Love, War and Comic books. What more can you want from a novel?

I picked this one up on a recommendation from a friend and flat out loved it. Published in 2000, it won the Pulitzer Prize and made finalist or winner for a slew of others, all well deserved.

The story begins in New York City in the mid-1930’s, the backdrop of growing Nazism in Germany providing the initial cloud of dread. The two main characters are two Jewish teenagers, one born and raised in NYC, Sam Clay, and the other, his cousin Josef Kavalier, arriving late at night after a heroic escape from Prague- When the first plan costing his family everything they own to bribe his way across the border fails, Joe turns up at his magic teacher’s house in tears, unable to face the shame of returning to his family.

Kornblum, his teacher, hatches a plan to smuggle him out of the country huddled in a secret chamber in the coffin of the mysterious but significant Golem. Josef had been studying the art of escape, a la’ Houdini, and his skills and will are tested. The fact that the plan works is only the beginning.

The night he arrives in New York City, Sam’s mother sends him unceremoniously in to share the room and bed with Sam. After an awkward silence, Joe rolls them a cigarette- they sit on the stoop and share it, and from there the two are inseprable.  Sam has a menial job at the Empire Novelty Company and had promised his mother to try and get Joe a job, a promise that was more of a bluff.

As things go, Sam and Joe hatch a plan to take Joe’s skill for drawing and Sammy’s overactive imagination and make what any two teenage boys would want to make out of creativity and a growing hate for the Nazis- a comic book.

They pitch the idea to Sammy’s boss who grudgingly gives them the weekend- they wander around smoking cigarettes, trying out different names, Sammy obsessed with the character needing a backstory and Joe obsessed with killing the Nazis who endanger his family. Arriving at a friend’s apartment and finding it locked, Joe does a fancy flip to get to the fire escape and lights Sammy’s inspiration- the Escapist is born. Working furiously over the weekend, the boys create the Escapist, a hero who fights the thinly veiled forces of Nazism, providing an outlet for the need to escape of teenage boys around the country, as well as a manifestation of the nation’s desire to destroy Hitler. The books are a hit and propel Sammy and Joe into the high life, where they make some surprising discoveries about themselves and the world they live in.

Along they way they wrestle with what it means to be in love, what it means to be gay in the ‘30’s, what it means to lose your family, and, eventually, what it means to sacrifice for family.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a deep tapestry of emotion set against historical zeitgeist- but mostly, if you love action, love and tough questions facing solid characters, this is the read.

It’s just over 600 pages and took me about a month- a compelling read that changes speed at just the right times. Read it.