Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure

By Michael Chabon

#1 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“A picaresque, swashbuckling adventure.”—The Washington Post Book World

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 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. But when they are dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire, they soon find themselves the half-willing generals in a full-scale revolution—on a road paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of.

Praise for Gentlemen of the Road

“Within a few pages I was happily tangled in [Chabon’s] net of finely filigreed language, seduced by an old-school-style swashbuckling quest . . . laced with surprises and humor.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“[Chabon] is probably the premiere prose stylist—the Updike—of his generation.”—Time

“The action is intricate and exuberant. . . . It’s hard to resist its gathering momentum, not to mention the sheer headlong pleasure of Chabon’s language.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[A] wild, wild adventure . . . abounds with lush language . . . This book roars to be read aloud.”—Chicago Sun-Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2008
• ISBN: 9780307495655

Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Moonglow and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, among many others. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.

Reviews for Gentlemen of the Road

[eilonwy_anne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's hard to rate this because it was stellar, lovely in every sentence and page, but also so very brief. I am astonished to see the page counts, and would like to see the wordcount sometime to convince myself it isn't a novella. It's primarily an adventure story, and excels as such: like a good adventure story often does, it makes you care about the people as well as the plot. The classic idiosyncratic friendship of the gentlemen and their very different bonds with Filaq are well sketched and convincing. The novel briefly and vividly transports the reader to a very cosmopolitan past, an age and place not familiar to most readers in English. For this, for its philosophical flourishes, its beauty of line, its humor, its swashbuckling, and its elephants, I loved it. Audiobook note: Andre Braugher did a good job, especially with the dry humor.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I tried this first on audio but simply could not follow the plot, so I tried again on paper and found it a little bit easier. The trouble is that it's written like a 19th century novel, with excessively long sentences that require multiple readings (and often dictionary checks) in order to decipher. It's tiring and takes me out of the action. I'm sure it's a rollicking adventure for people who can keep up with the language. For me it was slog with occasional fun bits.

[kerns222 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Adventure story done well. A nod to the stories Chabon read and loved as a youth. No wizards or magic, just a little gore and a prince, princess and a usurper--the old formula, good to read to your kiddies. You might censor a little, though.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reminded me of Leiber though the characterizations were not quite as vivid. Still, I enjoyed the fantasy and the improbable adventure. These guys manage to take over their world and win our hearts. Wonderful illustrations!

[mahsdad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chabon is one of my favorite authors, and as such, I'll read just about everything he releases. So when I saw this, I had to pick it up.This is a "serial" novel of a swashbuckling tale set in the 10th Century Southwest Russia. Chabon said that his working title when he was writing these stories was, "Jews with Swords". When he learned of the history of this area and of the Jewish Khazar kingdoms, he was compelled to research and write about this era.The main characters are Amram (an African warrior/mercenary) and his friend and partner Zelikman (a German physician). During their travels, looking for work and adventure, they find themselves in the middle of a political power struggle and war in the kingdom of Arram. The series of what I would call vignettes were originally published in serial form in the New York Times magazine. While all connected, as you would expect from a magazine serial, they seemed a little disjointed to me in full book form, as if there were some missing pieces in between each section. At any rate, it was a very enjoyable read. It was interesting reading about the adventure/rogue tropes set against a society and geography that was completely new to me.8/10S: 1/3/15 - F: 1/15/16 (13 Days)

[marshakt · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Alas - even though so much shorter than Chabon's other books, I ultimately found it no more readable! I read half of "Kavalier and Clay", and half of "Yiddish Policeman's Ball". I loved the former, but ultimately ran out of time and patience for it, and simply hated the latter. I picked up "Gentlemen of the Road" after learning about the possible connection between the Jews expelled from or escaping Israel around the 7th century and the Khazaars. As others have criticized, the writing is too confusing to follow the action among tribes and individuals that I really couldn't get a handle on. I didn't know who the "good" guys and "bad" guys were - who was chasing them, who was getting killed - it was just a 200 page, florid, mish-mash.I gave up half way through.

