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Author Quotes: 
  “I have no hesitation saying that being Jewish is unquestionably one of the ways I define myself to the world. Being Jewish colors my way of seeing everything from being a parent to how to vote. 
--Michael Chabon from interview in The Jerusalem Post

Author Bio:

Michael Chabon, 49 won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. He is married to Ayelet Waldman, an Israeli-born writer and has four children. 
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is reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon for May 21, 2013.

Fighting Hitler with comic book heroes? POW? Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, tells the story of two Jewish cousins, Josef Kavalier and Sammy Clay. 
Joe draws “The Escapist” hitting Hitler. “The Escapist is a superhuman escape artist. No cuff can hold him. No lock is secure. Coming to the rescue of those who toil in chains of tyranny and injustice. Houdini, but mixed with Robin Hood and a little bit of Albert Schweitzer.” Deep down they recognize the futility of their comic super heroes to battle against Hitler, but for these cousins it means something. “If they could not move Americans to anger against Hitler, then Joe’s existence, the mysterious freedom that had been granted to him and denied to so many others, had no meaning.”


The book centers around two intertwined themes: escape and the mystery of the Prague golem. The book begins with Josef leaving his family behind as he escapes Prague with a golem in a casket during the beginning of the Nazi occupation. He connects with his cousin, Sammy in New York City. Together, they create a comic book empire during the golden age of adventure comic books between the 1930’s and 40’s. Comic books were the “great, mad new American art form” and gave young Jews in the United States a way to make a living. Josef is making money as fast as he can to deliver his family out of Czechoslovakia.

This unique narrative is especially enjoyable for word lovers. I had to keep my dictionary open -it is chocked full of numinous vocabulary, a puzzling lexicon that included “grampus,” ullage,” “parbuckle,”and some entirely fictitious words…”

I wonder what George Orwell would say. Chabon breaks many of his rules for clear writing from his essay “Politics and the English Language.” Rule #2: Never use a long word where a short one will do. #5: Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. He may be breaking all the rules but I'd say keep it up. The hyper vocabulary made the reading so enjoyable. 

Be patience, Michael Chabon begins speaking after 5 minutes. It is well worth it!
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  • Home
    • BExtraordinaire Calendar
  • Blog BExtraordinaire
  • Past Reads
    • 2021 >
      • The Mysteries
      • The Long Petal of the Sea
      • The Silent Patient
      • The Broken Heart of America
      • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
    • 2020 >
      • Where the Crawdads Sing
      • Death of a Red Heroine
      • Age of Light
      • Beneath the Scarlet Sky
      • Next Year in Havana
      • What the Wind Knows
      • Simon the Fiddler
      • The Dutch House
      • Dear Edward
    • 2019 >
      • Caleb's Crossing
    • 2018 >
      • Educated
      • To Have and To Have Not
    • 2017 >
      • A Gentleman in Moscow
    • 2016 >
      • The Mare
      • Fates and Furies
    • 2015 >
      • Citizens of London
      • Euphoria
      • The Blue Flower
      • Being Mortal
      • Waiting for Snow in Havana
      • All that is Solid Melts into Air
      • All the Light We Cannot See
    • 2014 >
      • On Such a Full Sea
      • A Canticle for Leibowitz
      • The Luminaries
      • The Lowland
      • Alice Munro shorts
      • The Goldfinch
      • The Round House
      • Salvage the Bones
    • 2013 >
      • The Monuments Men
      • Wild
      • The Great Fire
      • A Time of Gifts
      • Sweet Tooth
      • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
      • To the End of the Land
      • The Casual Vacancy
      • Canada
      • The Light Between Oceans
    • 2012 >
      • One Amazing Thing
      • Bossypants
      • The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
      • Rules of Civility
      • Cutting for Stone
      • Just Kids
      • Red Badge of Courage
      • Lost on Treasure Island
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
      • The Children's Book
    • 2011 >
      • The Cellist of Sarajevo
      • Food Rules
      • Freedom
      • Unbroken
      • The Painted Veil
      • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
      • Elegance of the Hedgehog
      • Soul Mountain
  • Highlights
    • The Complete List
  • ReaderRec