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I am a huge Superman fan, and I loved everything about this novel. I also enjoy the 1930-40s as a historical setting, so it's like this book was tailored for me. I cannot recommend this novel enough. While it was admittedly very important to me that De Haven get the iconic core of the character "Superman" right, I also think this book could be enjoyable to someone unfamiliar with all the Superman lore. There's a lot of American history intermingled with the story of Clark Kent growing into Superman. This works no two levels: illustrating why two boys during this real-life era felt the need to invent a character like this, and what about Superman makes him, to this day, a sort of American institution.
In this novel, Clark Kent is only one of several characters who grows into themselves. Characters like Lois Lane and Lex Luthor parallel original characters like Willi Berg, who becomes a unifying element for the individual threads to the story. One of the things I really loved about the book was that every single character, from major to minor, seems to work extremely hard to "become" who they are by the end of the novel. While their upbringing contributes, and so too do their circumstances, somewhere in their life-journey is the definitive choice or choices that sets them on the path they lead. If you believe in an old-fashioned American ideology that reinforces ideals like the fundamental power of choice, the possibility of struggling toward a better future, the self-made man, and the capacity of each of us to be extraordinary in our own ways, I recommend this novel. It's both a richly layered and an entertaining read.
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This is an alternate retelling of Superman's life. It is set in the first third of the last century. It's dirty and unpleasant at times. It also paints a believable picture of a less than perfect Clark Kent and his road to enlightenment. Much like the movie "Batman Begins" only far more down trodden and scruffy.
I was an avid Superman fan from the late 60's and every once in a while I try to get into all the modernizations that have been perpetrated on Supes but the newer versions either tend to drop the humanity for the sensationalism of his awesome powers or they try to focus on his Clark Kent side and make him weak and less than he used to be. This novel tries to do neither and yet does both surprisingly well. To me it is the best book written of Superman since Elliot S. Maggin wrote a couple of noels in the late 70's and maybe better than those.
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Let me say first off, I am not a big Superman fan. I've seen the movies, may have seen an episode or two of "Lois and Clark," but do not watch "Smallville" or read the comics.
That being said, I did enjoy this book. Even those with a rudimentary knowledge of Superman's origins should find this book enjoyable. We know about Superman's early life, but this book fills in the missing years just prior to Clark Kent leaving Smallville and then arriving in Metropolis. We also learn the origins of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor's characters.
This is a breezy read and a lot of fun. True fans might be disappointed, but hey, it's just a book.
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When I got my first pair of glasses at age seven, I was excited how this would facilitate my Superman roleplaying. Now, more than 20 years later, I'm a grown-up Clark Kent who still harbors the desire to peel off those glasses and save Lois Lane. A few months ago I stumbled across a DVD of old Superman cartoons. They looked great, but after a couple, they got real boring, real fast because the story was lifeless. It was lots of action, but very little story. The characters were, well, mere cartoons. Crushing disappointment.
So I can't tell you how excited I was a week ago when I found Tom De Haven's It's Superman! sitting with the new paperbacks--the literary paperbacks. It's the best book I've read in months.
It has the same level of drama I remember as a kid, but it's a grown-up drama, with psychological subtlety and emotional depth. There's actually very little "Superman" in the book--it's mostly about Clark Kent's coming of age and discovering himself as Superman. So if you're looking for a shoot-em-up type of book, pass on this one. The real beauty of this book is the central character. It's the most interesting story of Clark Kent I've seen or read. He's such a real person, flawed, scared, confused, growing up. As a result, there is no need to pre-love Superman to love this novel.
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