A number of years ago I started reading this book. Then I paused with it unfinished and didn't get back to it until now, beginning again, this time in audiobook form. (Yes, that is a horrible run on sentence.) It is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel about two young Jewish cousins who become players in the burgeoning comic book industry in the days before World War II. Josef "Joe" Kavalier escapes Nazi occupation of Prague to live with his aunt and cousin in New York. His cousin, Sam Clayman, later "Clay" discovers Josef's artistic talent and they set out to make their fortune by creating a Nazi fighting comic book character based on Joe's previous training as an escape artist a la Houdini. Subplots involve Sam's homosexuality, Joe's attempts to evacuate his brother from Nazi occupied Europe, the estrangement and reconciliation of the cousins, and the Senate hearings about comic books being a corrupting influence on youth. Anyone who grew up reading superhero comics can appreciate this story.
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