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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Great book. I think the most impactful part of the book was the way it viewed Jews, Jewish-ness, and Judaism. As an insider, I felt at home with the small town, pessimistic, yiddish-speaking, existentially troubled protagonist and yet I was able to view the variants of Jewish society with the total absurdity they must have to an outsider. Chabon's portrayal and criticisms of Jewish life hit home.
It was nice to have the normals (white American Christians) turned into great outsiders. These characters appeared as buffoons with their inability to pronounce Yiddish names and their lack of comprehension for the subtleties that rule the Jewish way of life.
The book was a world. I smelled its air, felt it's frigid temperatures and got lost in its strange pickle smells. The characters, the setting, the writing, the plot. It was the perfect summation of everything that is a Good Book.
It was nice to have the normals (white American Christians) turned into great outsiders. These characters appeared as buffoons with their inability to pronounce Yiddish names and their lack of comprehension for the subtleties that rule the Jewish way of life.
The book was a world. I smelled its air, felt it's frigid temperatures and got lost in its strange pickle smells. The characters, the setting, the writing, the plot. It was the perfect summation of everything that is a Good Book.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
slow-paced
Down and out homicide detective in the style of classic noir fiction living in the alternate reality location of Jewish Sitka Alaska. What’s not to like?
DNF'D at 26%. Too many characters and too much information thrown at me too fast without giving me a good reason to care about said characters or information. This novel feels like it was written for Jewish people or people with a grasp of Jewish culture, which is not me. Also the writing style was unengaging and dragged on. Not much, if anything happened that entertained or interested me.
I have yet to be dissapointed by anything that Michael Chabon has written. The descriptions in this book are dense, poignant and create an atmosphere that reflects the characters' moods and the mood of the Sitka Jews.
Initially, I was thrown off that the novel takes place in an alternate reality. Mainly, I had no idea going in and didn't read any reviews. The premise though is that Jews were settled on islands along the coast of Alaska after WWII and the dissolution of Israel. If you can take that, then what you have is a hardboiled detective story steeped in nuance.
Meyer Landsman (the main character) is almost a cliche. I'm not sure that's a bad thing though, because in detective stories we expect a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic with relationship problems who bucks the system.
Also, chess plays a major role in this novel and works as a pretty obvious metaphor for the puzzle Landsman is trying to solve.
Initially, I was thrown off that the novel takes place in an alternate reality. Mainly, I had no idea going in and didn't read any reviews. The premise though is that Jews were settled on islands along the coast of Alaska after WWII and the dissolution of Israel. If you can take that, then what you have is a hardboiled detective story steeped in nuance.
Meyer Landsman (the main character) is almost a cliche. I'm not sure that's a bad thing though, because in detective stories we expect a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic with relationship problems who bucks the system.
Also, chess plays a major role in this novel and works as a pretty obvious metaphor for the puzzle Landsman is trying to solve.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A delightful noir novel. Though the punch of the powerful prose loosens noticeably in the second half, the craftmanship of the first was an absolute joy to read. Chabon's array of characters are diverse and lively—the most prominent of which is undoubtedly the protagonist, who is immediately evocative of a particularly down-on-his-luck, yet peculiarly endearing, Detective Columbo. The alternate world staked out is left broadly ambiguous, but with just enough definite points of contrast with our own to spark a curiosity for more. The plot, again, frays somewhat as it progresses, but holds together largely on the development of its characters more than the various twists and turns of the murder mystery.