A Sick Day for Kavalier & Clay
Posted on April 23, 2003 at 1:53 pm | No Comments
Monday’s suspicion that a virus was settling in was dead-on. It felt literally dead-on. Woke up Tuesday barely able to get vertical … I used up whatever little energy I did have trying to get ready for work, then proceeded to collapse back in bed, after which I spent the rest of the day shivering under the covers in a fevered haze. No, I don’t have SARS, only a few of the symptoms (just no congestive problems, and no headaches…whew.)
I used the day in bed to cruise through the final 300 or so pages of the absolutely brilliant Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It’s one of those books that just plain makes you feel smarter after reading it. Michael Chabon’s vocabulary is overwhelming, inspiring, just plain outstanding. His metaphors, his descriptive abilities, his insights… every sentence a tiny piece of perfection. The points of view, the settings, the subject matter, all make sudden shifts that reveal themselves to be so natural, so, well, perfect… I’m in awe of the man. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is mind-boggling… I’m just stunned. An epic achievement deserving of every bit of praise it’s been given over the past couple of years. Not that it means anything coming from me… the Pulitzer peeps usually know what they’re talkin’ about.
If you’re one of those, like me, who waited way too long to read this thing, well, thanks to Amazon, you can check out the first twenty or so pages online. Take my word for it though, you might as well just make a trip to the library or local bookstore and get the sucker in your hands. Wow.
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