This is an enormous, complicated, sprawling piece of literature that is mostly fascinating. The two young cousins of the title, one a Jewish escapee from WW2 Czechoslovakia, find that together they have an amazing talent for comics. One an artist, one a writer, they create a superhero called the Escapist, who takes on killing Nazis when his two creators cannot. It's hope and wishful thinking and provocation rolled up into one, and while the stories they produce are pretty silly (and I say that as a fan of comics) their motivations - their desperations - are not.

The strongest part of this, by far, is the relationship between the cousins. It's one of absolute loyalty and liking, and as a reader who was cringing in advance for the (inevitable, or so I thought) blow-up and betrayal I was glad it never came. Estrangement, yes, but one caused by trauma and isolation and war rather than anything else, and even then their love for each other shone through.

Honestly, I can see why this book has the reputation that it does. It's extraordinary - or at least the first half is. The second half is merely very good. Perhaps it's a function of length - at 600+ pages of tiny font I was flagging by the end of it. But, as I said, the strongest part of this book is that central relationship, so for me when they're split up the book suffers. Kavalier's lengthy stay in Antarctica felt like filler, and Clay's equally lengthy camouflage as family man - while absolutely believable for the character - wasn't nearly as interesting as his comic-hustle of the first half. Had the book managed to keep the power of that first half, this would be a five star read for me for sure.