posted on 29 Jun 2023

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

To write a short review of a novel as huge as Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a daunting prospect. It’s big in as much as it’s close to 600 pages long; it’s big in terms of the density of the storylines; and, it’s big in terms of its scope. And, unusually, it’s a book that doesn’t disappoint on any of these levels. So, I can’t hope to do it full justice in 500 words or so – but what I will try and do it convey just why I think you might want to read it.

The book won Chabon the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 but it seems, astonishingly enough, to be a book that still something of a cult classic – certainly where the UK reading audience is concerned. I find this remarkable; as, presumably, would Shelley Harris who reviewed the book for The Independent in 2011 and said this:

‘Ideally, I would underplay this. I would temper my language, or slip in ‘Kavalier and Clay’ among other recommendations as if it were just an ordinary book. That way, its genius will come as a revelation, and be all the sweeter for it. But I’m going to state right now that this is an astounding novel, everything a great story should be, and that it knocks into a cocked hat all the specious arguments which seek to separate “readability” from “good writing”.’

Condensing or summarising the storyline of this book would be a travesty – and doomed to failure, because the richness of the plotlines holds the key to the magical magnetism of the novel. Suffice it to say that Josef Kavalier escapes the beginning of the terrible Nazi pogrom of the Jews in Poland by being smuggled to safety in a coffin. He winds up in New York where he teams up with his cousin, Sam Clay. Pooling their not inconsiderable talents, the two break into the emerging comic book boom and create a superhero – The Escapist – who fights for fairness and social justice. The comic is wildly successful but Joe burns with a desire to actually fight the Nazis and free his family and signs up for military duty as meanwhile, Sam has his own battle to fight – for freedom and recognition of his sexuality.

All of this is written with confidence and brio. It is truly noteworthy just how well Chabon marshals the twists and turns of plot and character – never losing control and always having an eye to keeping the reader engaged and entertained. There’s some very dark stuff in here but it never feels oppressive and there is always a strand of humour bubbling just below the surface.

Ken Kulfus writing a contemporary review of the book on its release for The New York Times, captures, I think, the essence of the book’s appeal:

“Novels conventionally draw a good deal of their power from surprising plot turns. ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'' fulfils its quota of surprises, but most of its unexpectedness resides, comic-book-style, in its challenging situations, lushly written, in which you know beforehand that the heroes will prevail. It would make a nice comic book series -- the cousins square-jawed and ham-fisted -- but the depth of Chabon's thought, his sharp language, his inventiveness and his ambition make this a novel of towering achievement.”

I first read this book over a decade ago and I wondered whether it would weave its spell quite as artfully the second time around. I needn’t have worried – this is a book to return to time and time again and it would still seem fresh and surprising.

If you haven’t, you really should give this a try.

 

Copies of the book are available in hard and paperback and can be found easily on second hand sites for not very much money. A bargain.

 

Terry Potter

June 2023