The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

639 pages

English language

Published July 10, 2000 by Random House.

ISBN:
978-0-312-28299-8
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5 stars (1 review)

The novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old Josef "Joe" Kavalier as a refugee in New York City, where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin Sammy Klayman. Joe escaped from Prague with the help of his teacher Kornblum by hiding in a coffin along with the inanimate Golem of Prague, leaving the rest of his family, including his younger brother Thomas, behind. Besides having a shared interest in drawing, Sammy and Joe share several connections to Jewish stage magician Harry Houdini: Joe (like comics legend Jim Steranko) studied magic and escapology in Prague, which aided him in his departure from Europe, and Sammy is the son of the Mighty Molecule, a strongman on the vaudeville circuit.

When Sammy discovers Joe's artistic talent, Sammy gets Joe a job as an illustrator for a novelty products company, which, due to the recent success of Superman, is attempting to …

11 editions

From Am Graben to The Empire State Building

5 stars

I am no fan of American comic books. Grown up men wearing swimming trunks over tight pants is ridiculous.

However, this has been a most enjoyable read! Prague, New York, Jews, Americans, Germans, war, comic books, masked heroes, friendship, love, struggle, mystery, American dream, Golem, escapistry...there's just about everything. And it is well mixed with a set of unique characters who are believable. Nice intro into the comic books industry of pre-war and post-war US + interesting language-wise, too.

I hope Sammy is happy in LA.

Subjects

  • Comic books, strips, etc. -- Authorship -- Fiction
  • Heroes in mass media -- Fiction
  • Czech Americans -- Fiction
  • Young men -- Fiction
  • Artists -- Fiction
  • Humorous stories
  • New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction