Most helpful customer reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Writing, Alternate History, and the Miscommunications and Misperceptions That Separate Us, Jun 21 2007
Seldom will you have an opportunity to read a book that offers so much fine writing, imaginative fancy dropped in lightly to expand your mind, wit, and examples of how we are our own worst enemy by assuming we know what's going on rather than getting the facts. If you are Jewish and know Yiddish, you'll have the extra benefit of many good-humored, self-directed jokes: In places, you'll think you've stepped into a Neil Simon comedy. And there are lots of nods to fine literature throughout the book to keep the serious reader entertained.
To give this book a conventional book review does Mr. Chabon a disservice. How can I best summarize The Yiddish Policemen's Union? Expect the wildly unexpected.
Most novels try to fit tightly into a genre. By following certain conventions, readers have an easier time following what's going on and are soon basking in reflected pleasure from other books they've read in the genre. If you mash together genres instead as Mr. Chabon has done, the results can be chaotic, humorous, and revealing about the flaws in the genres. This book combines so many genres that you'll probably find yourself losing track of how many are referenced in one place or other.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union isn't one of those books that you should read quickly. You should savor each conversational exchange, each scene, and each historical, social, cultural or biblical reference as you might savor a fine wine. Sip slowly, stop, and experience as many flavors as you can.
I have two warnings however.
If you are looking for a book that's exactly like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, you've been misinformed. The same author is involved, but the two books are quite different.
If you think you are going to read a conventional murder mystery-police procedural, you've set your sights in the wrong direction. Yes, there are crimes, investigations, and mysteries, but they aren't the heart of the book's appeal. If you apply only that lens, you'll probably complain that the second half of the book doesn't work very well. Putting together all those genres means that the murder mystery-police procedural aspect cannot proceed as smoothly as you are accustomed to experiencing.
To me, the book's greatest feature is the variety of ways that Mr. Chabon communicates his ultimate message that redemption is available for us all . . . if we simply get busy and seek redemption.
Enjoy a great read!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Know Yiddish it Will Help, Oct 3 2008
The story revolves around the idea that part of Alaska has been ceded to the dispossessed Jews after WWII on the stipulation that during the next sixty years they have to find a permanent homeland elsewhere. The story starts just as the lease is about to expire with the introduction of Meyer Landsman, a Jewish cop, with a poor reputation of living on vodka and cigarettes in a flophouse. When a body is discovered in the same hostel, against all odds and with the political clock ticking loudly he makes it his mission to solve the murder and regain respect.
This traditional police story is written around Jewish customs and culture that makes it exceptional. The plot is extremely complex, the text is sprinkled with Yiddish words, and the humour has a Yiddish flavour full of wisecracks. However, much of the flavour could be missed and is hard to understand by those not extremely familiar with the Jewish way of life. It was not an easy read and quite frustrating, it was like reading a book in an unfamiliar language, always wondering how much or what am I missing.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Paths to Redemption, Feb 10 2008
I've started to take an interest in some of Chabon's works as to how he develops and equips the protagonist to both survive and flourish in outrageously hostile environments. This recent novel is brilliant example of how a writer can place a seemingly ordinary, everyday person like Landsman, a lapsed Jew, who likes his job as a detective but has just come through a bitter divorce, in the most incongruent of environments, a Hassidic community in Alaska called Sitka. As this group of faithful and focussed Jews awaits the return of the Messiah from on frigid top of the world, theirs is an existence of fastidiously keeping the law and practicing the old customs in readiness for the big event. Chabon includes a host of Hassidic and Yiddish customs in his story to make the point that Sitka is a very parochial Jewish homeland. It is built on orthodox principles for the exclusive accommodation of the Jewish remnant that will survive the Tribulation, which had apparently already happened with the Holocaust and the fictional collapse of Israel in 1948. Outsiders have managed to creep in and take up residence. Into this setting comes Landsman on a mission to solve a double murder involving an old chess master named Lasker and his sister Naomi. To complicate matters, Landsman still works under his ex-wife, who is the chief detective for the territory. His compulsion will force him to violate many cultural boundaries and break many taboos in his zigzagging search for the culprits. Chabon uses the many challenges facing Landsman as opportunities to instruct his reader on the peculiarities of custom and where they possibly lead. As Landsman closes in on his quarry, the reader is treated to some of the darker side of this supposedly monotheistic community awaiting the millennium. Sitka is a composite of the faithful, the secular, the criminal and the non-Jewish. How they handle each other is nothing short of hypocrisy: rules are made to be broken; alliances are forged out of convenience; and favoritism is shown for a price. In all this, the reader is invited to come along on an adventure that will bring out the best in his or her ability to shift gears as Chabon moves from plot to plot, while having a whale of fun into the bargain. I became so engrossed in keeping track of these countless switches in the storyline that I forgot to laugh at some critically comically absurd situations. Never mind! The book is worth a second read just to get the feel for how Chabon harnesses the world of fantasy so that Landsman can endure and overcome the cruel realities of being an outcast by constantly reinventing himself. That's the magic that Chabon brings to his work. With this novel, Chabon has definitely returned to his old brilliance in "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay".
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