It took me almost the same amount of time to get through the last two hundred pages or so as it took for the first four hundred, but that is in no way a reflection on how the novel progressed. I say again - the accolades are well deserved. I must admit that I was a bit concerned as I plowed through to the end that, given all of the story lines Chabon had begun, would he have trouble tying them all off to my satisfaction. I was wrong. In no time, he began to answer all of the questions I was fumbling around with in my head:
Would Kavalier coming to grips with his demons and finally come home to New York? Yes, after a bizarre trip to the arctic in the service of the US Army - a somewhat cathartic yet humbling experience - he reunites with Rosa and Clay after his self-imposed exile and following his return, he takes up with them as if they didn’t miss a beat.
What’s been the result of Clay’s suppression of his true sexual feelings for all these years? In a word - sadness. The nasty business of homosexual prejudices rears its ugly head again during the comic book show trial…Clay thinks back with mixed emotions to his last days spent with Bacon; but this development also gives him the courage to break free from all those suppressed feelings.
As for the Golem? Well that mystical creature makes its return – in more ways than one. We see Kavalier’s impending creation of a dark comic featuring the Golem (his life’s work all that time he was holed up in the Empire State building) - which helped him come to grips with all he'd been through...but later the actual Golem makes an appearance, arriving in Long Island after a long circuitous journey. But now the mythical figure is just a pile of Prague river mud and clothes inside a container. The significance? Well, I’m not sure, but my guess is that, as we everything else in this book, it ties in to that story of escape and rebirth.
My take - the emergence of the never forgotten Golem gives Kavalier some closure; the ability to move on - to escape from the torture of his brother's death - and start over with Rosa, and his son; a life he abandoned years and years ago.
And speaking of escape and rebirth, Chabon closes the novel with Clay heading off to Los Angeles as he intended to all those many years ago with Bacon, only now feeling more free than he ever as after being exposed during the comic book show trial.
So just to recap, I really like this book. Very entertaining; the recurring themes made for an opportunity to constantly view developments on another level, which I enjoyed. It made me think about the story in a broader context, which I liked. I’ll keep an eye out for Chabon in the future, and probably get around to reading some of his other novels down the road. It’s was lot to take in, and I wish I didn’t have so many interruptions along the way so I could have concentrated a bit more on the novel, but all in all a very creative, enjoyable story, beautifully interwoven into the events of the day.
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