly and broadly instead of unfolding in greater depth, and also being thankful that the book wasn't twice its length to accommodate more complete storytelling.
In short, pleasant, but not essential in the least,
And yet, if Chabon ever wrote a sequel, I'd read it, Okay, this book was f great, And for those of you who are a little slow those asterisks stand for ucking, I would give itif I could,
Really though, this book was just excently written, It was fun, had great character development which I think was the main thing lacking in Chabon's last novella experiment, The Final Solution, and of course a great story with unexpected turns and an excellent ending.
I've seen that some other people have written lesser reviews and I'm not sure why, It is a strange pairing, the dense, articulate language used by Chabon with the adventurestory genre, but who says it shouldn't be done
I think it is my second favorite book of his after Kavalier and Clay really, it's that good.
read it. in his apology er afterward to this quickwitted and enjoyable historical adventure story, chabon discloses that the original working title was 'jews with swords, ' personally, i think that would have been a pretty kick ass title, chabon goes on to explain how it came to be that he, a capitalLliteratureauthor, ended up writing a story that involved swords, unintentionally it smacks of condescension, of a slight embarrassment of what it was trying to be, that was my only significant complain of this otherwise delightful romp involving two friends cum conmen who, trying to make some quick cash, end up toppling a dictatorship, the prose is erudite, polished, the narration takes great pleasure in it's witan experience, i think, that most readers will share, save for perhaps a vague sensation that the prose is trying to be worthy of intellectual scrutiny.
the characters were sympathetic and likable, despite a gosh and disturbing treatment of rape, the author executes the plot well, i hope chabon continues to produce adventures of this time, . . though perhaps not one that is so, . . selfconscious.
With the longest sentences in the history of sword amp sorcery,
I thoroughly enjoyed. "All the evil in the world derives from the actions of men acting in a mass against other masses of men, "
Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road
Jews with Swords I guess that was Chabon's working title, if Chabon is to be believed.
He is a bit unreliable, His prose, however, is delicious, His perspective is always new and fresh, I don't think this is nearly one of his great ones, but it seems like it might have been the most enjoyable that I've read so far for Chabon to write.
It is a yarn, a tale, a swashbuckler, a grift, a rollick, a legend, I'm not sure why it hasn't been made into a movie, It is NOT, however, a live promotions company, record label and organizer of the global series of Stopover Festivals, That is a different set of Gentlemen,
This short novel seems like some Jewish equivalent to sitelinkThe Princess Bride yes, I understand that William Goldman is
Jewish, but the Princess Bride was not directly a Jewish adventure.
Anyway, it was the perfect book to read as I flew from Phoenix to Dallas to start a weeklong eclipse road trip with my brother and sitelinkDouglas Laux.
It was tight and the prose was classic Chabon, One of my favorite things about this book The chapters:
"On Discord Arising from the Excessive Love of a Hat"
"On the Seizing of a Low Moment"
"On Anxieties Arising from the Impermissibility, However Unreasonable, of an Elephant's Rounding Out a Prayer Quorum"
"On the Melancholy Duty of Soldiers to Contend with the Messes Left By Kings"
Great Ones:
.
sitelinkThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier amp Clay sitelinkMoonglow
. sitelinkWonder Boys
. sitelinkThe Mysteries of Pittsburgh sitelinkThe Yiddish Policemen's Union It's sad when I enjoy the afterword which was itself long and selfindulgent more than the entire book, I really wanted to like this book, The scenario was refreshing, the characters interesting and language challenging, However, I was able to easily figure out the entire plot within the first chapter, The writing was difficult page long paragraphs with only two sentences, I'd get to the end and find myself thinking "huh" and return to reread, This happened repeatedly. There were many foreign terms which were introduced without any situational reference allowing me to guess what it meant, I am well read and really hate the required use of a dictionary,
In the afterword, Mr, Chabon takes great pains to describe why he wrote this book, Look, I am not Jewish and do not live in an area with a large Jewish influence, I had no preconceptions and honestly did not find the overall premise ironic or mindblowing in the least, Perhaps if I'd had that stereotype which the author assumes every stinkin' person has, I would have liked it better, But thankfully, I don't. The title needed to stand on its own wobbly and interminably verbose legs,
This is my first and perhaps ONLY title by Mr, Chabon. Perhaps if I'd developed a love for his writing first, as so many of the positive reviews seem to have done, I may have appreciated it more, A few years back I made it my goal to read at least one Chabon novel per year, but I've fallen off the wagon in the past two, Lately, my schedule has been very busy as I stare down the barrel of a Royal College exam and I've tended more towards shorter or easy to read novels.
I'd forgotten just how verbose Chabon can be, but in the case of this novel it actually makes for a somewhat confusing experience,
Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the Khazars or the period of history in which this novel is set, This led to some initial confusion only bolstered by stunning word choice and Chabon's signature style, What worked best for me were the lead characters and their relationship, This novel has the feel of a classic adventure boosted by oldschool illustrations and a swashbuckling tone,
This lands, for me, around lower tier Chabon, It doesn't have the grand impact of some of my favourite of his novels Kavalier amp Clay and Yiddish Policeman's Union but is still some good fun.
I wish I'd been able to follow the story a bit better, but I'll also admit to some fractured attention and distraction on my end, What occurs when you have the freedom to produce anylength book after winning the Pulitzer, Believe it! This one is too short to be adventuresome, too busy in its prose to match its zippy plot, Every single sentence must be odd and fascinating, . . which does nothing to make the tale odd and fascinating, It's an adventure "Jews with Swords" that's not really worth taking,
"K amp C" may just be the only way to go, . . If you favor long periods and complex wording this book is a delightful study in characters, It's not an easy read but I truly liked the protagonists and their development, not to mention the horsesampelephants, What's more, I had no idea lush prose and emotional descriptions could fit a swashbuckling adventure so well the result is intense,
I mean:
“Get up,” Amram said,
Zelikman looked up at him, his face blank, sootstreaked, filling with that unshakable weariness as rapidly as a stavedin hull fills with cold black sea,
Sure, it's also a matter of tastes but when I read that, in the context, the image felt natural and powerful because the character's thoughts demanded it.
On the downside, at times the sentences were so long I had to reread to find some cohesion,
Anyway, with its many roads, fine humour, witticism and cynicism doled out in equal portions, and art even in insults “You mendacious sons of bitches,”, this book was truly a galvanizing read!
Because adventures befall the unadventuresome as readily, if not as frequently, as the bold.
Adventures are a logical and reliable resultand have been since at least the time of Odysseusof the fatal act of leaving one's home, or trying to return to it again.
All adventure happens in that damned and magical space, wherever it may be found or chanced upon, which least resembles one's home, .
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Michael Chabon