Taka's review
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Aah, yes--show don't tell: The mantra of every writing instructor. Chabon probably heard it often during his time at UC-Irvine where he earned an MFA in creative writing. And obviously, he rebelled. My kind of writer! However, this book didn't grab me like some of his other works (Wonder Boys being my favorite but I've also enjoyed many of his short stories), partly because I never came to love (or even hate) the characters. Despite my lack of enthusiam for this book, I agree that it is an excellent piece of writing, worthy of Taka's excellent review.
Thanks for the comment!
I'll definitely be reading Wonder Boys and The Yiddish Policemen's Union - i hear great things about them, and his writing is too good to miss out on.
Taka's review
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Taka's review
rating:
bookshelves:
contemporary,
japan_jul07-present,
post-modern_lit
Awesome (4.5)--
Chabon is now one of my three favorite contemporary writers (others are David Foster Wallace and Neal Stephenson) with his graceful, elegant prose, extensive vocabulary, and entertaining plot. While the book was not "fall-on-the-floor-funny" as one reviewer says, it certainly was entertaining and beautifully written. I really was floored by many of his metaphors.
Many reviewers complain of Chabon's narration that does a lot more telling than showing, which makes it more difficult for the reader to identify with the characters. But I think he pulled it off fairly well and I did sympathize with the characters (though I could've sympathized more if he had done more showing than telling), and his descriptions, I thought, were not at all boring but poetic and didn't bother me at all.
The novel reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude where he does masterfully narrate one hundred years of history by more telling than sho...more
Chabon is now one of my three favorite contemporary writers (others are David Foster Wallace and Neal Stephenson) with his graceful, elegant prose, extensive vocabulary, and entertaining plot. While the book was not "fall-on-the-floor-funny" as one reviewer says, it certainly was entertaining and beautifully written. I really was floored by many of his metaphors.
Many reviewers complain of Chabon's narration that does a lot more telling than showing, which makes it more difficult for the reader to identify with the characters. But I think he pulled it off fairly well and I did sympathize with the characters (though I could've sympathized more if he had done more showing than telling), and his descriptions, I thought, were not at all boring but poetic and didn't bother me at all.
The novel reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude where he does masterfully narrate one hundred years of history by more telling than sho...more
Aah, yes--show don't tell: The mantra of every writing instructor. Chabon probably heard it often during his time at UC-Irvine where he earned an MFA in creative writing. And obviously, he rebelled. My kind of writer! However, this book didn't grab me like some of his other works (Wonder Boys being my favorite but I've also enjoyed many of his short stories), partly because I never came to love (or even hate) the characters. Despite my lack of enthusiam for this book, I agree that it is an excellent piece of writing, worthy of Taka's excellent review.
Thanks for the comment!I'll definitely be reading Wonder Boys and The Yiddish Policemen's Union - i hear great things about them, and his writing is too good to miss out on.