The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 31, 2009 Laura rated it really liked it

The first half of the book is interesting, keeps you reading but not glued to the page. The second half is much more gripping, and I stayed up much too late on a couple of nights because I cared so much about the characters that I really wanted to know what happened to them.

The book is quite beautifully written. Chabon can certainly turn a phrase. There was quite a bit of background in the beginning on the world of comic books, which didn't really intrigue me, but really helps you to understand ...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Katie rated it it was amazing

I bought this book in the fall of 2006, and since then it has languished in boxes, storage units, and various bookshelves in multiple US states. In search of new reading material, I pulled it off my bookshelf and was surprised to see it had won a Pulitzer Prize and dealt with 20th century American and European history - I had remembered it as a book about comics, which didn't make my blood boil.

It took me about 10 minutes to become hopelessly lost in this book. The author has a precise and artf ...more

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Nov 23, 2016 Devin Murphy rated it it was amazing

One of the best book I have ever read. This story is fascinating and so well written, I have gone back and read everything by him and will do so for the rest of his career. He is one of the best writers alive.

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Oct 06, 2008 marianne rated it it was ok

Ideally, I would’ve given this book 2.5 stars. I really liked the premise of this book, and I think Chabon did a really good job with a lot of it. I especially enjoyed the “worlds” he created – both the enchantment of the magic/escape artist world in Prague, and the energy of this new, rebellious art, the comic book, in NYC in the late 30s and early 40s. Neither magic nor comic books are passions of mine, but I definitely walked away with a lot of interest in them.

The part that killed it for me ...more

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