Asian Trips - Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
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List Price: $21.95
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Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345501745
ISBN: 0345501748
Label: Del Rey
Manufacturer: Del Rey
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2007-10-30
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: 2007-10-30
Studio: Del Rey
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Editorial Reviews:
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Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.
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.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. 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 . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Road Not Taken (2 and 1/2 stars)
Comment: There's a lot of fun in "Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure". Michael Chabon, author of the well known and well written The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, wants to take us down a path of rollicking adventure and he does so in an elegant and poetic way. His attempt to write a Dickens-est serial (the book not only was first published in chapter segments for a periodical- but it's also written in a rather formal style) is both ambitious and charming. Sadly it does not work for a mass audience.
The story is not unfamiliar, two "soldiers of fortune" find themselves caught up in circumstances seemingly beyond their control. Their adventure starts when the hulk-ish black African Jew named Amram, and a rail thin Frankish Jew named Zelikman offer (for a fee) safe passage for a displaced prince . Things quickly get out of hand as the pair get caught up in a series of battles, armies, Vikings, and the siege of an ancient Jewish Kingdom called Kazar. It's a slightly over complicated plot that layers adventure over adventure until the reader is somewhat overwhelmed. The old English style of writing does not help clear the fog of the multiple adventures either, in fact it often exasperates it. Add to this an over load of 10th century mid-east political history and tons of characters. A reader looking for some nice little escapism might find them-selves quickly in over their head.
The book itself is a bit misleading. Paging though it, it looks like a young adult adventure story. There is an excellent assortment of hand drawn etchings, the story seems simple, and the tale is one that any young boy, or girl, might fancy; but in Chabon's attempt to capture the style of Dickens or Dumas, something seems lost to the casual reader. I stress that "Gentlemen..." is extremely well written, but I can't tell who it's written for. It's not for kids, it's not for escapist readers, or casuals readers. It's a story that's suppose to be fun, but all the fun seems zapped out of it by too much research on the authors part (or at least too much research seeping into the story) and it's overly complicated prose. Had Chabon perhaps pulled back a bit the writing might not have been as sharp, but the story might have shined a lot brighter.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "On Discord Arising from the Excessive Love of a Hat"
Comment: The blurbs on the back cover compare "Gentlemen of the Road" to Alexandre Dumas and Edgar Rice Burroughs -- an old fashioned adventure story, short, fast paced, and easy to read. In its specifics it more closely resembles the Fafrhd and Grey Mouser series of stories by Fritz Leiber: a similar luxury of language and verbal wit, and a pair of juxtaposed wandering heroes, one giant and one small and quick. Our heroes here are Zelikman, a gaunt Frankish healer often described as a scarecrow, and Amram, a towering Abyssinian with a massive Viking axe.
There are two basic things that make this book a little better than your average adventure novel. The first is the historical setting, the steppes of Central Asia in the tenth century A.D. There are Khazars and Rabanites, elephants and marauding Rus, Jews and Muslims and a smattering of languages. As far as I'm aware no one has ever attempted to set a story in such a place, outside of Borodin's opera "Prince Igor". It's exotic enough to elicit a certain otherworldly excitement, but grounded in reality and history that keeps the romance from taking over entirely. Mr Chabon has done his research and rendered a complete world, believably populated by a variety of characters and cultures.
The second thing that makes this little book so worthwhile is the skill that Mr Chabon brings to its creation. He is known as a big-ticket bestselling literary author, and some people would say this sort of genre exercise is below him; however, it's precisely because he's got serious literary chops that he can pull off the plotting and style of "Gentlemen of the Road". He slips into the obscure words and old fashioned style with ease, and it's a pleasure to read every word of the book. Mr Chabon has not tried to turn a genre adventure into a literary tome; instead he's tried his damnedest to write the best adventure he can. And he succeeds: "Gentlemen of the Road" is a fun book, and it's easy to imagine seeing a sequel or three on the shelves at some point.
Mr Chabon has already come up with a Sherlock Holmes pastiche and a science fiction detective story. I for one am hoping that he keeps this up and even starts a trend among other "literary" writers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: actually literature
Comment: I'm writing this because I'm surprised at the number of negative reviews. This is not an escapist novel (of which I've enjoyed many); it is not Gray Mouse and Farquard marching alongside Conan. It's a short, classic and classy piece of good writing. Admittedly, it took me a little while to fall into the mood and rhythm of this book, but once I did, I found it a respite from the movie-paced light pieces of writing filling the bookstores today. So, if you like to read with a cup of tea in hand, and not a double-shot of espresso, I think you'll enjoy this book and find that after you've read it, you enjoy it even more!
Customer Rating:
Summary: or Jews With Swords
Comment: Chabon knocked around the title 'Jews With Swords' for this novel, and the title would have been as accurate for this nice little novel. Two gentlemen of the road embark on an erstwhle adventure that winds up being more than they bargained for. Along the lines of nineteenth century Fantasy Lit by writers such as H. Rider Haggard, the book is graced with wonderful illustrations that portray the adventure as one reads it. Along the way, money is made, lost and made again, a supposed deposed Prince is protected, and much merriment is had. Wonderful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Historical adventure, Chabon style
Comment: One of the marks of a great writer would be versatility, a quality that Michael Chabon continues to demonstrate. After making his mark with more "literary" fiction, he has taken on assorted types of genre fiction, most notably with young adult fantasy (Summerland) and science fiction/mystery with The Yiddish Policemen's Union. His latest foray has been in the realm of historical adventure with Gentlemen of the Road.
As noted in the Afterword, Chabon originally thought of this book as Jews With Swords, a title that is not entirely appropriate as one of the characters wields an axe. The two protagonists are both Jewish, but are as completely physically opposite as their initials, A and Z. Zelikman is a pale scarecrow of a man, moody but a gifted healer. Amram is a giant African who is an adept warrior with his aforementioned axe. The pair are good friends and gentlemen of the road, wanderers seeking adventure and fortune wherever it comes, particularly in the tenth century Near Eastern lands around the Black and Caspian Seas.
In this case, the adventure focuses on a young Khazar prince, Filaq, who is on the run after a coup killed his father. Amram and Zelikman agree to escort him to safe haven in exchange for suitable compensation. Besides the threats from assassins and enemy soldiers, there is another snag: Filaq has his own ideas about regaining legitimate power. Filaq also has a secret that could undermine all of them.
As much as anyone, I think Chabon was influenced by Robert Howard while writing this short novel. Though there are not the fantasy elements that would be found in a Conan story, there is a certain storytelling similarity and there are illustrations that supplement the tale that is reminiscent of various adventure tales. It is a fun story, but not a perfect one: the writing style that Chabon has adopted for this story may be appropriate but is also a bit too ornate at times. This intricate wordiness may try your patience at times, but if you stick with it, you'll find that this is a rewarding read.
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