Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I completely loved the what-if proposition of this novel: what if Israel had not been created as an independent nation after WWII. What if, instead, Jews had been relocated to a "reservation" in dismal Alaska. What would this place look and feel like, with all of its attendant dysfunctions? On top of that, Michael Chabon crafted a detective novel with all the compelling hooks of a who-dunnit. The charm of a detective story is that the main character spends his days observing the minute everyday details of the places and people around him. Works really well in an imaginative setting like Sitka, Alaska.
It took me a good 200 pages, but once I got into the language and the character's of the story, I couldn't put it down. I will say that at the end of the book, Chabon gives www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com a shout out. Unless your a rebbe or a noz when you start this book, fire up the website right away! My lack of yiddish knowledge most definitely hindered my enjoyment of the first 200 pages of Chabon's storytelling.
With that said, who knew a noire set in an alternate universe could work so well? The book's vocabulary is charming and rhythmic. The character's are appealing even though I didn't always know exactly what they were saying. It did stick to Chabon's basic straight guy, straight girl, gay guy formula. But, hey, that won him a Pulitzer. Why mess with what works?
With that said, who knew a noire set in an alternate universe could work so well? The book's vocabulary is charming and rhythmic. The character's are appealing even though I didn't always know exactly what they were saying. It did stick to Chabon's basic straight guy, straight girl, gay guy formula. But, hey, that won him a Pulitzer. Why mess with what works?
Taut, mesmerizing, heartbreaking, hopeful, utterly unlike what I expected -- look, I know everyone loves Kavalier and Clay, I love it too, but, fuck, this is the book he should have won the Pulitzer for. It's a masterpiece.
Equal parts satisfying and frustrating. I don't remember the early Chabon feeling this split between layer cake paragraph description and pulp plotting. It takes every plot point in what is ostensibly a detective story twice as long to occur because we have to halt the action every few moments for a breathlessly inventive worldbuilding paragraph set within the imaginative setting Chabon has invented. There apparently was a real life plan to relocate Jewish people to Sitka, Alaska during World War 2 that almost went through and one of the joys of the book is seeing how Chabon filled out this speculative history timeline, with the contrast of the Jewish people in a frigid setting, the local customs which develop, and the tensions with the local indigenous population (the last point ended up being surprisingly relevant to this recent read through). But reading the book made me feel insane because it takes so long for anything to happen in what is supposed to be a tense, plotted, pulpy story about a mysterious murder.
I read somewhere the initial draft of this was 600 (!!) in first person that was then cut down to 400 or so pages in third person. If you ask me this could have maybe lost about a 100 more. The world building is excellent but it feels at odds with the story Chabon wants to tell. I felt like the book was never going to end and the plot developments (such as when the main character almost gets killed) didn't really matter for how slow the book was preceding. That's not to say there isn't any good stuff, and I liked the chess digressions Chabon built into the story, but my experience reading this was initial interest and excitement slowly burning down to an impatient frustration.
I think this style of writing Chabon developed with Cavalier and Clay (the layer cake description, bravura paragraphs, thick ekphrasis of fictional objects, and punchy, ping pong dialogue) works better in a story that has the space to unfurl across space and time. If you ask me, Chabon should have slimmed down even further with this attempt at a mystery, detective novel.
Also, having made it this far into Chabon's oeuvre I think I can boil down some of his constant themes: 1) the heterogeneity of Jewish identity, 2) capital D Daddy issues (usually of the cold, absent, or traumatic sort), 3) red headed women probably resembling Chabon's actual wife, 4) a flirtation and preoccupation with low art and genre: science fiction, mystery, comic books, etc, and 5) what it means to be gay or bisexual in a heterosexual world. I've got three more books to go, Gentlemen of the Road, Telegraph Avenue, and Moonglow and I'm looking forward to the first, because Chabon seems to finally 100% commit to a genre, feeling cautious about the second, because it's Chabon attempting to write a modern day Middlemarch (uhhhhh?), and don't know what to expect with the third.
