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A review by charles__
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
4.0
Alt-history, hard boiled, detective mystery mashup.
My audio edition was 12 1/2 hours long. A dead tree copy would be about 430 pages. The original US copyright was 2007.
Full disclosure, I am a fan of the author. I have read almost all of his books. I have also read this book once, when it was first published.
Firstly, you need to be fan of [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg] to appreciate this book. The author is, and so am I. He tries very hard to channel Chandler in this novel, and succeeds.
Secondly, you need to have some appreciation for Jewish culture to get many of the things going on in the story. The author is a Jew. While not being a Jew, I have Jewish friends. I’ve also worked in Israel, and in Metro-New York. In New York, I lived in close proximity to a Jewish neighborhood. For example, eastern European Jews, very much have a food culture. The descriptions of the food in the story made me hungry for a Knish. You develop an ear and a taste for Jewish culture.
I greatly enjoyed this book for the writing. I would call this a literary, hard-boiled, alt-history mashup. Chabon's erudite, witty and ironic. In several places I laughed out loud at the narration. I particularly found his use of Yiddish in the dialog to be almost a constant source of amusement.
One of Chabon’s greatest accomplishments was going against the hard boiled trope of the: tough, cynical, guy with a gun, a badge and street smarts, solving a mystery through dogged persistence, rather than insight. In this story the protagonist, Meyer Landsman was a mensch. Meyer conformed to many of the patterns attributed to Jews, and never found in Phillip Marlow. For example, Meyer was plagued by guilt. Also, Meyer had a lot of insight.
Chabon also knew how to keep the alt-history aspect of the story in the background. Too many alt-history, science fiction stories are the world building. Here, the alt-history was almost incidental. Except for the necessary American influence on the story, it might have been set in Tel Aviv.
Where I was disappointed was the use of the 3rd person POV, vs. Chandler’s characteristic first person.
I have a fetish for Chandler-esque hardboiled. I also have a familiarity with Jews and Jewish culture. This book was a fine example of an unlikely combination of ideas. Despite having read this book before, I think I enjoyed listening to it more. The Yiddish schtick of the dialog was much more entertaining to hear, then it was to read.
I’m looking forward to reading Chabon’s [b:Telegraph Avenue|10756240|Telegraph Avenue|Michael Chabon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335716595l/10756240._SY75_.jpg|15667548] shortly.
My audio edition was 12 1/2 hours long. A dead tree copy would be about 430 pages. The original US copyright was 2007.
Full disclosure, I am a fan of the author. I have read almost all of his books. I have also read this book once, when it was first published.
Firstly, you need to be fan of [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg] to appreciate this book. The author is, and so am I. He tries very hard to channel Chandler in this novel, and succeeds.
Secondly, you need to have some appreciation for Jewish culture to get many of the things going on in the story. The author is a Jew. While not being a Jew, I have Jewish friends. I’ve also worked in Israel, and in Metro-New York. In New York, I lived in close proximity to a Jewish neighborhood. For example, eastern European Jews, very much have a food culture. The descriptions of the food in the story made me hungry for a Knish. You develop an ear and a taste for Jewish culture.
I greatly enjoyed this book for the writing. I would call this a literary, hard-boiled, alt-history mashup. Chabon's erudite, witty and ironic. In several places I laughed out loud at the narration. I particularly found his use of Yiddish in the dialog to be almost a constant source of amusement.
One of Chabon’s greatest accomplishments was going against the hard boiled trope of the: tough, cynical, guy with a gun, a badge and street smarts, solving a mystery through dogged persistence, rather than insight. In this story the protagonist, Meyer Landsman was a mensch. Meyer conformed to many of the patterns attributed to Jews, and never found in Phillip Marlow. For example, Meyer was plagued by guilt. Also, Meyer had a lot of insight.
Chabon also knew how to keep the alt-history aspect of the story in the background. Too many alt-history, science fiction stories are the world building. Here, the alt-history was almost incidental. Except for the necessary American influence on the story, it might have been set in Tel Aviv.
Where I was disappointed was the use of the 3rd person POV, vs. Chandler’s characteristic first person.
I have a fetish for Chandler-esque hardboiled. I also have a familiarity with Jews and Jewish culture. This book was a fine example of an unlikely combination of ideas. Despite having read this book before, I think I enjoyed listening to it more. The Yiddish schtick of the dialog was much more entertaining to hear, then it was to read.
I’m looking forward to reading Chabon’s [b:Telegraph Avenue|10756240|Telegraph Avenue|Michael Chabon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335716595l/10756240._SY75_.jpg|15667548] shortly.