“Kornblum explained to the building superintendent, giving a pair of false names and brandishing credentials and bona fides whose source Joseph was never able to determine, that they had been sent by the Jewish Council (a public organization unrelated to, though in some cases co-constituent with, the secret Golem circle) to survey the building, as part of a program to keep track of the movements of Jews into and within Prague. There was, in fact, such a program, undertaken semi-voluntarily and with the earnest dread that characterized all of the Jewish Council’s dealings with the Reichsprotektorat.”

–Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

This is just a quick moment in the book, but I’m blogging it because it reminds me to mention the excellent book on the Judenrat (Jewish Councils) by my grandfather, Leonard Tushnet. The book is called The Pavement of Hell: Three Leaders of the Judenrat (here’s a useless link–it’s out of print, but you should look for it anyway), and contrasts the personalities, philosophies, and results of three (Jewish) men selected by the Nazis to run the councils in Lodz, Warsaw, and Vilna respectively. A harsh and moving book.

More AAofK&C; quotes: “Presently, his breathing grew steady and slowed to a congested rattle, leaving Sammy to ponder alone, as he did every night, the usual caterpillar schemes. But in his imaginings, Sammy found that, for the first time in years, he was able to avail himself of the help of a confederate.”

This I’m blogging to point out that Michael Chabon overwrites. Must he really milk each sentence for so much more than it’s worth?

“‘What do you have in your mouth, young man?’ said the boys’ mother, marking her place with a butter knife.

“Josef stuck two fingers between his right cheek and upper right gum and pulled out a flat strip of metal, notched at one end: a tiny fork, no longer than Thomas’s pinkie.

“‘What is that?’ his mother asked him, looking as if she was going to be ill.

“Josef shrugged. ‘A torque wrench,’ he said.

“‘What else?’ said his father to his mother, with the unsubtle sarcasm that was itself a kind of subtlety, ensuring that he never appeared caught out by the frequently surprising behavior of his children. ‘Of course it’s a torque wrench.’

“‘Herr Kornblum said I should get used to it,’ Josef explained. ‘He said that when Houdini died, he was found to have worn away two sizable pockets in his cheeks.’

“Herr Dr. Kavalier returned to his Tageblatt. ‘An admirable aspiration,’ he said.”

This I’m blogging because I like the escape-artist theme a lot, so far.

In general I am enjoying this book, despite the somewhat hypertrophied writing. I’m really, really hoping that the golem subplot turns out to be justified and cool, because there’s major potential for it to be just, you know, unwarranted and kind of dumb.