Jewish Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club

Wednesday, April 24, 8:00 pm

Our exploration of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction continues with Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon

Essen­tial­ly a bud­dy sto­ry, it’s a Jew­ish tale and a dynasty saga set in the Khaz­ar Empire in about the year 950. The char­ac­ters man­age to be both broad car­i­ca­ture and all-too-human at the same time. In true mag­a­zine-ser­i­al style, cliffhang­er sus­pense abounds, keep­ing the read­er as breath­less as the char­ac­ters who leap on and off hors­es, throw unerr­ing spears and wield mighty swords. But it’s not only the sto­ry that makes this expe­ri­ence spe­cial; it’s the phys­i­cal book itself that makes this old-time bib­lio­phile smile. End­pa­pers with maps of the ter­ri­to­ry, black and white illus­tra­tions with a line of text run­ning below, a list of illus­tra­tions fol­low­ing the table of con­tents, the print font, itself, as well as count­less oth­er touch­es are all rem­i­nis­cent of the days when a book looked and smelled and felt like a reflec­tion of his­to­ry.

(Read the full review at The Jewish Book Council)

Join in the conversation at our regular Zoom link — and spread the word; all are warmly invited to join for this evening of conversation and magic!