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ziggymusic's review against another edition
4.0
It took about 100 pages for me to really get into the story but once I did, I was IN. While it is a 600+ page story that spans a few decades (and continents), Chabon writes so goddamn well that it reads really smoothly once you get absorbed. It never felt laborious. I loved the story - but even more than that, I loved the storytelling.
tomoka's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
alitasharing's review against another edition
5.0
Stunning, hilarious and poignant. Loved it all the way through!
cogee87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Not my style!
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
I have enjoyed several Chabons before and I looked forward to this. Unfortunately, all too soon I found myself in yet another book about Jewish boys growing up in Noo Yawk in the last century. When I got to the Golem I thought, "What, am I reading The Frozen Rabbi again?"
Comics, yay. Perhaps the one thing I'll retain from this book is the not-quite-real-but-close look at the development of the industry. And the knowledge that Chabon can write some amazing descriptive sentences.
Sammy and Joe kept building up as if they were going to become more and more unique until something really interesting happened. In fact, the book just got longer and less interesting the more I read.
By the end, the book failed the ultimate test: I didn't care what happened to the characters.
Overall, looking back, somewhere between "meh" and "feh".
Comics, yay. Perhaps the one thing I'll retain from this book is the not-quite-real-but-close look at the development of the industry. And the knowledge that Chabon can write some amazing descriptive sentences.
Sammy and Joe kept building up as if they were going to become more and more unique until something really interesting happened. In fact, the book just got longer and less interesting the more I read.
By the end, the book failed the ultimate test: I didn't care what happened to the characters.
Overall, looking back, somewhere between "meh" and "feh".
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
Guessing at the date I read this one--I remember where I was living, but not anything more specific than that (so it's correct to within about year on either side). I know I loved it, and the only reason it's not a five is because it does some odd things towards the end that I was a little "weh?" about.
austinsmart's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
dunnadam's review against another edition
4.0
Good enough story, I thought the characters could have been stronger, and I think my expectations were set too high for this book. When you hear there's a 722 page book that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and is named one of the best 50 gay books ever written, it seems like a no-brainer. While I did enjoy the book, I don't feel it changed my life.
I guess the flaw with this book was that I felt the good parts were the times people detached from their usual lives, like Joe in the ice hut or Sammy in the lightening storm, or Joe learning from the magic teacher. When these people were living their normal lives, the marriage, the kid, I didn't really get it. That being said I thought it ended well, it wasn't clean. Chabon says he's been asked to write a sequel, which is unnecessary. The version I read contained a coda wrap-up at the end, and two deleted chapters about closets which were both great. There was some other stuff too, overall too much stuff for like 50 pages after I finished the book, sometimes less is more.
Someone said in the comments there was too much gay rape, which pissed me off. First of all, I'm on like page 450 and nothing gay has happened yet, I'm like "do I have the right book???" The gay is less than 1% of the story. Secondly, the rape is a life changing, pivotal scene, captured with the line "The bitter taste of the Agent's semen was in his mouth and he would always remember the feeling of doom in his heart, a sense that he had turned some irrevocable corner and would shortly come face to face with a dark and certain fate." Hardly lurid. Thirdly, "too gay"? Fuck you.
I highlighted a couple of scenes as I read.
"As with many novices at the art of disguise, he could not have felt more conspicuous if he were naked or wearing a sandwich board printed with his name and intentions."
"The newspaper articles that Joe had read about the upcoming senate investigation into comic books always cited 'escapism' among the litany of injurious consequences of their reading, and dwelled on the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life."
"For the only true sequel is the one that flitters briefly into being in your mind, O my friend by the fireside, in the moments after you read the last paragraph and lay the book down." - although this quote from Chabon in 2011 was under-cut by the 37 pages of material that followed it.
The scene with the lightening storm was probably the most romantic thing I've ever read.
I guess the flaw with this book was that I felt the good parts were the times people detached from their usual lives, like Joe in the ice hut or Sammy in the lightening storm, or Joe learning from the magic teacher. When these people were living their normal lives, the marriage, the kid, I didn't really get it. That being said I thought it ended well, it wasn't clean. Chabon says he's been asked to write a sequel, which is unnecessary. The version I read contained a coda wrap-up at the end, and two deleted chapters about closets which were both great. There was some other stuff too, overall too much stuff for like 50 pages after I finished the book, sometimes less is more.
Someone said in the comments there was too much gay rape, which pissed me off. First of all, I'm on like page 450 and nothing gay has happened yet, I'm like "do I have the right book???" The gay is less than 1% of the story. Secondly, the rape is a life changing, pivotal scene, captured with the line "The bitter taste of the Agent's semen was in his mouth and he would always remember the feeling of doom in his heart, a sense that he had turned some irrevocable corner and would shortly come face to face with a dark and certain fate." Hardly lurid. Thirdly, "too gay"? Fuck you.
I highlighted a couple of scenes as I read.
"As with many novices at the art of disguise, he could not have felt more conspicuous if he were naked or wearing a sandwich board printed with his name and intentions."
"The newspaper articles that Joe had read about the upcoming senate investigation into comic books always cited 'escapism' among the litany of injurious consequences of their reading, and dwelled on the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life."
"For the only true sequel is the one that flitters briefly into being in your mind, O my friend by the fireside, in the moments after you read the last paragraph and lay the book down." - although this quote from Chabon in 2011 was under-cut by the 37 pages of material that followed it.
The scene with the lightening storm was probably the most romantic thing I've ever read.
thisisthelion's review against another edition
4.0
Gosh, it almost took me a year to read this. I should be ashamed of myself.