Before others could reject him, Michael Chabon had convinced himself no one wanted to read an epic novel about comic-book creators, mythical Jewish monsters called golems, New York in the 1930s, daring escapes from Lithuania, Nazis, and the Empire State Building's elevator system. He wanted to write the book--desperately, one might say, if only because such a tome would allow him the opportunity to tie together his childhood memories and adult obsessions--but thought his agent and his editor would shoot down such a proposal. In the end, they did not, but Chabon's idea seemed such an enormous undertaking--it would be less a novel than a thousand-mile walk through history in bare feet--and enormous undertakings have never been Chabon's strongest suit. He is, after all, the very same man who once... More >>>