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Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.
They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances.
None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.
Historical adventure, Chabon style
| Customer Rating:   | One of the marks of a great writer would be versatility, a quality that Michael Chabon continues to demonstrate. After making his mark with more "literary" fiction, he has taken on assorted types of genre fiction, most notably with young adult fantasy (Summerland) and science fiction/mystery with The Yiddish Policemen's Union. His latest foray has been in the realm of historical adventure with Gentlemen of the Road.
As noted in the Afterword, Chabon originally thought of this book as Jews With Swords, a title that is not entirely appropriate as one of the characters wields an axe. The two protagonists are both Jewish, but are as completely physically opposite as their initials, A and Z. Zelikman is a pale scarecrow of a man, moody but a gifted healer. Amram is a giant African who is an adept warrior with his aforementioned axe. The pair are good friends and gentlemen of the road, wanderers seeking adventure and fortune wherever it comes, particularly in the tenth century Near Eastern lands around the Black and Caspian Seas.
In this case, the adventure focuses on a young Khazar prince, Filaq, who is on the run after a coup killed his father. Amram and Zelikman agree to escort him to safe haven in exchange for suitable compensation. Besides the threats from assassins and enemy soldiers, there is another snag: Filaq has his own ideas about regaining legitimate power. Filaq also has a secret that could undermine all of them.
As much as anyone, I think Chabon was influenced by Robert Howard while writing this short novel. Though there are not the fantasy elements that would be found in a Conan story, there is a certain storytelling similarity and there are illustrations that supplement the tale that is reminiscent of various adventure tales. It is a fun story, but not a perfect one: the writing style that Chabon has adopted for this story may be appropriate but is also a bit too ornate at times. This intricate wordiness may try your patience at times, but if you stick with it, you'll find that this is a rewarding read. |
Where's My Award for Finishing This?
| Customer Rating: | Chabon's language winds and wends in so many different directions; I found it both beautiful and headache-inducing. The novel is about two unlikely friends - Amram, the giant African, and Zelikman, the scarecrow from Francia. They are, indeed, "gentlemen of the road," going where the wind and fortune take them. Early in the book they get caught up in the affairs of an embattled royal bent on revenge and reclamation of the family throne. The storyline is peppered with a high body count (though none of it is grisly) and plenty of clever revelations to make the story interesting. I found the two main characters charming and complex, though the dense writing style still kept them at arm's length from me.
I felt like I earned something while reading this book - it really was that difficult for me to process (and it's only 196 pages!). I can't put my finger on what made it so hard, or why I enjoyed it so much. I read the author's afterword, and even in a more conversational tone, I found Chabon diffult to "follow." My husband read and enjoyed his young adult novel Summerland, and his Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay has been recommended to be by many people. Even though I often felt confused in the maze of this book's language, I know I'll eventually give Chabon another try. |
Short, but sweet...
| Customer Rating: | ...just like this review.
If you love language...if you love adventure-writ-economical...if you believe that 'less is more'...then this novel is for you.
It's not for everyone. It is a sortakinda set-piece of muscular language; imagine if you will, Shakespeare writing a novella, and doing it with brevity in mind. It presumes that you're either familiar with many/most/the majority of arcane references...or you have the mental chops to connect the dots, to keep up with alacrity...while having a ball.
Having said that, as a screenwriter/novelist, part of my reaction to any book is, at the risk of infuriating literary purists, to ask the question 'Would it make a good movie?'
'Gentlemen of the Road' would make (in the right hands, with the right touch) a fantabulous film.
My fingers are now crossed. |
"Gentlemen" Misses the Mark
| Customer Rating: | Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of AdventureBook Review
Gentlemen of the Road
Michael Chabon
Arthur L. Finkle
Michael Chabon is a superior new talent. His genius is to present Jewish topics through the brilliant lens of precisely crafted historical fiction, as amply demonstrated in "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and "The Yiddish Policeman's Union.
In "Gentlemen," Chabon presents the Khazarian period (c 650 -1000) in which an Ethiopian, a Burgundian and Arabian - all adventuresome Jews - appear in a denouement in medieval Khazaria.
This novel misses the mark. There is no background of why Khararia's king converts to Judaism ans what type of culture eventuates.. There is no continuity of the Jewish community as represented by the Ethiopian, Burgundian and Arabian.
In his afterward, Chabon presents the premise that there were medieval Jews adventuring in the Crimean.. Such afterward should have been the forward, along with its excellent map representation of the area.. Further, because there are so many strangely transliterated words, there should also be an appendix.
I hope Mr. Chabon fleshes this book out to reflect the enormous variety and rich cultural experiences in Khazaria and other medieval Jewish communities.
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Chabon Elevates Genre Fiction
| Customer Rating: | Michael Chabon is the undisputed master of rasing genre novels into (or nearly into) the realm of literature. "Gentlemen of the Road" was originally produced as a serialized adventure, published incrementally by the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
It shows.
But as always, Chabon makes a convincing argument that we should overlook what we would normally think of as a failing. The adventures of a pair of Jewish con-men/mercenaries in 10th-century Khazaria feels like a very good mini-series on a channel like A&E or The BBC. Rousing action, battles and barfights, love and deceptions, politics and revolution packaged intelligently with quality actors and wrapped in Chabon's wonderful prose. While the chapters are at times disjointed, "Gentlemen of the Road" makes for an entertaining whole.
The depth and seriousness of "Kavalier & Clay" and "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is replaced with swashbuckling heroes and the dust and mist of history, allowing the reader to relax and enjoy following Zelikman and Amram, a classic pair of bickering opposites, in their trip across an ancient and little known landscape. |
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