I picked this book up for the concept—alternate universe where sixty years ago a temporary Jewish settlement was established in Alaska, and now in modern day, with Israel long failed and the territory of Sitka the closest left to a Jewish homeland, the settlement is facing reversion to U.S. control and its residents relocation.
The writing beautifully evokes the icy, claustrophobic, neon-smeared feel of the setting; in fact, the skill of Chabon’s writing was what kept me reading through early chapters when the plot was slow to pick up and the main character (a homicide detective with the soon-to-be-dissolved Sitka police department) difficult to care about. The world Chabon creates is rich and imaginative, if rarely pleasant—the book is heavily noir in feel. The secondary characters—the MC’s half-native cousin, his tough, honorable ex-wife (and new boss), his bush pilot sister, the junkie whose murder he’s investigating—are what truly carry the story (yes, even the ones deceased before the novel begins; they’re some of the most vivid and well-drawn of the lot).
One of the charms and sometimes frustrations of the novel is that it’s constantly shifting—it begins as a grit-minded murder mystery, and yet somehow morphs through adventure, speculative fiction, thriller, even passages that seem like excerpts from a memoir, so wistful and full of depth they make the reader feel as though this alternate history is the real one, not the world they live in. I never knew where the story was going next—something excellent and too rarely found, for me. However, at points the elements don’t mesh well; near the end, especially, the plot fails to support the story enough.
Overall, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a beautiful, bittersweet exploration of home and identity and community, worth picking up just for the worldbuilding and prose alone. And, of course, the swashbuckling bush pilot.
The writing beautifully evokes the icy, claustrophobic, neon-smeared feel of the setting; in fact, the skill of Chabon’s writing was what kept me reading through early chapters when the plot was slow to pick up and the main character (a homicide detective with the soon-to-be-dissolved Sitka police department) difficult to care about. The world Chabon creates is rich and imaginative, if rarely pleasant—the book is heavily noir in feel. The secondary characters—the MC’s half-native cousin, his tough, honorable ex-wife (and new boss), his bush pilot sister, the junkie whose murder he’s investigating—are what truly carry the story (yes, even the ones deceased before the novel begins; they’re some of the most vivid and well-drawn of the lot).
One of the charms and sometimes frustrations of the novel is that it’s constantly shifting—it begins as a grit-minded murder mystery, and yet somehow morphs through adventure, speculative fiction, thriller, even passages that seem like excerpts from a memoir, so wistful and full of depth they make the reader feel as though this alternate history is the real one, not the world they live in. I never knew where the story was going next—something excellent and too rarely found, for me. However, at points the elements don’t mesh well; near the end, especially, the plot fails to support the story enough.
Overall, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a beautiful, bittersweet exploration of home and identity and community, worth picking up just for the worldbuilding and prose alone. And, of course, the swashbuckling bush pilot.
~Sparky
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4 comments:
But of course, you would like the bush pilots. %-)
Nice review, Sparkly One.
Thanks. ;) I admit, I liked the crotchety four-foot-seven-inch motorcycle-riding snarky police chief, too. O:)
Sounds interesting!
Chabon recently hit my list of new authors whose work I must devour. I ordered a McSweeney's Quarterly subscription in December, and Chabon's Maps and Legends came with it for free. It's an excellent book of essays that discuss topics such as Sherlock Holmes and fan fiction, young adult lit and His Dark Materials, Chabon's own writing, comics as serious lit, and some themes related to being a Jewish writer (in which he also discusses The Yiddish Policemen's Union).
Cool stuff. :)
Indeed! I'll have to look for it.
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