I read somewhere the initial draft of this was 600 (!!) in first person that was then cut down to 400 or so pages in third person. If you ask me this could have maybe lost about a 100 more. The world building is excellent but it feels at odds with the story Chabon wants to tell. I felt like the book was never going to end and the plot developments (such as when the main character almost gets killed) didn't really matter for how slow the book was preceding. That's not to say there isn't any good stuff, and I liked the chess digressions Chabon built into the story, but my experience reading this was initial interest and excitement slowly burning down to an impatient frustration.
I think this style of writing Chabon developed with Cavalier and Clay (the layer cake description, bravura paragraphs, thick ekphrasis of fictional objects, and punchy, ping pong dialogue) works better in a story that has the space to unfurl across space and time. If you ask me, Chabon should have slimmed down even further with this attempt at a mystery, detective novel.
Also, having made it this far into Chabon's oeuvre I think I can boil down some of his constant themes: 1) the heterogeneity of Jewish identity, 2) capital D Daddy issues (usually of the cold, absent, or traumatic sort), 3) red headed women probably resembling Chabon's actual wife, 4) a flirtation and preoccupation with low art and genre: science fiction, mystery, comic books, etc, and 5) what it means to be gay or bisexual in a heterosexual world. I've got three more books to go, Gentlemen of the Road, Telegraph Avenue, and Moonglow and I'm looking forward to the first, because Chabon seems to finally 100% commit to a genre, feeling cautious about the second, because it's Chabon attempting to write a modern day Middlemarch (uhhhhh?), and don't know what to expect with the third.
The YPU takes place in an alternative future in which Jews were temporarily resettled in Alaska during World War II. The US government actually proposed this at one point! When efforts by Zionist to retake Jerusalem fail in 1948, millions of Jews are left without permanent status. The US government allows these misplaced Jews to remain in Alaska for a term of 60 years, and they set up the Sitka settlement.
When the novel opens, the 60-year term is up and the Jews are once again, looking for a homeland.
The main character, Meyer Landsman, is a alcoholic police detective living in a rundown hotel. The manager of the hotel wakes him in the middle of the night to investigate the apparent murder of a heroin junkie, and chess fanatic, who is living three floors down.
This murder, along with the tenuous future of the Jews of Sitka, form the basis for this plot driven, detective novel.
I loved the book, Chabon is a master of metaphor, and his characters are interesting-- both flawed and admirable.
The Yiddish words sprinkled throughout the text gave me some difficulty at first, but I worked them out eventually.
When the novel opens, the 60-year term is up and the Jews are once again, looking for a homeland.
The main character, Meyer Landsman, is a alcoholic police detective living in a rundown hotel. The manager of the hotel wakes him in the middle of the night to investigate the apparent murder of a heroin junkie, and chess fanatic, who is living three floors down.
This murder, along with the tenuous future of the Jews of Sitka, form the basis for this plot driven, detective novel.
I loved the book, Chabon is a master of metaphor, and his characters are interesting-- both flawed and admirable.
The Yiddish words sprinkled throughout the text gave me some difficulty at first, but I worked them out eventually.
Really disappointed in this one. I've read all of Chabon's other books, and enjoyed every single one of them. Maybe I just didn't get this one, I don't know...but I honestly got 200 pages in and had NO IDEA what was going on. It just felt completely disjointed and made no sense. Sad.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was our August 2008 neighborhood book club selection, but I didn't manage to finish reading it until mid-September.
I enjoyed the book, but found both the beginning and the ending to be a bit slow. I feel like a more aggressive approach to editing would have improved the overall feel of the book - it dragged on a bit in places. I probably would have set this book aside, except a fellow book club member said that it improved after the first 60 pages or so. He was right, the middle of the book was well-written and quite interesting.
I've always found alternate-history books to be enjoyable reading and this was no exception, the challenges presented by the premise of the history proposed by the book were intriguing.
I enjoyed the book, but found both the beginning and the ending to be a bit slow. I feel like a more aggressive approach to editing would have improved the overall feel of the book - it dragged on a bit in places. I probably would have set this book aside, except a fellow book club member said that it improved after the first 60 pages or so. He was right, the middle of the book was well-written and quite interesting.
I've always found alternate-history books to be enjoyable reading and this was no exception, the challenges presented by the premise of the history proposed by the book were intriguing.