On the Shelf: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY | MICHAEL CHABON | PICADOR | 2000

This brilliant novel set in New York and Prague introduces to us two misfit young men who make it big by creating comic-book superheroes. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America: the comic book. Inspired by their own fears and dreams, kavalier and Clay create The Escapists, The Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was the best book I read in 2012. It was published in 2001, and it's a shame that it took me so long to read it, but I'm glad that it stumbled into my life this year. This book revitalized my love of literature. The subject matter wasn't anything I thought would interest me, but the story swept me away. I couldn't put this book down and nothing else I read this year  lived up to the strong hold it had on me.

A story about love, fear, friendship, and family. A story about doing everything possible to create what we believe in. A story about truly finding out who we really are. Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning novel weaves together comic books, escape artists, the glory and struggles of New York City, and mysterious characters to tell a story so unique that you'll never want to put it away.

The novel takes so many turns. I never knew where it was heading, but the changes were always exactly where I wanted the narrative to go (even if I wasn't aware of it before Chabon made it happen). This is one of those books that make me wish I could jump directly into the story. I wanted to be there. The characters seemed so real.

If, like me, you've put off reading this novel - you need to stop making excuses. Add it to your to-read list for 2013. Chabon's writing style and characters will remind you why we love literature, why art is the most important thing of all.

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"The magician seemed to promise that something torn to bits might be mended without a seam, that what had vanished might reappear, that a scattered handful of doves or dust might be reunited by a word, that a paper rose consumed by fire could be made to bloom from a pile of ash. But everyone knew that it was only an illusion. The true magic of this broken world lay in the ability of things it contained to vanish, to become so thoroughly lost, that they might never have existed in the first place."