Author: Michael Chabon
Year: 2000
Publisher: Picador
This is the story of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay. The story begins in 1930s New York City when Joe has managed a Houdini type escape from Prague to end up with his aunt, uncle and cousin in New York City. Sam and Joe immediately hit it off. Together, they create some of the most popular comic book characters of the 30s and 40s. The most popular being The Escapist.
I'm conflicted on this story. The beginning was good, the ending was great but the middle was just so-so. It was like I ran into a brick wall int he middle of the book and I couldn't get around or through it. But towards the end, I got caught back up in the story again. I loved the comics angle and the relationship between Sam and Joe and would have liked to have seen more of that. Despite how much I disliked the middle, I could still see that Michael Chabon has talent and he can craft a sentence. He's a magnificent writer. If you decide to read this book and you, like me, get bogged down in the middle, just skip to the last 100 pages or so and finish the book from there.
I've wanted to read this for years. I've heard so many great things about Chabon. I don't like the idea of getting bogged down though.
ReplyDeleteI might have had extremely high expectations because I'd heard so many great things about Chabon.
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