In the winter of 1939, Josef Kavalier stumbles into his cousin Sammy's cramped bedroom in New York City, having escaped from Nazi-occupied Prague. They share a cigarette, and something begins: a friendship, and a partnership,that will last years. Between them they create the Escapist, a superhero who can escape from anyone and anything, who travels the world as an agent of the League of the Golden Key, helping others to escape from oppression and tyranny.

The theme could be predictable and hamfisted: in America, Josef becomes Joe, and Sammy Klayman has already become Sam Clay; they escape from their Jewish backgrounds into the mainstream American middle classes just as Joe has already escaped Prague. But escape in itself isn't the only theme - it's also the failures that surround it, the way Joe and Sammy, in a way very reminscent of Angels in America, fail to be anything but their Jewish, troubled selves. Sammy can't escape from his own sexuality, Joe can't escape from anything he's left behind. And as a counterpoint to the escapes, there are the absences left behind: the absence of Sammy's father, Joe living with the daily absence of his family, and later, the absence of Joe.

The language is lyrical and indulgently expansive, the moods perfectly evoked, but interestingly, there is nevertheless an appopriate comic-book aspect to the way the novel is written: events have a ka-pow! quality, especially in the earlier part of the novel. Joe bounces through a young lady's window, to screaming, Sammy kisses his his first love on the roof of a building with thunderstorms exploding around them, and later, Joe's adventures in the Antarctic cold, complete with grim madmen and sudden death have the overblown comic-book feel.

What to say, in the end? I wasn't sure what to take away from this novel. It is too heavy and sad to read once, but there's something beautiful and altering in it, and something compelling about the way history and religion are threaded masterfully throughout. It stays with you, with all its weight ( )

From the jacket copy: "It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun."This is a fantastic book. I was immediately pulled in after reading only a few pages. The fluid, dream-like writing gives the story and characters a vivid quality — I could picture the story like a movie in my mind. This book is rich in detail and tells an epic story. Brilliant writing. I've also read The Wonder Boys by this author which was also very good but this book is a big wow. I enjoyed it very much. ( )

While I appreciate the artistry and imagination displayed in this novel, I think I might have liked it better if it were about 200 pages shorter. ( )

This is the tale of two cousins, a cadre of superheroes, a war, and sacrifice. In 1939, young Joseph Kavalier employed his Houdini-inspired escape talents to smuggle himself out of Prague and into the United States. His cousin in Brooklyn, Sammy Clay, loves comic books and is awed by Joseph's natural artistic talents. Together the two young Jewish men toil to create the Escapist and Luna Moth, among others, while Joe dreams of saving his family from the devastation of Europe under Hitler. The beautiful Rosa Saks captures his heart, even as Sammy takes a very different path. Then on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, everything changes.

My feelings on this are mixed. It's beautifully written and captures the spirit of the time period. Joe, Sammy, Rosa, and the rest of the wide cast are alive and vibrant. I can see why Chabon won the Pulitzer for this work. However, sometimes he went into exhaustive detail. In the middle of a scene it will dive into a three page history of the comic book, or a particular setting that never returned. Sometimes the perspective changes were dizzying as well, diving into characters we only see for a few pages. It felt as though the author had so much good material, he had to make sure all of it made it into the finished product. Yes, it was interesting stuff, but an info dump is still an info dump and it detracted from the flow of the story. It's worth reading, but not keeping. ( )

Darrerament l’atzar m’està portant a enfrontar-me amb grans llibres. “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay”, de Michael Chabon, és una gesta literària, un triomf de la lletra sobre els sentits i un assalt a la percepció en tots els fronts i en tota regla. La prosa de’n Michael Chabon és exhuberant i intuïtiva, capaç de trobar metàfores sorprenents i exactes i imatges espontànies i naturals. Balancejant-se continuament a la fina línia que separa el virtuosisme de l’artificiositat, en Chabon ha escrit una novel·la ambiciosa que aconsegueix capturar l’efecte del pas del temps en l’evolució d’uns personatges plens de vida i interesants. És un exemple d’argument ben planificat i ben dosificat, explicat en tercera persona, en un estil lliure indirecte potent i tirant al barroquisme i un colorisme pulp que alterna amb uns diàlegs vivaços deliciosos que només a un tram promitjada la novel·la perd una mica de gas, per recuperar-lo sense problemes més endavant.Gran novel·la. Extremadament satisfactòria. Sovint exagero, però passarà a formar part de la història de la literatura. ( )