Gentlemen of the Road

– Michael Chabon

I read this book several weeks ago, so please forgive me if my memory seems a bit strained.

I was drawn to Gentlemen of the Road, by the title, but more by the fact that Chabon’s other work appears equally popular and interesting.

Unfortunately, I was not at all impressed, and only forced myself to finish it on the second sitting, based on the fact that I had already read half the book. I do commend Chabon on his amazingly large vocabulary. I found a rarely used word on at least every other page, which is more than I can say for a lot of other contemporary authors.

As far as the plot goes, again, I was confused. Every chapter started a new scene and action such as horse fights and daring escapes filled the pages with more distraction than direction as to what is actually going on. It is a shallow (in the best sense of the term), short novel with not a lot of character development.

Despite being set in medieval times(?), where chivalry reigns, a subject that makes me weak at the knees with delight, the lack of depth and insight pretty much ruined it for me.

In the foreward, Chabon stated that while this novel is different in style from the previous, it is his favorite book thus far. Having not read any of his other works(and probably not going to), it’s hard to judge that statement, but I think I question his judgement.