The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.)

This book was frankly not very interesting and I did not enjoy it. The main character was weird; the writing style was rough. I regret this purchase.

When I read this book I was stunned by its imaginative premise--that the State of Israel failed in 1948 and the U.S. offered part of Alaska (the Sitka District) for settlement by Jews from around the world. I learned later that this idea was actually floated by FDR, but never acted on. With the support of then-U.S. President Harry Truman and the resilience of its people, Israel survived and thrives almost 60 years later. Still, while no longer amazed, I'm still very impressed at how completely Chabon imagines and describes this cold world of the Jews, inhabiting Sitka on a 60-year lease from the U.S. While operating at the same high level of imagination as in his triumph, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Chabon writes a much different book here. The scope of time is something less than a week rather than 50 years; the action is all "confined" to the Sitka District, large but still smaller than Kavalier's world that stretched from Prague to Antarctica to New York City. Kavalier was historical fiction at its best. Yiddish is a whodunit wrapped up in a made-up history. The closest parallel I can think of Philip Roth's The Plot Against America in which the U.S. elects isolationist Charles Lindbergh as President while war rages in Europe, with the kidnapping of Lindbergh's baby acting as the whodunit. All this is not to say that the reader is somehow shortchanged by "Yiddish". Into the murder mystery, Chabon works in world class chess, Hasidism (which at some level resembles the Mafia), bush pilots, the Judeo-Eskimo community (there's one he probably had few live experts to consult with), espionage, Judeo-Arab tensions, protagonist Meyer Landsman's challenge of doing police work for his now supervisor ex-wife, along with a whole host of Yiddish cultural references that can't be enumerated without better understanding of that culture and more space. Lurking in the background is the "reality" that the 60-year lease with the U.S. is about to expire and only a small number of Jews with "useful" jobs will be allowed to remain. Now that I write all this, my evalution of the breadth of Chabon's imagination is working its way back toward amazing. I'm not sure how the reading public will handle "Yiddish". Chabon fans will enjoy it, but will be making the impossible comparison to "Kavalier." Detective story fans make me disoriented by the imaginary setting and all its unfamiliar cultural references. Someone looking for historical fiction might be put off by both the made-up history and the seemingly simple-minded detective story about a murdered chess player. "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is not quite a 5-star book, but at 4.5 I'll round up for Chabon's amazing imagination. I recommend the book to all Chabon fans and to the adventurous among readers of current American fiction. A work by such a special talent has to be given a chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Well-read teenagers might enjoy it too--there's nothing in here that's p

When did Michael Chabon become one of our finest living writers? I've been reading his novels for about two decades now, loving each successive work more. Suddenly I realize that he is one of those rare writers where you go out and buy the book full price on the day it's released. He's that good. And The Yiddish Policeman's Union lived up in all ways to my high expectations. The novel grabbed me right from the opening pages. We meet Meyer Landsman, a somewhat down on his luck homicide detective. We meet the victim, a John Doe in the cheap hotel Landsman calls home. We meet Meyer's cousin/partner, his ex-wife/boss, and many, many other supporting characters, each more richly-drawn than the last. I must confess summarizing plots is not my strong suit. However, unlike many "literary" novels--and it is as literary as they come--this is most definitely a plot-driven novel. It's a who-done-it, and perhaps more importantly it's a why-done-it. Because as Meyer and Berko investigate the execution-style murder of this young addict, the world they live in is revealed to us. And it's possible that this alternate universe is the most interesting thing about the novel. It's a world where the European Jews fled from Hitler to Alaska--a premise based on a historic trivia fact. They've populated Sitka and made it their own for the past 60 years, and in just a few weeks they need to get out. Alaska is "reverting" back to the Americans in much the way that Hong Kong recently reverted to the Chinese. The oft-repeated refrain of these characters is "Strange times to be a Jew." True enough. And if nothing else, this sure is one Jewish murder mystery. It's chock full of Yiddish, a joy for me, but surely not for a majority of the novel's readers. A lot you can pick up in context, but Chabon's not going out of his way to help readers there. You'll learn about boundary mavens and Jewish prophesy. It's all very exotic, but so richly and realistically portrayed. Chabon brings this world that never was to life, and it's fascinating. And while the mystery surely kept me turning pages late into the night, it was my pleasure in the characters and the setting and the world created that made me truly, truly love this novel. Reading simply doesn't get any better than this.

It has been a long time since I so enjoyed, nay devoured, a new novel. Chabon has a rare ability to create characters that are so rich and clearly delineated that you can see them, hear them, smell them. His language glistens with images and metaphors. Give yourself the pleasure of reading this book, and losing yourself in this richly imagined world.

Chabon is witty. Chabon takes risks. Chabon writes with passion and humor. One wouldn't expect all readers to get it. Clearly, some don't. While I can sympathize with their frustration for failing to comprehend the sheer brilliance of this book, I find their whiny and frankly clueless reviews are inexcusable. Chabon imagines a Jewish colony in Alaska. That is the framework. Sure, he alters history to do it but the real beauty of this novel is Chabon's wonderful homicide detective who is every bit as hard boiled and appealing as any character Raymond Chandler ever imagined. It's a love story. It's a thriller. It's a mystery. It's a detective novel. It's funny, and dark, and so very clever. The alternate history angle is the least of it. Chess fans will love it. Our detective finds a corpse down the hall in his skid row hotel. That sets him off--a killing took place right under his nose. Solving the murder becomes like solving a chess puzzle. There are junkies and Jewish gangsters. A half Jewish/half Indian sidekick. Then there is his ex-wife, another cop. They still care for each other. I read several hundred books a year and I haven't enjoyed a book this much since ABSURDISTAN. The verbal hijinx that Chabon executes are stunning. Are you intelligent? Do you have a sense of humor? I think that you'll love it.

What can you say about a book like this? Not much without giving something away. It's audacious as can be believed. What's it about? Read the Publisher's Weekly blurb above. Or, better yet, don't. Chabon is a genius and a madman, a wizard and a mensch. He's a wrecking crew, a culture-blender, and a rebbe packing heat. Who else would, or could, take Nick Charles and put him in Shalom Shachna's body? (Or maybe it's the other way around.) Equal parts Kabbalah and Ka-Bar, it's funny and gripping, and entertaining, and so heartbreaking, at times, it's hard to breathe. In sum. I found it extraordinary - the concept, the language, the characters and the plot. It's not perfect, but it is simply one of the best novels I've read in a decade. Is that "helpful"? I doubt it. If I were you, I wouldn't want to know more. Spoilers are odious, irrelevant, and available elsewhere (note Kakutani's review in the Times). If you love Chandler, Hammett, Roth, and I.B. Singer, I suspect you will love this. Put some Manischewitz in a lowball and sit by the electric fire and crack this book open.