2000: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Author/Editor: Michael Chabon
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this is the story of two Jewish cousins, one American and one Czech, living together in New York City during and after World War II. Like many brilliant, and complex, novels it is difficult in a few words to describe the story, but below is an excerpt from the book jacket which attempts to do just that. Suffice it to say, this is one of my all-time favorite books, by one of my favorite contemporary authors.
“It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn’s own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun.”
