About this title: This rollicking saga by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" is set 1,000 years ago along the ancient Silk Road, and tells the tale of two wandering adventurers and unlikely soul mates.
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0345501748 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780345501745ISBN:0345501748
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: 1st edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 2007-10-30
ISBN-13:9780345501745ISBN:0345501748
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine, New York
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780345501745ISBN:0345501748
Description: Gary Gianni. Very Good in Very Good jacket. Book Club Edition Tight spine, clean copy. Gray boards with gilt lettering on spine, no flaws. Text is clean and unmarked, great b/w illustrations. 204 Pgs. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 2007-10-30
ISBN-13:9780345501745ISBN:0345501748
Description: Very Good. Exact ISBN/item listed. EX-LIBRARY in beautiful condition with light use--possibly read once. Minor wear to mylar-covered DJ. Clean, bright pages; NO writing, folds or tears. Very light wear/marks to closed edges. Tight binding. Usual library markings + cancelled marks. A lovely book! read more
"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 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 950 a.d. 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."
"Rich setting, but in the end, all flash, no fire. Chabon is brave for trying an adventure novel, but I'd say that's the best extent of the adventure."
"In the afterword for this book, Michael Chabon said that his working, half tongue-in-cheek title for the book was Jews With Swords, and that every time he told this title to his friends, they always laughed, picturing in their heads someone who looked like Woody Allen waving a sword around. This book feels like a response to all those people who laughed at the title, and a warning against the danger of stereotyping a whole people in such a way -- it's a dashing tale of swashbuckling and adventure about a whole nation of people, some of them heroes, some of them villains, some of them just wanting to get on with their lives, all of them with very different personalities and traditions. And through it all, most of whom just happen to have this one thing in common -- they just happen to be Jewish.
Overall, I would say this book is well worth reading, if only to get a taste of the rich world it brings to life -- a time and a place I knew nothing about when I read the book, but I very much want to learn more about now. And yet, it's hard for me to figure out how to rate this book, because while I was absolutely fascinated by the world that Michael Chabon brought to life so skillfully, and I loved the way the author set so many of the genre cliches on their heads, I had a really difficult time relating to any of the characters, and I found the book's at times overly flowery language (a clear call-back to the tradition of 19th century adventure novels) hard to get through."
"What are the chances that the climactic moment of two of our last three book group choices would involve a vengeful elephant dealing out violent death to the brutal villain?
I liked this book. The author confesses that his working title was "Jews with Swords," and actually one of the things that I liked about it from the start was that everyone in the book is Jewish... kind of incidentally. But I mean EVERYONE, including the African hero (he's Abyssinian, of course!). It's a 9th century action-adventure set on the shores of the Caspian Sea, so the Jewishness of the entire cast is a little unexpected, but wholly believable. And the characters are lovely. And the action is unrelenting. And the details are unusual and vivid. And it has pictures!
But I wouldn't have said there were any deep and meaningful messages here, apart from the obvious one that, OPEN YOUR EYES oh historical dabblers, medieval Jews were not all grovelling merchants, and had brains and hearts as well as sword arms as good as anyone else's."
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