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.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: Very Good. Very Good GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008-09-30
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Pre-release book with plain cover and publisher stickers. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008-09-30
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: Like New. Starred Review. Pulitzer Prize winner-Chabon (The Yiddish Policemen's Union) recreates 10th-century Khazaria, the fabled kingdom of wild red-haired Jews on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, in this sprightly historical adventure. Zelikman and Amram, read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008-09-30
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: Like New. Like new softcover in excellent condition, no writing, non-smoking home, clean text, binding tight, Christian business. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: Gianni, Gary. Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Spine straight w/o creases, binding tight, appears unused, no reader/remainder/library marks, covers/pgs flat w/sharp corners, very slight shelf wear. 206 numbered pgs., Audience: General/trade. Photos or other information available by e-mail. Daily orders/e-mail responses. E-mail confirmation of shipment. Books stored in smoke-free, climate controlled environment. Check our feedback. read more
Edition: not stated
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ballantine, New York
Date published: c2007
Description: Gary Gianni artwork. Fine, trade paper, pict. deep red covers. Clean, tight. 204 pgs, ISBN: 0-7394-9631-2. No printed price. Dedicated to Michael Moorcock. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Sceptre
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780340953556ISBN:0340953551
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Description: Good. Ships from the UK. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Your purchase also supports literacy charities. read more
Description: Good. 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
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Imprint unknown
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780340963975ISBN:0340963972
Description: 0340963972. Sceptre paperback, 2008. Pages are good with a small amount of creasing. Cover has light creasing/edge wear. First class daily dispatch from Devon.; 0.71 x 6.93 x 4.33 Inches; 204 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: New. Brand New! 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
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Del Rey
Date published: 2008-09-30
ISBN-13:9780345502070ISBN:0345502078
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780345502070. 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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