The Escapist

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon is a book about escapism, in every imaginable form. escaping to survive, escaping as a cultural mindset and psychological opportunity, escaping as an illusion of safety and a form of imprisoning oneself.

escaping to survive: one of the central figures, joe kavalier, born a czech jew, manages to escape from nazi-ridden europe to america with the help of his magic teacher. houdini is present at all times.

escaping as a cultural mindset and psychological opportunity: in america, to earn their bread & butter, joe and his cousin sam invent 'the escapist', hero of countless comics and lead of their initial financial success. at this point, survival and escapist motives become one.

escaping as an illusion of safety and a form of to imprisoning oneself: needless to say, after their initial years of (financial) success, personal matters and motives take over, and it all goes haywire - i won't go into the ending but highlights before the ending include squatting in the empire state building, erotic freckles, dog love, crazy plane stunts in the arctic, and stinking seal skins. in fact, this is quite a 'nose' book - it makes you smell anything from the mud that the golem of prague was made of to the burnt meals in joe's aunt's house to the unwashed crazy soldiers lost in the ice... please, just go and smell it. it's phantastic.