#21

Proves conclusively that Michael Chabon is the greatest thing ever to come out of Columbia, Maryland (sorry, Aaron McGruder and Ed Norton). Read it tomorrow, if you haven't already.

A few years back I came across a sound thrashing of Mr. Chabon in the NYRB. The reviewer was dismayed by Chabon's propensity to cram an encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture into his novels, and also found his use of elaborate figurative language overwhelming. Strangely, these are the things I find most attractive about Chabon. In fact, the negative review sent me surrying out to buy The Yiddish Policemen's Union, my first Chabon novel.

Kavalier and Clay is a novel about heroes, of the super- and everyday- sort, and their weaknesses. It's also about Golems, Nazis, Prague, the Antarctic, and comic books. It's dark, funny, and magical.