Delicious fiction
I think Chabon writes absolutely delicious prose. His sentences are thick and chewy. You have to slow down to get every concept. The writing style of this book is very different from Chabon's "Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay", another of his that is a favorite of mine. But that's what I love about this author: he can assume a writing style for a book that fits the story he is telling. Chabon has clipped his verbosity in "Yiddish Policeman's Union" but this does not come at the expense of his storytelling.
I am not a Jew, but I live with one, and I marvel at Chabon's grasp of the culture and the way he wrestles with questions in Judaism that had never occurred to me. I read several negative reviews here at Amazon and would like to comment on one complaint. Some readers mentioned being lost at the Yiddish words used in the book. Almost all of them are listed in a glossary in the back. So Gentiles are welcome!
"Yiddish Policeman's Union" is a marvelous read!
Jewish District in Alaska
Michael Chabon's novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is potentially one of the best alternate history tales I have read. This was done with an amazing writing style and unique character developments. T
he protagonist, Detective Landsman, is just the kind of tragic romantic that is so recklessly enjoyable.
The world this character lives in is on an island in Alaska, the Federal District of Sitka. This place has acted as a refugee sanctuary for the descendents of Holocaust survivors. Since the State of Israel was whipped off the map in a war with Arabs in 1948, Sitka has become a Yiddish-speaking metropolis in America's last frontier. But not all is well, since the one thing that most Jews didn't plan for is about to occur. Reversion. Soon, the District of Sitka will be reabsorbed into the Union as American Territory. The day was coming and they always knew, but for people like Landsman, it just seems a bit too much like old news for the Jews.
Regardless, Detective Landsman has a homicide to resolve with his trustworthy, half Tlingit, half Jewish partner, Detective Berko. The homicide occurred at Landsman's own hotel, of which he is a resident, and after so rudely being interrupted from yet another night of drinking, Landsman decides he must take on the case. But he must solve it before reversion occurs, otherwise the case will be thrown out. The new commanding officer of the homicide department is an American educated woman named Bina, who also just happens to be Landsman's ex-wife.
If things weren't awkward enough, they would become detrimental later. The victim of the murder turns out to be a Mendel Shpilman, son to a Hassidic crime boss, the Verbover reb, Mendel has also been hoped to be the Tzaddik Ha-Dor by most Hassidic Verbovers. A potential messiah who may be the coming prophecy of a reestablished Jewish state. Future investigations lead Landsman to his own dead sister's involvement with Mendel. Turns out that many of the Verbover's have been training to destroy the Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, and once again carve out a state of Israel in the Middle East. They were planning on using their ordained messiah to lead the cause. They also do this with a sympathetic US government, supportive of Zionism.
Landsman just wants to find the murderer. It's discovered that Mendel did nothing more but beg for a mercy killing for all the hardship he was releasing onto the world. With Mendel, the Verbover's were going to use the ordained messiah to lead Jews into the new state of Israel built on the blood of the Muslims. But what cross-dressing chess player wants that responsibility? No, all Mendel really wanted was to make a living off playing chess and to find himself a nice Jewish man to settle down with. The Verbover's didn't take to kindly to such a plan or lifestyle.
Overall the novel is written in a classic detective noir style. But the setting changes the mood of many things. Mixing Yiddish words and Alaskan landscapes becomes quite a treat for the imagery and the dialogue bestowed to the reader. I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in crime, detective, noir tales, suspense, anything like that. But this novel also becomes a love story between the reunited Landsman and Bina who care little for a reestablished state of Israel. Their nation is the Yiddish Policemen's Union.
Score
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is one of the best novels I've read in a long, long time. While it certainly has merits as a mystery, it is the characters, ghostly images of diaspora, and the plight of all people without a homeland that make this novel resonate long after one has put it down. Given events in the Middle East, Chabon's novel has an added poignancy, as it challenges one to contemplate a world without a Jewish homeland.
Lets go aain
It is part science fiction and part mystery. Or Yiddish Policeman is fully both. Thus just by that it is hard to classify. Whether you have a Yiddish background, or great exposure to a Jewish heritage, or an Alaskan one, the world creation by Chabon elevates this story to a level beyond the common in either genre.
Yiddish Policeman's is a very good book. It is a well deserved edition of exceptional literature. An achievement and worth reading. Is the mystery a little weak and perhaps a bit like a television mystery episode, in parts. Is our protagonist too intimately caught up in the details of the mystery, again perhaps. But as the story stretches out, these become small quibbles that do not detract that this is a phenomenal piece of writing.
The narrative and detail in creating the world soon has you engrossed in that world so you can believe in it. Would the jews wish to resettle to much safer Alaska, then to the very turbulent holy land? Probably not, but with speculative fiction, once you give into it, then the new worlds builds upon itself. Would oil be cheaper if there were no wars in the mid-east, or would there still be wars there over other issues.
Since we are concerned about the Jewish settlement in Alaska, we don't really even care about such. We become consumed about the world Chabon has crafted. Even thinking that perhaps more in this world would be nice to visit again.
Hard to get through...
This was another book club suggestion. I had a hard time getting into the author's writing style. The first 100 pages or so were very difficult for me to read because (a)I kept having to flip back to the yiddush glossary, and (b)the author was overly descriptive for some things. I was also disappointed with the last quarter of the book. The underlining plot was a murder mystery, which I enjoyed the build up to the solve. However, when it was finally resolved, the book ended immediately. It felt ...more This was another book club suggestion. I had a hard time getting into the author's writing style. The first 100 pages or so were very difficult for me to read because (a)I kept having to flip back to the yiddush glossary, and (b)the author was overly descriptive for some things. I was also disappointed with the last quarter of the book. The underlining plot was a murder mystery, which I enjoyed the build up to the solve. However, when it was finally resolved, the book ended immediately. It felt extremely rushed
(306 reviews)
