Book Report: Gentlemen of the Road

I have never read a book for pleasure so quickly.  In less than a week I flew through Chabon's 2007 adventure fiction, Gentlemen of the Road and think I loved every second of it.

The story is fast moving but written in Chabon's typically grand style.  Considering the tempo of the story, the multi-page sentence structure does not work for speed at which the narrative unfolds.  There were a number of places that required me to go back a few pages to make sure I read the storyline correctly...and most times I did not, which took a bit of the fun out of the page turning.

However, other than being well written, this book was great.  An easier read than Chabon's other novels but equally entertaining. I came to Chabon late and read The Yiddish Policemen's Union first, so I came to expect his books to be historically interesting and well-researched. 

Yet after reading the Afterward in my edition of this book, I learned that Chabon didn't write much out of his comfort zone of his own life prior to this book. It seemed effortless to me, but I am sure it was a labor of love and it came across as such in pages of this book. 

I have no need to provide a re-cap or analysis beyond that this was a good choice and I will be picking up The Amazing Aventures of Kavalier & Clay after I read some depressing stuff about the Spanish Civil War.

4.5 out of 5 stars.