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Kraven Images: A Novel
The author of the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award-nominated The Prince of West End Avenue now offers a witty, urbance satire, fizzing with brilliant word-play. Nicholas Kraven seeks sexual and intellectual stimulation in the groves of New York academe.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2026
I bought this book for the silliest of reasons. Because of the title. Kraven is, of course, one the early villains out of Spider-Man. What is he doing in a book by Alan Isler?
Nothing, unfortunately. Well, the Kraven Isler presents us, is also a kind of hunter. But that is where the similarities end. Nick Kraven is a professor of English literature at some obscure college in the Bronx who specialized in Shakespeare. As for a hero of a novel you cannot get much more original.
But the first 40 or so pages of the novel are actually quite exciting. Nick, who is an English Jew, does not think much of his students. One of them tells him about a glorious discovery he has made, that Merlin was a Jew. Kraven advises him very naturally to forget about this idea, or go to the history department. Then there is a young lady who think she is a poetess. And her best poem is one called Relationships. It is very bad, but our hero is full of praise. It just needs some polishing up. And nice guy that he is, he offers her to work on it together. Little does he know that he will be the victim, not her.
Kraven also has a relationship with the wife of some other guy. One day when he wakes up, she lies there, next to him, dead.
But then, it turns out, she is not dead at all, she just happens to sleep like a corpse. What a pity.
Because from them on, I lost interest in the further adventures very rapidly. This could have been a very good novel. But it is not.
The German title, by the way, is Goetzens Bilder. Now, why would they change the name? I really want to know.
Nothing, unfortunately. Well, the Kraven Isler presents us, is also a kind of hunter. But that is where the similarities end. Nick Kraven is a professor of English literature at some obscure college in the Bronx who specialized in Shakespeare. As for a hero of a novel you cannot get much more original.
But the first 40 or so pages of the novel are actually quite exciting. Nick, who is an English Jew, does not think much of his students. One of them tells him about a glorious discovery he has made, that Merlin was a Jew. Kraven advises him very naturally to forget about this idea, or go to the history department. Then there is a young lady who think she is a poetess. And her best poem is one called Relationships. It is very bad, but our hero is full of praise. It just needs some polishing up. And nice guy that he is, he offers her to work on it together. Little does he know that he will be the victim, not her.
Kraven also has a relationship with the wife of some other guy. One day when he wakes up, she lies there, next to him, dead.
But then, it turns out, she is not dead at all, she just happens to sleep like a corpse. What a pity.
Because from them on, I lost interest in the further adventures very rapidly. This could have been a very good novel. But it is not.
The German title, by the way, is Goetzens Bilder. Now, why would they change the name? I really want to know.
Did Not Finish
October 17, 2021Das dritte Buch in Folge, das ich abbreche ...
Die Handlung wirkt zu konstruiert, die literarischen Verweise zu gewollt, die Klischees zu dick aufgetragen und - was am schlimmsten ist - der Protagonist ist mir so unsympathisch, dass ich keine weiteren zehn Seiten über ihn lesen möchte.
Der nachträglich zu Rate gezogen Klappentext spricht von einer Satire auf den Unibetrieb. Aha. Muss es dabei immer um "alte weiße Männer" in der Midlife Crisis und schrägen Sex gehen?
Will ich nicht, brauch ich nicht, danke für den Platz im Regal.
Die Handlung wirkt zu konstruiert, die literarischen Verweise zu gewollt, die Klischees zu dick aufgetragen und - was am schlimmsten ist - der Protagonist ist mir so unsympathisch, dass ich keine weiteren zehn Seiten über ihn lesen möchte.
Der nachträglich zu Rate gezogen Klappentext spricht von einer Satire auf den Unibetrieb. Aha. Muss es dabei immer um "alte weiße Männer" in der Midlife Crisis und schrägen Sex gehen?
Will ich nicht, brauch ich nicht, danke für den Platz im Regal.
August 28, 2008
In Alan Isler's second novel he continues a few trends from his first, [The Prince of West End Avenue]. The protagonist is a professor of literature and is teaching a class on Shakespeare when we meet him as an adult. He comes from a family of European Jews and is living in America. However, while the senior citizens of [The Prince of West End Avenue] seem to merely dabble in the petty and the vulgar, Nicholas Kraven resides there 100% of the time.
He's a character who some might find difficult to like -- rakish, amoral, sexually predatory, a compulsive and extravagant liar. The intricate plotting (there are many artfully arranged coincidences in the story) is fun, albeit sometimes difficult, to follow, and many characters are somewhat endearing in how over-the-top they become. Isler's sense of humor is what ultimately kept me reading, but I found it very difficult to care about these characters whenever he introduced more serious shades to the plot.
He's a character who some might find difficult to like -- rakish, amoral, sexually predatory, a compulsive and extravagant liar. The intricate plotting (there are many artfully arranged coincidences in the story) is fun, albeit sometimes difficult, to follow, and many characters are somewhat endearing in how over-the-top they become. Isler's sense of humor is what ultimately kept me reading, but I found it very difficult to care about these characters whenever he introduced more serious shades to the plot.
September 21, 2025
Divertido. Me gusta la temática de literatos flipados académicos: clases donde se interpreta a Shakespeare, guateques con personajes histriónicos y todo el batiburrillo de caracteres yankees. La relevancia de la familia judía sirve para darle relevancia a la propia familia como nexo de unión. Sin más.
August 18, 2015
Comical and confusing
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews