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. 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. It was tight and the prose was classic Chabon. One of my favorite things about this book? Moonglow 3. Wonder Boys 4. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh 5.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union View all 17 comments. Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: chabs previous output. Shelves: gentleman-adventurers , read-in , a-sphincter-says-what. It is impossible to verbalise how much I wanted to like this book. I rapidly realised that Chabon is an author who might thematically link his books in many ways Judaism, homosexuality and the struggle to achieve an identity are ongoing themes but he's not one for sticking to the same style, much like grand-master of the ever changing styl It is impossible to verbalise how much I wanted to like this book.
I rapidly realised that Chabon is an author who might thematically link his books in many ways Judaism, homosexuality and the struggle to achieve an identity are ongoing themes but he's not one for sticking to the same style, much like grand-master of the ever changing style China Mieville who is also a tricksy SOB with that kind of thing. Gentleman of the Road seemed to be right up my, er road. Slight but well presented with an excellent cover and a historic theme set in an area of the world which I am interested in.
So, to summarise historical swash buckling which knowing Chabon would be meticulously researched, pretty pictures and a tome which was not going to test my glass back if I had to carry it around with me for a while. That's why it is such a tragedy and with heavy heart I have to report that I didn't even quite make it to the end of this and its only pages long! I've checked my attention span and it seems to be intact.
The book is definitely in English not Quechua or Latin so no problems there. The problem is definitely the words themselves and the issue is that whenever I tried to read this they sort of swam around in front of my face, without ever piercing the backs of my eyes and getting through to my brain in any sort of sensible stream.
Well then, you might point out, the problem is clearly with your brain. I have considered this too but all the other words seem to be going in just fine. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by Kavalier and Clay but this book lacked the bazinga pizazz of previous output for me and I struggled to engage with Amram, Zelikman or the whiny Feliq.
Ok so you want your kingdom back? Well stop whining and running away. As predicted this book was well researched lots of environment detail regarding buildings, landscapes, clothing and weaponry of the period and appears from the outside cover to have the key ingredients for an old fashioned adventure story, but for me it just didn't have to push to take it from rip-snoring to rip-roaring.
View all 5 comments. I thought this was great fun. The writing has been criticised as rather over-wrought — well, it is certainly a little baroque but Chabon's tongue is firmly in his cheek, and there is a wittiness to his descriptions which makes me very willing to go along for the ride. The plot, for its part, is a full-on no-excuses Adventure! It's like H. Rider Haggard meets…well, meets Michael Chabon. Unfortunately, the book is rather spoiled by an unnecessary and bizarrely defensive author's afterword, in which Chabon seems to feel the need to apologise to his readership for not having produced another literary novel about modern-day Jewishness.
Despite this current novel, Chabon apparently wants to point out, he is still to be regarded as a "serious, literary" author. I can't help feeling that if you find it necessary to attach a lengthy apologia to a book then you shouldn't bother writing the stupid thing in the first place.
It is almost unbelievably patronising and irritating. But try to ignore that, and concentrate on the story itself, which really is unashamedly enjoyable.
May 30, Brian rated it liked it. It is an adventure story through and through, but it is written in a literary style. It is not often that the two combine, however Michael Chabon, the author, pulls of the feat admirably. Chabon can write. There are some long beautiful sentences in this text. Not all of them necessary, but well executed nonetheless. Once you read a chapter or two you get use to the style and the text flows nicely.
The plot goes along effortlessly, and this page story has only 15 chapters. The novel was originally published as a serial story in a magazine and you can see how it would work in that format. After reading the chapter, looking back at the title makes you appreciate what you have just read a little more. It aids the text in creating the world of the story for the reader. This text is a fun story that moves along, and is well written by a gifted writer.
Nothing wrong with a great writer writing a book whose plot makes you want to pick the text up and keep reading. I enjoyed this text, you will too. View 2 comments. Aug 11, Fabian rated it liked it. What occurs when you have the freedom to produce any-length book after winning the Pulitzer.
Believe it! This one is too short to be adventuresome, too busy in its prose to match its zippy plot. Every single sentence must be odd and fascinating It's an adventure "Jews with Swords" that's not really worth taking.
Oct 02, Michael rated it really liked it. A rollicking book. If any book deserves the word 'rollicking', this is it. Howard, among others. While some readers may wonder 'what's the point? View all 4 comments. Oct 30, Chloe rated it really liked it Shelves: adventure , fiction. A fun little picaresque tale of adventure and daring-do. I had no idea what to expect from this book when I picked it up a few weeks back from Powell's after a particularly entertaining reading from the author not this book, he read from his newest.
I do have to say that, after reading three of Chabon's book at this point, that the man definitely has a knack for keeping me guessing. He follows the muse wherever, and I do mean wherever, she may alight. This may not be a piece of Chabon's work th A fun little picaresque tale of adventure and daring-do.
This may not be a piece of Chabon's work that will stand the test of ages, but it definitely serves to flip on its head the current cultural stereotyping of Jews as neurotic Woody Allen clones or tight-fisted Manhattan attorneys. Rather this book looks back to over a millennium past at the adventures of two very different Jewish brigands or Gentlemen of the Road, as the title allows. The first is Franco-Jewish Zelikman ben Solomon, a physician who has turned his smarts to the more practical for a.
Eastern Europe skill of lightening the purses of fellow travelers. Along with his partner, Amram, a hulk of a man who hails from North Africa and who has adopted the Jewish faith, they find themselves in the company of the youngest son of the recently overthrown bek of Khazria present Azerbaijan and struggling to return him to the throne of his father. A fun and fast read, I barely stopped to savor Chabon's always exquisite style of writing.
While definitely an exercise in wish fulfillment Chabon admits as much in the book's afterword he still crafts an eminently enjoyable tale of adventure. The book has everything: elephants, silken garrotes, cross-dressing royalty, smart horses of the kind that normally appear in Owen Wilson Westerns, hash smoking, and ancient ridiculous rites.
Definitely ideal for a plane trip or a few hours spent waiting in the reception area of the doctor's office. View 1 comment. Feb 23, Mattia Ravasi rated it it was amazing. Michael Chabon pretending he is Jules Verne. Combines all the sheer, unbound awesomeness of Jules Verne and Michael Chabon. If all the books I read were this good I would do little in my life but read. I stole this book from my friend Krystal. Ok, not so much stole as co-opted for a few days.
I see her at the coffee shop and she shows me the book she just started reading. She then starts talking to other people. Having left my book at home in a rare moment of bibliotardedness, I start reading hers. She wanders off to run errands nearby and by the time she comes back I'm a third of the way into it.
She gathers her things to go and tells me, "Go ahead and finish it. I've got another book. She is the sweetest person in the world right now, and maybe even for the rest of the week. This is a fun adventure story and I liked the characters immediately, but Chabon sometimes gets in his own way when he bludgeons his reader with rather ponderous sentences.
At barely pages, I was glad for the brevity. The man's style would wear me down in a longer book. When he's not torturing a metaphor, however, he comes up with some entertaining prose: " I think you'll like it. Nov 19, Tim rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: you. Shelves: reads , theroad. And for those of you who are a little slow those asterisks stand for ucking. I would give it 6 stars if I could. Really though, this book was just excently written.
It was fun, had great character development which I think was the main thing lacking in Chabon's last novella experiment, The Final Solution , and of course a great story with unexpected turns and an excellent ending.
I've seen that some other people have written lesser reviews and I'm not sure why. They come in many shapes and sizes and are often evolving beasts and require engagement and commitment to thrive.
Whenever we have the opportunity to enter into a new Community with Gentlemen of The Road our first job is to listen. We have learnt so much from groups of people over the years and it never ceases to blow us away just how powerful a communicative and collaborative group of people can be.
In , we threw our own party for the first time. The idea was to take our audience to places that were off the beaten track, that normally didn't host gigs. We started by looking at it from the fan's point of view: what were the kinds of things we enjoyed, as fans, when we went to festivals.
Then we looked at it from the other artists' point of view. Then it was crucial to try and see it through the eyes of the community hosting us: we'd only go to places that wanted us in the first place.
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