Page turner: 9/10
Heart tugger: 8/10
Thought provoker: 7/10
Overall: 5 stars

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon is, to date, one of my most favorite books. As such, it seemed the perfect first entry to this endeavor. And it gave me an excuse to re-read it.

It is a wonderful book. The plot – it is about two Jewish men who decide to storm into the comic book industry in New York, starting just before World War II – fulfills the criteria of being easy to explain, but also taking you to places that you didn’t expect to go. Perhaps, sometimes, uncomfortably. But it is an adventure story. It has pizzazz. And it’s great.

The beginning is by far the best part of the book. In the first 100ish pages you get up-to-speed with Czech-born Joe, and Brooklyn-boy Sam, where you learn about becoming magician, comic books, and pre-War Euro-American relations and tensions. The language is vivid (to the point where I felt I could actually see the books they start creating, and by the way I am Not a particular fan of comic books), the characters believable, and totally overall it is unlike anything else I have ever read. It was refreshing. Heart-warming (if occasionally sad) and endearing as well as racy and vibrant.

I am sure if you were to read Spark Notes (or whatever) you would discover the books themes are escapism, loss, and love. I would agree. But I encourage you to think of escapism as an art-form. Think, “Acts of self-liberation” as one character calls his exploits, think fast-talking and lock-picking. And think about what you would do if you were to lose your entire family, or part of your identity; your main reasons for being.

As the book progresses and as the layers of things the characters (and their comic book characters) are trying to escape get to be a bit much, there are some peculiar plot twists. They ‘make sense’ if you think about it, but a few parts also left me with my head cocked to one side, with one eyebrow arched with increasing frequency. Time blurs. I am sure it is all very meaningful, but it gets to a point where it’s peculiarity becomes a bit much. Frankly, my feeling of disorientation was enough that I didn’t give the book straight 10s.  But i wanted to.

The good news is that any moments of oddity get redeemed at the end. In fact, the last page is a bit of cleverness that I am still in awe of. So simple, so *obvious*, and yet I definitely didn’t see it coming. And no, that isn’t an excuse to flip to the last page at the beginning. Better to consider it a reward for getting through the slightly peculiar bit in the middle.

I will say again that this is a wonderful book. So if you are looking for a ‘great’ book – I don’t think starting here would be a bad choice.