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The Yiddish Policemen's Union by: Michael Chabon List Price: CDN$ 22.50 City Travel Guides Price: CDN$ 16.43 You Save: CDN$6.07 (27%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780007149834 ISBN: 0007149832 Label: Harper Perennial US Manufacturer: Harper Perennial US Number Of Pages: 464 Publication Date: April 29, 2008 Publisher: Harper Perennial US Release Date: April 29, 2008 Studio: Harper Perennial US Sales Rank: 16704 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
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 Rating:  - Know Yiddish it Will HelpThe 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 ... Read More: Rating:  - The Paths to RedemptionI'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 ... Read More: Rating: - His best yetFor me, reading this was something like reading a book by Roth (any of his) and something by Chandler (think, his mysteries). The book is definitely a hybrid and starts out similiar to Roth's "The Plot Against America." I guess the Chander slash mystery part explains itself. Chabon, who is known to most for his award-winning "The Amazing Adventures," doesn't disappoint in this quirky mystery. BUT, you don't have to be Jewish to understand or appreciate this work. Set in various setting, including Alaska ("The Frozen Chosen") this book never lets up its pace and you'll be flipping those pages faster than you can say "Another Pulitzer-Prize." A mixture of black humor and angst, it is also reminniscent of books such as Foer's "Everything is Illuminated," ... Read More: Rating: - Imagine Sitka Alaska as Tel Aviv?This is simply too good a book to capture or appreciate in a review. It's written on so many levels: police mystery, political and religious intrigue, human interest, alternative history, astonishing dialogue. One thing for sure -- it's not what you'd expect. A superbly entertaining read that I, for one, will want to read again. Rating: - Beautiful Writing, Alternate History, and the Miscommunications and Misperceptions That Separate UsSeldom 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 ... Read More: |
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