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Michael Chabon Message Board 1/1/2012
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Chabon has written!

Author Chabon's Book Reviews

Gentlemen of the Road
Two men from opposite ends of the globe, united by their common Jewish faith and a knack for parting fools from their gold, find their low-key bandit lifestyle upended when they get sucked into a civil war for the throne of Khazaria, the last (and only) Jewish kingdom of the Middle Ages. Tall and blond, Zelikman is a Frankish physician in self-imposed exile from his homeland after witnessing his family murdered in an anti-Jewish uprising. Amram is an eno...
Telegraph Avenue
Archy Stallings owns a record store with his best friend Nat. They like to collect old vinyl funk and they play in a funk band together. Enjoying their lives as small business owners, their lives are soon thrown into disarray as the gigantic Dogpile megastore sets to open near them and threatens to run them out of business. They must fight for the survival of the business, and life, they love, in the face of a threateningly huge corporation. ...
The Amazing Adventures of Kalvalier and Clay
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is about two cousins, Josef Kavalier (Joe) and Sam Klayman (Sam Clay), who go into the comic book business hoping to make their “big break” and earn some money. Drawing is their passion and they write and create characters based on their own lives. By the end, they've produced many, best-selling, heroes, such as the Escapist, The Monitor and Luna Moth. They meet Rosa Saks, who also goes into the business, and b...
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
To say that Josef Kavalier - Jewish refugee, novice escapist, artistic prodigy and vicarious proponent of truth and justice - led a remarkable life understates the intensity of Michael Chabon's main character. Upon escaping Nazi persecution and meeting his cousin Sam Clay (also artistically gifted), Joe finds love and inspiration in New York City and launches a blend of pulpy nonsense and high social commentary via his comic book hero the Escapist. ...

Chabon booklist

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Art Bechstein can't escape the scrutiny of his father, a mafia accountant, can't seem to sustain a relationship with his girlfriend, and can't shake a growing attraction to his new friend Arthur. Things get even worse when another of his new acquaintances starts to see Art as the key to the big time in his father's crime syndicate. ...
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The Yiddish Policeman's Union is set in a fictional colony of Jewish immigrants that set up their own state in Alaska following WWII. The colony's time of self rule is almost up and it will soon become part of Alaska again. The main character, Meyer, is a divorced detective living in a derelict hotel. Another man living in the hotel is killed and Meyer sets out to solve the mystery along with his cousin, Berko, who is his detective partner. His ex wife, ...
Wonder Boys
Michael Chabon's outrageous novel Wonder Boys is about the weird and absurd world of writers. Professor and author Grady Tripp is a spaced out pothead blundering his way through life, like a fast moving powerboat motoring into port casting a wake that disturbs everyone and everything it passes. His link to two men in particular is the background for the lost weekend that changes his life forever. Terry Crabtree, Tripp's long-time editor and friend...