The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Name: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Author: Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon · 2000

Two Jewish cousins in 1940s New York create a comic book superhero, the Escapist, and the novel traces the relationship between escapism, art, and survival. Chabon published it in 2000 and won the Pulitzer. It treats comic books with the same seriousness that literary fiction usually reserves for itself. The Houdini-inspired escape sequences are some of the best set pieces in recent American fiction.

The case against

on the prose style
“prolix tendencies seem to have been eclipsed by awe in the minds of his editors”
a book blog
on the fifteen-year span
“The action should have been condensed, rather than sprawling over 15 years.”
three stars · a book blog
on Rosa’s introduction
“manic pixie dream girl who is lying naked in a bed when we meet her.”
a book blog
on the first part
“a disconnect between the first part of the story and the rest of it.”
four stars · a book blog