[polymathicmonkey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was, not surprisingly as it comes from a true master, a great read. Much different than his (former?) usual, it's a fabulous adventure story, and a quick page-turner of a read. It's damn hard not to love the two unlikely would-be heroes, and let's face it, it's damn hard not to love the whole thing. The plotting & intrigue on all sides, the daring adventurers, the swindlers, the suspense...! Just an all-around fun absorbing read!

[goofyocean110 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I could very easily see this book as an adventure movie, done in a campy over-the-top style a la The Princess Bride or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen but with more Jewish Sinbad flare. Each chapter makes a vivid scene.All the classic and familiar elements of adventure are there: two road-veteren wanderers have a chance meeting and are compelled to spirit a young royal away from doom, swashbuckling adventure with imprisonment, certain death, armies, intrigue, companionship, and even accessories become charismatic, a la Indiana Jones' whip. I would have asked the author, Michael Chabon, to go through this one more time before publishing. Perhaps because he wanted to make this 'literary' the language is cumbersome, and there is rarely a sentence where a monosyllabic word is used when a three syllable word also works. Great for studying for the SATs, but somewhat silly when so concentrated in prose. The twists and turns are predictable and familiar (but still fun) while the surprises fell flat and inconsequential, and I would have taken them out altogether since they added little. Nevertheless, this does appear to me to open up a whole new door into Jewish adventure fiction, and I could see how others might take other settings in Jewish history as background for their creative adventure license.

[altheaann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If Robert E. Howard had been writing his historical adventure fiction at the beginning of the 21st century instead of toward the beginning of the 20th, this book might very well have come from his pen. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Howard collection "Sword Woman."
Still, while I'm recommending it, it's not without its flaws - some of those the same as I feel the Howard stories contain. The narrative can get bogged down in technical details that impede the flow of the tale, and the characterization is fairly basic. The 'big reveal' here is also pretty obvious right from the beginning.

This is a fun little book, but it's really not in the same category as 'Yiddish Policeman' or 'Kavalier & Clay."

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars Quick and fun (though sometimes intensely violent) and original. Chabon surely is talented. I like the title he wanted to use, as he explains in his afterward, but I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't say it here.

[5hrdrive · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Can't help but be reminded of Kipling's The Man who Would Be King. Love that story as well.

[kateminasian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully written, and of course I fall in love with books that mention Armenians in the first three pages. The story was fun and captivating, the prose beautiful and the length perfect. Good for people that like adventuresome historical fiction.

[ellen6w · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun but not transcendant. Kind of like really well-buttered and well-salted popcorn: you enjoy every bite, but in the end it's still just popcorn.

If you're new to Chabon, I would still recommend starting with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, even though it's about fifty billion pages longer than Gentlemen of the Road.

[pussreboots · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon is self described in the Afterword as "Jews with swords!" It's set in the 10 century and if you care to slog through the H. Rider Haggard inspired prose, has lots of derring do.Frankly, beyond the concept of "Jews with swords" and the lovely line drawings that paper the book, I found the book an absolute boring chore to read. It was among the longest 200 pages I've slogged through in a good long while.The thing is, I didn't buy the friendship between these travelers. The motivation for their travels is obfuscated in excessive wordage that basically comes down to "because I said so."

[citizenjoyce · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some people would say this prose is poetic or hypnotic. I agree. The problem is that the style is so melodic I frequently found my mind wandering as the convoluted sentences washed over me in Andre Braugher's deep, mellifluous voice. So, the book is great as a sleep aid, not so great as a story. In fact, I have to say Michael Chabon's afterward was the most engaging part of the book.

[.monkey.-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was, not surprisingly as it comes from a true master, a great read. Much different than his (former?) usual, it's a fabulous adventure story, and a quick page-turner of a read. It's damn hard not to love the two unlikely would-be heroes, and let's face it, it's damn hard not to love the whole thing. The plotting & intrigue on all sides, the daring adventurers, the swindlers, the suspense...! Just an all-around fun absorbing read!

[booksfordinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like Chabon cause despite all the talent and the awards, etc, he doesn't take himself too seriously. This short novel was a classic adventure story as they were written in the 19th century. great fun... Chabon has no bones about writing in what some call 'the genres'... this, The Final Solution, even The Yiddish Policemen's Union... all very good.Also, his afterward is worth the price of the book alone.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well this was a boring, steaming heap of...absolutely nothing. Nothing of any interest happened in this whatsoever. I'm starting to think that the only qualifier to be a Pulitzer author is to write stuff that shows life as mundane as possible.

[stuart10er_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A serialized novel dedicated to Michael Moorcock written as a cross between Fritz Leiber and the Count of Monte Cristo. Good, or at least an enjoyable story about two Jewish vagabonds in Central Asia around 900AD. The one missing thing that Chabon forgot (or ignored) is thta serials are usually quite long. The style requires many diversions and plot twists (read any Dumas lately?) which means it needs length. At 204 pages, give or take, he was just getting started when he had to wrap it up. An opportunity missed.

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had just finished two long and seemingly never-ending books and was looking for something sort and fun. This fit the bill nicely.

[iansales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Back in the day, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union appeared on several genre award shortlists, IIRC, and I read it and thought it quite good. So I stuck The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay on my wishlist and some years later was given it as a birthday present. And then I read it, an embarrassing number of years after that, and was much more impressed. And shortly after that I found a copy of Gentlemen of the Road in a charity shop, so of course I bought it. And… Chabon writes in an afterword that to him the novel (a very short novel) was always titled “Jews with Swords”. Because to him Jews had never been associated with swords – at least not since Biblical times. I’ve never attached a religion to a weapon – people with swords are people with swords, and I’ve never really thought about the religious tradition from which they came, perhaps because in most cases in fiction that tradition was invented, and for those where it was not the context more than explained it. But “Jews with Swords” gives us a Frankish Jew estranged from his European family, and an Ethiopian Jew from tribe that no other Jew seems willing to accept, on a mission which involves the Khazars, a Turkic state which converted to Judaism, but vanished after three centuries. The two unwillingly accept a commission to take a young Khazar prince, the last survivor of the family of a deposed bek (martial leader, a sort of government CEO to the kagan’s chairperson). But they lose him to some mercenaries, who are taking him to the new bek. Except the prince persuades the mercenaries to rally his cause, and sort of builds up an army from the Muslim Khazar cities in the south of the region which the new bek had let the Vikings plunder with impunity. And… well, the big secret about the prince is pretty obvious from about a page after he’s been introduced, and the only suspense is in wondering how the two main characters can be so dumb as to not figure it out. Having said that, the history is fascinating, the characters are interesting, and, while I find Chabon’s prose a bit hit and miss, the mannered style he adopts here works well with the story. I should read more Chabon. Fortunately, I have Wonder Boys on the TBR, picked up from a charity shop at the same time as Gentlemen of the Road…

[francoisvigneault · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(Note: This review originally appeared as part of a series of capsule reviews of illustrated novels, hence the focus on the art)

Gentlemen of the Road is, like Susanna Clarke’s work (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) , a bit of a throwback to an
earlier literary style: A rollicking homage to the adventure novels of authors such
as Michael Moorcock and Fritz Lang, this novel was originally serialized in the
New York Times. Interestingly, the installments were accompanied not by Gary
Gianni’s intricately cross-hatched black and white vignettes (Gianni, like Charles Vess, is
an expert mimic of the illustrative style of past masters, such as Hal Foster), but
by semi-abstracted, almost childish color paintings by Laura Carlin, an
idiosyncratic and brave choice by an art director, which seems to have been to
experimental by half for the final publication of the work in book form. The Del
Rey edition suffers from poor design overall; the dust jacket in particular is an
ugly, workaday design which captures little of the panache of the prose or the
illustrations.

