Kavalier & Clay

[sholio]

I finished reading Kavalier & Clay! Come talk to me about it! :D

I did not expect this book would end up hitting me so hard in the FAMILY FEELS at the end there. omg.

I wanted Sammy to stay, but I think it's also clearer to the reader than it is to Joe & Rosa (because they care about him too much to be objective) why he feels so trapped by his life, and why he has to leave and try making a new life for himself elsewhere. It's abundantly clear, though, that he has a place with them if he wants it, and that all of them (Tommy included) still think of him as family. (Further complicating things, aren't he and Rosa still legally married at this point?)

Besides, given the way changes of fortune/changes of mind in this book tend to go, he could be back TOMORROW.

So I will just think happy thoughts about Sammy having a good, or at least fulfilling, life in LA, NOT running afoul of the McCarthyists too badly, staying in touch with Joe and Rosa and Tommy, and being able to come see them whenever he wants. Meanwhile Joe and Rosa are basically Will Eisner, making groundbreaking comics for grown-ups at Empire Comics, and Sammy collaborates with them sometimes. AND NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO ANY OF THEM EVER. LA LA LA LA.

Those of you who've read it: what did you think of the ending?

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I was very sad about all the bad things that happened to Sammy in the plot (including the rape) -- I just hated all that. Also the seemingly obligatory tragic gay death.

But the ending made sense to me. And I think he was very happy out there and maybe he did come back some day.

I loved all the mystical stuff about the golem, and all the comics stuff. I remember being stunned when the book took that huge leap from New York to the frozen wastes and wartime, etc. But it worked.

The book haunted me for years. Still does. I should reread it. I loved Luna Moth too.

[sholio]

You know, I felt like this was one of the few books I've read where the Tragic Gay Death (TM) actually worked, because ... it was WWII! LOADS of people died! Including everybody Joe served with, and all his family. Against that backdrop, Tracy's death didn't feel over the top. Still, Sammy didn't deserve such a sad and difficult life as the one he got. :( (I did love, though, the casual acceptance from Joe and Rosa after he came out on TV -- they both knew he was gay, and neither of them cares.)

I was really startled by the switch to the ice, too! It worked in context (the book had been doing other jumps, like the ones into the world of the comics) but for me, the plot seemed to drag a bit during the war years and immediately afterwards, and didn't pick up again 'til everyone found each other again, near the end.

I can tell it's a book that's going to stick with me, though. I still have my head very much in the world of the book right now.

[schneefink]

I remember liking the book a lot, especially everything to do with comics, but the scene that I remember best is where somebody does an underwater-out-of-chains-escape right after he learns that his little brother died on the ship to America and he almost drowns and nobody knows for sure if he did it on purpose. That was always too tragic for me to want to reread it.

[sholio]

Yeah. :( The middle of the book is hard to get through, generally -- I knew from the start that it was heading towards tragedy (I figured nothing was going to turn out like Joe wanted it to) but the moment when the worst actually does happen, and the devastating fallout, is really painful to read.

[lilacsigil]

I was sort of expecting Sammy to stay with Joe and Rosa, so in a way I was pleasantly surprised that he struck out on his own - not, at the time, through tragedy or hurt, but because Joe and Rosa were okay and he could go looking for his own happy ending. So yes, I think we share the same NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENS TO THEM LA LA LA headcanon!

[sholio]

I like your point that Joe and Rosa were okay, so now it's time for Sammy to leave them and go out into the world himself! I spent the last few chapters of the book on tenterhooks because I WANTED THEM ALL TO BE HAPPY and I was afraid something terrible was going to happen at the last minute, but once it got into the final chapter, like you, I really thought it was building up to Joe, Rosa, and Sammy all living in their little house together ... but no, Sammy really did need to go out on his own and find a life of his own, rather than feeling like a guest in their lives (even though they never thought so, he would have). So yeah, I was happy with where the book left them, especially because it leaves everything open-ended so you can basically imagine whatever you want to happen next.

[rosepetalfall]

Hi! I'm sorry if this is very, very odd, but I've recently started re-reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which has been one of my favorite books since I read it as a teen, who knew basically nothing about comics (I still don't but I just got a bunch of Ms. Marvel books as a present) but loved historical fiction and period pieces about New York.

Anyway, I like to look at your MCU fic recs from time to time (I'm rosepetalfall on AO3 as well - I wrote The Undertaker's Children, which I think you were once nice enough to rec - I was super flattered) and I stumbled across this post.

Which was super timely, because I'm currently in the process of re-reading Kavalier and Clay and falling in love with it again. And thinking about how it would be super fitting to do a crossover with Captain America movie-verse, where Sammy grows up knowing Bucky and Steve and their families and Steve is an off and on artist for Empire Comics pre-serum, and Bucky and Sammy are both ambitious liars who kind of get each other (and Sammy faintly resents the feeling that he thinks Bucky feels like he has to from time to time look out for Sammy) and Steve and Joe are both extremely determined, angry young artists. (It's possible I'm already doing a remix of The Undertaker's Children that's also supposed to be Kavalier and Clay future fic right now. We'll see!)

Also just, I agree with your assessment of the end of Kavalier and Clay. I so badly want them all to BE HAPPY. And like honestly, most of all for me, for Sammy to realize that Tommy really absolutely does still think of Sammy as his father (nothing breaks my heart like family stuff and basically everything about the section where Sammy thinks that his greatest moment as a father was when Tommy was a baby and wouldn't sleep is just heartbreaking). And also for Joe and Rosa and Sammy to all stay in touch and for Sammy to be happy or at least mostly content in LA and to know that he can come visit whenever.

Anyway, sorry for just randomly jumping on this months old post, but I just felt compelled to word vomit my love for Kavalier and Clay.

[sholio]

Hi! :D Now I'm being weird by responding to your comment 3 months after you left it. XD (Still, I have had this in my "to answer" inbox FOREVER and needed to actually, y'know, answer it ...)

Anyway, yes, I loved Undertaker's Childre,n and I'm glad my recs are useful! (When I rec stuff. Haven't done much of that lately, unfortunately.) And yes, I really loved the book, all the more so because of having just gone through a couple of years in CA fandom and therefore having all of the IRL stuff associated with Captain America fresh in my head.

It's actually interesting because when I first finished the book, I had put it in my "do not keep" books-I've-read box (the ones to take back to the used bookstore) but then months went by and I was sorting books the other day, and quietly shuffled it into the "add to permanent library" box, because I will definitely be reading it again!

And yeah, after all they went through, I just want them all to be HAPPY, dammit. Luckily the ending leaves it wide open for them to go ahead and stay in touch, even if Sammy has to go off and find himself and his own place in the world. But it's obvious that they love him and there will always be a place for him with their family, too.