A review by sarahlreadseverything
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

3.0

This book was hard work. Was it worth it? I'm still not sure. The sheer effort of wading through Chabon's combination of yiddish and english, his constant tense jumping and strange narrative style was exhausting and meant I interspaced the read with several others. On the other hand, the premise, especially it's alternate history (a world where the new state of Israel collapsed almost as soon as it began and an alternative semi-permanent Jewish settlement was built up in Alaska) is genius and well executed. A rich and ultimately believable alternate history is built. The characters are almost entirely unsympathetic, but you find yourself rooting for them anyway. Overall I think this is one of those books that although I won't have fond memories of it, I probably won't forget it.

I have no idea however, how it won as many awards as it did. I think that it is probably more a testament to the weight the authors name carries, than the weight of the book itself.