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by: Michael Chabon
List Price: $15.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.85 You Save: $5.10 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780007149834
ISBN: 0007149832
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: May 01, 2008
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Sales Rank: 468
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
For sixty years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a 'temporary' safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.
Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under his nose. When he begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy, word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, and Landsman finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, evil, and salvation that are his heritage.
At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An often dark, sometimes funny, thoroughly entertaining mystery
I throughly enjoyed the book. It started out a bit slow, but I got sucked in pretty quickly. I would describe it as an often dark, sometimes funny, thoroughly entertaining mystery novel. And I liked the chess angle, too.
I'm a bit confused by all the complaints about the Yiddish-isms. I'm not Jewish. I don't speak a word of Yiddish. And, frankly, I'm not all that familiar with the Jewish culture. But I had no problem understanding the Yiddish-isms in their context.
Rating: - Great idea, but gets bogged down by its complexity
Hard-boiled homicide detective Landsman, has to deal with a murder in his flophouse apartment building. Landsman, a alcoholic mess after a personal tragedy, is one of those great detective inventions; the tough smart cop, who is just a bit overwhelmed by the circumstances he finds himself in, but keeps fighting for the truth regardless of his personal well-being. Assisted by a giant Native Alaskan Jew, Berko, who is as much brother as he is partner, and his ex-wife, now boss, Landsman ... Read More
Rating: - Nu
Chabon's prose is the star in this book. I just love the way he turns a sentence. That said, the plot was a bit flaky. It just didn't seem to stand up to Mr. Chabon's beautiful writing-kind of like putting a mink coat on a hog.......
Rating:  - Must Read
"The Yiddish Policeman's Union" raises the literary bar, vaulting into the top tier of fiction and establishing a new standard for the detective/murder/noir genre. Literary, fun, tragicomic, profound and light all at the same time; a masterful and daring act of luminosity. Chabon shines.
Rating: - Chabon is back! Oy vey!
It's taken a long time for Michael Chabon to write a real follow-up to his award-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. During this seven year or so period, Chabon wasn't exactly idle: among other writing, he did produce an interesting novella (The Final Solution) and a forgettable young adults novel, Summerland. None of this, however, really like another Kavalier & Clay type of book. The Yiddish Policemen's Union is that long-awaited novel.
Although it doesn't ... Read More
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