Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Favorite Fictional Character (7)

This week's character is Josef Kavalier from Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

I don't really know how to describe him without giving too much of the story away. Basically, Joe is a young Jewish refugee who flees from Prague in 1939 and ends up in New York City. His hero is Harry Houdini, and Joe is a bit of an escapist in his own right. He's also a talented artist, and he and his cousin Sammy team up to create the Escapist, the hero of their own comic book.

But this is WWII and not everything ends happily. Joe is an interesting character, and developed so well that you feel for him in everything that he has to go through. The story follows both of these two boys as they mature into men, but I found myself drawn to Joe far more. It really is his story.

The Favorite Fictional Character meme was started by Ryan G. at Wordsmithonia.

4 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to read this book for years. Thank you so much for reminding me of it. He sounds like a great character and one I need to meet soon.

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  2. Very cool! I have not heard of this at all till now. This sounds great! I am going to have to look into this book.

    Great FFC this week!

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  3. I haven't heard of this but it sounds awesome -- and I trust your judgement if it's your favorite.

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