[figre · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

To be quite honest, I don't know what this book is supposed to be. That doesn't mean that I have been presented an interesting enigma-like book which is stretching my abilities beyond where I can normally go. What it does mean is that I can't figure out why Chabon wrote this book, what he was trying to accomplish, what need he was trying to fill, what inner desire he was trying to fill.And I can't figure out why he thought anyone else would care.The subject matter cannot be in much of anyone's wheelhouse. It is AD 950 and two travelers are roaming the Caucasus Mountains. (See, I warned you.) The story is told in an almost anachronistic style with language that borders on being uninterpretable, but readable nonetheless. (I assume this is for verisimilitude.) For such a small book there is a large cast of characters who roam in and out of the tale with little regard for how much we might care about them. In fact, everyone is appearing and disappearing so quickly that it is even hard to dredge up a moment of empathy for the central characters themselves.Those two find themselves enmeshed in war and betrayal and the clash of cultures and religions. Which should all be quite entertaining. But there is so little touch point for the reader that we just don't really care. Some people die, some live, there are surprises (not big ones – just surprises), and someone wins in the end. And the two travelers move on for more adventures.When Chabon is good, no one can touch him. But there are moments like this when I wonder why ink, paper, and sweat were expended. It is almost as if Chabon recognizes this himself because he feels the need to include an Afterword that seems to be explaining why he took on this rather strange endeavor. And that explanation is lacking, other than he seemed to want to do something different.I am not adverse to something different. What I am adverse to is an apparent exercise that gets published as if it were worth reading.Too much detail where unwarranted, too little detail to make me care, and, possibly, too a little too self-serving to a purpose that cannot be understood by anyone but the author.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A radical departure for M. Chabon's a trip to 9th century near east populated by Khazars, Rus and Vikings, a fun trip.

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two travelling adventurers find themselves embroiled in the royal succession of a nation after a chance encounter makes them the sole protectors of a stripling prince. Together they will battle untold dangers to return this orphaned ruler to his rightful place in hopes of receiving some reward due their exploits. This is a lyrical and poignant tale masquerading as a swashbuckling adventure. It is short and fast-paced, but deep and wide with thoughtful prose. Truly beautiful.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't read this when it appeared in installments in the Sunday New York Times magazine because I am ambivalent about Michael Chabon--The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay bored me, while The Yiddish Policemans Union delighted me. But I decided to read Gentlemen of the Road because of a short review I encountered somewhere, and I am glad I did--it is fun, a quick read, and very predictable in some ways but surprising in others. I think Chabon has tapped into something by trying to write adventure novels and look forward to seeing what he does next.

[jenneb_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A funny little story (strange AND ha-ha). I kept wondering along the way what we were here for, but the ending made it all worthwhile.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Swashbuckling Jews with swords? Who knew? Not many writers could pull this feat off, but Michael is definitely one of the few. Chabon's wit, memorable characters, and tale spinning come together in a great tale of "Gentlemen of the Road" who defend the weak, champion the intellect, and of course, revere elephants! Just read it! I couldn't put it down.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

so much fun! This is basically a bromantic adventure comedy, except with 2 Jewish mercenaries in 900s Turkey instead of Paul Rudd or Zach Galifianakis. Entertaining and funny (and short!!)

[jawalter · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As much as I like Chabon, this one didn't do a whole lot for me. The two main characters were interesting, but I never felt that I had a grasp on their world. I started off knowing next to nothing about the region, cultures, and peoples he describes and very little in the book serves to change that. And with so much of the book having to do with the conflicts amongst diverse and often contradictory cultural assumptions, that turned what might just have been a weakness into the book's fatal flaw.

Additionally, the book has a habit of jumping around in time and space that kept the plot moving, but made the story feel somewhat fragmented. Maybe it's meant to feel somewhat episodic, but to me it just felt jarring.