There are a few books I read roughly once a year and in these cold and early months I often reach for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. This book was introduced to me by a friend sitting on a curb in New York City 10 years ago, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Every once in a while a car backfire or the scent of wet pavement (and trash) will throw me back to that curb, and I'll wish I could go back to reading this book for the first time. Full of action, mystery, love, and legend, it is a gritty picture of New York in the 1940's.
Sam Clay, an aspiring comic book author from Brooklyn and his cousin Joe Kavalier, an artist escaping Prague as war looms, find themselves partners creating one of the biggest comic book heroes right at the beginning of the boom. As war rages and the boys grow up they fall in love, fall apart, and find their footing.
I'm not typically an historical fiction lover, and World War II books are not my jam, but there will always be a spot on my shelf for this one. Chabon paints a picture of his characters that holds nothing back. The boys feel painfully human, their successes are joyful, their heartbreaks palpable, and it is easy to fall in love with them.
A sweeping novel crossing continents and decades, this is not just a book for comic lovers. It will break your heart and show you how to put it back together again.
H Rooker is the Assistant Store Manager at Still North Books and Bar, and a lifelong New Englander.
