Entertaining the Alien

37. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon

'Amazing' is an excellent word for this book. Ostensibly it's about two Jewish guys in New York in the 30s who become two of the most well known figures of the Golden Age of comic books. But it's not just about that. It's about history, and World War II, and it's an analysis of the comic book as a pop art form and as a means for the artists to release their own demons and dreams. Chabon manages to slip in all these disparate things, seemingly random bits of conversation and action, and then makes them all fit together in a single illuminating moment--particularly in the creation of Kavalier & Clay's superhero, The Escapist. The fifty or so pages of seemingly trivial history of the two main characters all snaps into place as not only vitally important but ultimately revealing as well.

I spent most of the book in awe of the structure, but not so much that I didn't get completely sucked into the story. I was so into this book that I dreamed about it, three nights in a row while I was reading it. I think I'm going to start insisting that all my friends read this book. It's worth it.