The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

I didn't think I'd like this book because I disliked his Hugo and Nebula winning The Yiddish Policeman's Union. What I disliked about that book was the prose. It was overwrought and pretentious. I had similar feelings with this book. I found the prose often interfered with the story telling and dialogue, going off on tangents to provide color or context to a thought or scenario. It still felt pretentious, but not quite as overwrought. I thought the story was much more interesting and I was able to retain the thought or statement that was interrupted by the prose. In high school, I went through a phase of reading a lot of Jewish-American literature as introduced by my senior year English teacher. I loved Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth especially. This book was right up my alley of this genre. Speaking of genres this book was nominated for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award in 2001 and won the Pulitzer for 2000. It's not science fiction or fantasy. It's more meta, being about comic books, sort of in the same vein that Big Bang Theory is about people who love science fiction and fanasy.

Come visit my blog for the full review...