Gentlemen of The Road by Michael Chabon
Send to KindleGentlemen of the Road
A Tale of Adventure
Author: Michael Chabon
Publisher: Ballantine Books/Del Rey Books
ISBN-10: 0345502078
ISBN-13: 978-0345502070
Rating: 8/10
Abbott and Costello. Crosby and Hope. Tango and Cash. Buddy-adventure stories have been a staple for ages. Now we can add to those Zelikman and Amran. Who? “The Gentlemen of the Road”-that’s who-and in Michael Chabon’s follow up to the gritty, dark “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”, the critically acclaimed author proves he still has what it takes to turn out a good read-hilariously so, in fact.
Set in the decades shortly before the Christian millennium (AD 1000-2000), the novel centers around the two aforementioned individuals, both thieves and con-men who travel through Asia swindling both the rich and the not-so-rich in their daily struggle for food and shelter. When a merchant with a bounty on his head makes them an offer they can’t refuse, they take him up on the proposition, only to end up with more than they bargain for in the form of a fifteen year old boy. Traveling through the dusty roads and towns of what is today modern day Azerbaijan and Iran, they come face to face with swashbuckling armies and ravenous raiders-only to realize that the mission they accepted isn’t exactly what they signed up for.
Given Chabon’s penchant for colorful storytelling, the novel is rich with characters that are, well, larger than life. Boujan, the bad guy in the book, could easily be the Jafar to Zelikman and Amran’s Aladdin (Himself a product of Schehzeradze’s 1,001 Arabian Nights, from which Chabon draws inspiration for “Gentlemen of the Road). The two main characters have their own back stories and personal backgrounds. But the real star is the Near East itself-a rocky, mountainous area full of vagrants, scoundrels, and rebel armies all in an interconnected web of shifting alliances as they struggle to hold on to what little piece of real estate they have. The swashbuckling duo got their work cut out for them.
Far from a simple “Jews with swords” epic-as Chabon described it-the novel is a short jaunt of literary entertainment that accomplishes precisely what it sets out to do. “Gentlemen of the Road” is worth plunking the money down.
John Winn - Staff Writer
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John Winn
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Sounds like it will hold my attention. Very unusal setting.
1,001 nights? Sounds a little like an updated Canterbury Tales. In any case the whole history of the Khazars is fascinating and using that kingdom as a backdrop would make me intrested in reading it. Adding to that a pretty good action adventure story and it now becomes a must read for me. Thanks for giving me enough to interest me without spoiling it.