I recently had the pleasure of being loaned "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by a friend of mine and I must say that this book really struck a chord with me.
I loved this book because the story was so completely crazy, and yet somehow believable. If I told you that a story could include a Golem, a showdown in the antarctic, an escape from nazi Prague, and Salvador Dali suffocating in a diving suit in a living room; you would probably say it sounds schizophrenic. You might not be wrong in some respects as the characters in Kavalier and Clay sometimes seem to do exactly the opposite of what you want them to do, somehow they manage to manufacture their own misery with the best intentions.
Somehow Chabon combines the Holocaust and WW2 with the mystery of magicians and escape artists, and then drops the story into the Golden Age of comic books; a time of prosperity for comic books and aspiring artists that has never been rivaled. Into this entire pot he stews themes of loss, revenge, redemption, and self acceptance.
This book is great and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to embark on an emotional rollercoaster; however I will caution some of my more conservative readership; if you in fact exist, there are some pretty adult themes in the book including graphic depictions of sexuality and homosexuality. Hopefully this does not deter anyone from a great read that should not be missed, because this book really is something extraordinary.
in the end I give it 9 out of 10 melted golems.
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