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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Part V - Discussion (January 2012)
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William
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Jan 24, 2012 11:52PM
Discuss Part V: Radioman, here.
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For me, this section was as stark, brilliant, and dazzling as a snowstorm that would have taken place within it. A completely unexpected turn, and one that must have taken an enormous effort of faith in the rightness of his course for the author. I was utterly dazzled by this section, and it pretty much made the book for me. Honestly, as someone known for being able to scrape up 1300 words on any given subject simply because he can, I'm left with little else to say about it. People can disagree with me all they like, but I'm stunned by the virtuosic skill and daring of Part V.
I'm still struggling with this part of the book. It was the hardest part for me.
I agree, it was a difficult section, in part because it was such a departure from what led up to it. But I think that's how WW II must have been for those who lived it--not that Joe's was in almost any way a "typical" war experience--but that it must have seemed an abrupt departure from their previous lives, and I think it must have been far cry from what most servicemen and -women were expecting. Though life-changing, and rarely in a good way.
I absolutely loved this section. The choice of Antartica for the setting was very compelling. The isolation and lonliness of the continent accentuated Chabon's depiction of Joe in despair over the loss of his brother. Yet, as Chabon has done time and time again in this book, the comic infusion of humor into story carries the section. The subplot of two half-crazed, half-starved U.S. servicemen flying a rickety plane (whose outer shell is stiched pelts) across a 1000 miles of desolute land to kill a lone German scientist for revenge has to be one of the most creative bits of fiction about World War II.
Throughout I've loved the little wanderings the book takes. The things that if you took them out, you'd still have a story, it just wouldn't be this one.
The contrast still dazzles me (keep using that word here!) and I agree with Deborah and Adam's comments, and strongly echo Logophiles's observation about the departure from their previous lives and their own expectations. By showing us this other part of WWII that we tend to forget about, he played with our OWN expectations of WWII. Brilliant.
