Book review: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon
A year ago I’d never read anything by Michael Chabon, but in 2009 I’ve read his short story collection Werewolves in their Youth (that title alone is full of win), his Pulitzer Prize-winner The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and now The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
I think Policemen’s Union is my favourite. And that’s saying something, because I loved Kavalier and Clay a lot. (It’s possible I favour Union because it’s fresh in my mind. Kavalier and Clay is an extraordinary book, so I reserve the right to change my mind.)
Chabon is a stunning writer. Snappy, smart, witty, gloriously inventive. Some of his synonyms are so unexpected they cause gleeful fireworks to pop in my brain. If I could write a tenth as well as Chabon does, I would be the second-best writer in the world, is what I’m saying.
Policemen’s Union is tricky to sum up in a paragraph (go here for a detailed synopsis), but it’s about Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic Jewish detective living in Sitka, Alaska – the Jewish homeland in an alternate history where the whole Israel thing didn’t work out. As Sitka’s Jews face the prospect of being kicked out of their icy home, a mysterious man residing in the same fleabag hotel as Meyer is murdered; investigating the case puts the detective in the path of ultra-orthodox gangsters, government conspiracies, and his ex-wife, who’s now his commanding officer.
And it’s fantastic. I love that Chabon has taken tropes like the alcoholic detective and put a fresh, unexpected spin on them by dropping them into this Yiddish-infused parallel universe (parallel Jewniverse, perhaps?), which, as a gentile, I found completely absorbing. One complaint: the vast conspiracy wanders sometimes into hard-to-follow territory, especially near the end. Ultimately, though, this is one of those books I was disappointed to have finished.
Tags: alternate history, books, Crime, genius, Jewishness, Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Werewolves in their Youth
