The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Reading Michael Chabon's "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" is like taking a meandering walk through a neighborhood with someone who grew up there. You are not going to take a direct path from point A to point B, but in stopping and dwelling on the details you learn to see them through the eyes of the characters themselves. It helps to have a dictionary handy too, which surprised me for a tale based largely around comic books. As a die-hard Marvel Comics reader from the 1980s, I was ecstatic that Chabon chose to set the heart of the story in the origins of the Golden Age of Comics. The story from there - the relationship, love, sacrifice, forgiveness, and reuniting that occurs between Sam, Joe and Rosa - is as heartbreaking as any I have read. Each faces their challenges, sometimes devastating, as they pursue happiness among the backdrop of WW2. Five stars.

I'm not even sure how to describe this book. It is at the same time a love letter to comics, a sad story about WW2, an epic about the life of very singular and intense characters, a story about family values and relationships and do much more.
The book is big and you need to take your time with it. A lot of work has gone in this book to create such an exciting universe, so will depicted in vivid details.
It is rare to encounter such a complete masterpiece that is also extremely polished and easy to consume, because among other things this book is a lesson of writing style.