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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union [book review]

Posted in Books, pictures with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2023 by xi'an

Read The Yiddish Policemen’s Union a 2007 book by Michael Chabon which most sadly coïncided with the Hamas terrorist attack on 07 October and the ensuing Israeli indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza strip… Indeed, this book is a Yiddish noir novel, but set in an alternate reality where European Jews settled in Alaska rather than in Palestine at the end of WW II in 1946. The story mixes detective work on top of personal issues, as usual in a noir novel, but piles upon this sectarian conflicts, upon the threat of a new exile, upon Zionism, upon chess as a way of life, upon philosophical threads, upon local gastronomy… While the end part is not very convincing (and involves more terrorism within Palestine), the construct is fascinating at the many levels explored by the author. The central, secular, character Meyer Landsman is deeply elaborated and most humane, his surrounding family as well, the murder enquiry is mostly convincing, the dialogues are witty and funny (despite or because of their involving a lot of Yiddish terms, whose lexicon I only discovered after completing the book), the reflections on the paradoxes of a transplanted state centred on a religion are unfortunately sounding quite suited for the current times, the ongoing relation to chess is fundamental, and the imperfect fight of Landsman against fanaticism and predetermination is one to root for. No wonder that the book won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, altogether!