This is the third Chabon book that I have read (after
THE FINAL SOLUTION
and
THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH
) and it is unquestionably the best -- imaginative, audacious, thought-provoking, and humane. As I gather he did with
KAVALIER & CLAY
, Chabon takes a genre of popular fiction, in this case the police story, and transforms it into a vehicle capable of carrying significant insights into the human condition, and particularly the complex crosscurrents of Jewish identity. For some reason this fascinates me, and I have read a good deal of post-Holocaust fiction, but I felt that I understood more about Jewish life in America, especially among the orthodox, from reading this book than from any other author since Chaim Potok (e.g.
THE CHOSEN
or
MY NAME IS ASHER LEV
).
Chabon creates an alternative historical reality on the basis of three plausible assumptions. The first is that, in the years before the War, America created a home for a limited number of Jewish refugees in Sitka, on the South-East coast of Alaska; (this plan was actually floated, but never brought to a vote). Second, that the new state of Israel was overrun by its enemies shortly after its founding, causing a massive exodus of people to be accommodated in this small area, giving rise to a large city built up over islands and a narrow strip of land. The third assumption is that these refugees were not accepted as American immigrants, but as temporary nationals of the new entity, leased for a period of sixty years. So while Jewish Sitka is a self-governing city-state, with Yiddish its official language, and with its own police force, this authority is precarious. For one thing, different sects have taken over different parts of the city, effectively maintaining their own law, even sometimes in opposition to the official law. For another, the sixty-year lease is about to expire, and the action of the book takes place in the last weeks before Reversion, when Jews who have not made other arrangements will be forced out again in yet another Exodus.
One such unprepared unfortunate is our protagonist, an alcoholic homicide detective named Meyer Landsman. One of the other residents in the fleabag hotel where he lives is found murdered, with a chess game set out on a board beside him. Even though his superiors tell him to drop the case, Landsman persists in his attempts to discover who the victim really was, and who killed him. This thread sews the plot together and leads to some surprising places. Ultimately, however, it is not the whodunnit element that is important; we discover the answer, but that is a minor detail in the almost apocalyptic drama of fear and destiny that is revealed in the shadow of the last days of the Jewish people in Sitka. But while specifically Jewish in context, I find the book also is full of insight into the fundamentalist mindset generally, and it is very much a reflection of forces in American politics of our own time.
Chabon is equally successful on the intimate level. We come to know a lot about Myer Landsman: the suicide of his chess grandmaster father, the death of his sister in a flying accident, and his separation from his wife Bina after the abortion of their unborn child. This last relationship is further complicated when Bina turns up as Meyer's new boss, but the unraveling of the case also has the effect of bringing the past and present together, in ways that are ultimately deeply satisfying, and give the book human warmth as a ballast to its flights of brilliance. If you come to the novel as a Gentile (and perhaps even as a Jew), you will be plunged into a world that seems hermetic, claustrophic, extremely strange. When you finish it, you will understand where the strangeness comes from. More, you will be left with a small group of human beings whom you have come to know as intimately as if they were your own family or neighbors.
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Popular Highlights in this book
A Messiah who actually arrives is no good to anybody. A hope fulfilled is already half a disappointment.Highlighted by 485 Kindle readers- Just to spite himself, because spiting himself, spiting others, spiting the world is the pastime and only patrimony of Landsman and his people.Highlighted by 297 Kindle readers
- Even the most casual study of the record, Landsman thinks, would show that strange times to be a Jew have almost always been, as well, strange times to be a chicken.Highlighted by 275 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
A NOIR NOVEL NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED
This is a review of Michael Chabon’s novel, ‘The Yiddish Policemen's Union’. If you like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald or Isaac Bable and have not yet partaken of the word-crafting expertise of Michael Chabon, be prepared for a vibrant escapade into writing at its best. The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 ‘Noir’ detective story set in an alternative history of post WW2 to present Sitka Alaska. The mystery opens with alcoholic Sitka police department homicide detective, Meyer Landsman, examining the murder of a man in the hotel where Landsman lives. The victim turns out to be the potential Moshiach, Mendel Shpilman. The plot swims in political corruption, treachery, weaving patterns of character into a reality that shock, intrigue, and unforgettably engross the reader in a page turning marathon. Is there a dark cloud over the novel? Unfortunately, there is, and the tragedy is that the book ends. Chabon breathes life into each character that is unsurpassed and when the last page was turned something grievous personally happened. With no more pages to turn, it was like experiencing a death in the family; like an addiction, you crave more. Unfortunately Chabon has moved on to other venues in his novels. Take heart, another writer R. Avraham Kosźmiński, it is rumored, is in the process of picking up the scepter with a sequel that moves Detective Meyer Landsman and his wife Bina up the coast to Valdez Alaska where the adventure steps forward into a 21 year future that brings closure ushering in the Moshiach. The merit of this novel is widely shared. ‘The Yiddish Policemen's Union’ debuted at #2 on the New York Times Best seller on May 20, 2007, remaining on the list for 6 weeks. It won a number of science fiction awards: the Nebula award for Best novel, the Locus Award for best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. I went to Amazon now and found a brand new hardcover, unused, for only $1.59. A great deal.
Top reviews from other countries
Christian Wyss
Those enthusiastic reviews are true.
Reviewed in Germany on February 2, 2024
Cliente Amazon
ideal para estudiantes de ingles avanzado
Reviewed in Spain on January 5, 2016