The Yiddish Policemen's Union

A Novel

by Michael Chabon

Hardcover, 414 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2007 by HarperCollins.

ISBN:: 978-0-00-714982-7
OCLC Number:: 486109957

(70 reviews)

For sixty years, Jews have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.

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 revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful, and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.

But 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. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. But when word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, Landsman soon finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, hopefulness, evil, and salvation that are his heritage—and with the unfinished business of his marriage to Bina Gelbfish, the one person who understands his darkest fears.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, an homage to 1940s noir, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written. (front flap)

13 editions

Jack Miller reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Well written, compelling take on the hardboiled detective story set in an alternate history where Jews were given grudging shelter from persecution in Alaska.

I found it hard to put this book down. Chabon's clear, colorful prose is nicely seasoned with the more abstract, terse style of Raymond Chandler and the result is delightful. As it is a detective story, the characters are a bit archetypal but they are filled out nicely. The setting is fascinating and well envisioned as a weird mix of Jewish and Tlingit culture that I doubt has ever been even suggested by another author.

The only criticism I would level is that the novel feels a little... tidy. There's a certain economy of characters and locations that felt a little contrived as they were revisited. I would have also liked another hundred pages or so exploring the consequences outside of the main mystery storyline, but …

Enno reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A book that lured me in with the promise of a noir detective novel, but turns out to be an alternate history and more. Excellent world building, great characters.

Ikwezi reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I made it 100 pages, to the appearance of the Orthodox Jewish organized-crime family/messianic cult, and finally gave up. His mashup of two seemingly incompatible conceits - a gritty noir detective story set within an alternate-history Jewish state in Alaska, about to be driven into the sea - only serves to demonstrate all the ways the two conceits are not, in fact, compatible. I was willing to engage in his dialing up the Jewish references to 11 at first, Googling "shammes" to figure out why it was slang for a police detective (beat cops were "latkes"), but one too many eye-rolls at lines like "his skin is as pale as a page of commentary" (p. 86) finally did me in. And no, I did not look that one up.

chadkoh reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union CD by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union CD" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An exotic and delicious mishmash of genres: noir detective pulp, SF alt history, magical realism, social commentary, political thriller... Chabon captures you with familiar characters and hyper-realistic detail, all while introducing the strange and otherworldly (at least to me): messianic Judaism. It is a work that has you double-guessing the old adage that "the truth is stranger than fiction."

OrangutansLibrary reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

OK, first a disclaimer: I did not finish this book; i got about 2/3rds of the way there and gave up. Now, I was a fan of Chabon; in particular i loved the funny and offbeat Wonderboys - I'd go so far as to call it one of my all time favourite novels. But i was underwhelmed by his acclaimed Kavalier and Clay (K&C); I could see that it was well written and crafted but the story was just too depressing for me and the subject matter too removed from my own experiences that I struggled to care about it. I wanted to love the book, but it seemed like it wasn't really written for me.

Unfortunately I can say much the same about Yiddish Policeman's Union, only without the redeeming features that led me to finish and partially enjoy K&C. The story starts off in an interesting enough fashion (much like k&c) - its set in an alternative world where Israel failed and the Jews of the world sought refuge in a new semi- state in Alaska. This and other elements of the alternative history initially grabbed my attention. Unfortunately the book quickly moves beyond this premise to become focused on 3 main themes; Judaism, Chess and Noir mystery. This unfortunately comprehensively failed to keep my interested even despite my love for Noir fiction.

The biggest problem I have with the book is that it is unforgiving in its assumption of knowledge and attention to detail in Jewish culture and traditions. I know very little about Jewish culture, and I was very quickly lost in a world of alien phrases, cultural and religious references I had no knowledge of and characterisations that I could see were in someway lampooning stereotypes and archetypes but again ones I could not recognise. Then throw in the obsessions with chess that infuses the story and I'm sorry to say it rapidly became a tedious journey.

Perhaps I could have forgiven this and learnt much about a new culture, but the novel moves at a glacial pace and I found myself rapidly loosing interest in the characters and not caring one iota about the central mystery. All I seemed to be getting was more references to Judaism, Jewish culture and chess, padded out by a surprisingly clichéd take on the noir detective.

All in all, I was very disappointed by the book and I can't see myself ever picking it up again given how hard a slog and how unrewarding it was to get as far as I did. Like K&C, I can see that Chabon writes cleverly, eruditely and imaginatively. But despite him having written one of my favourite novels, I am sadly coming to the conclusion that he doesn't write enjoyably for me. Others may love this novel, perhaps it makes more sense to an American rather than a Brit, or perhaps you need to be more forgiving of being thrust into an alien world and always feeling like an outsider looking in. But as for me, I'm sorry to say I can't recommend this book and I am very much looking forward to getting rid of my copy as quickly as I can. I gave it 2 stars as Michael Chabon can write (I was tempted to give more for the same reason but I think 2 stars is a more honest reflection of how I felt about this book)

ghostchaser reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Review of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I stooped reading about a third the way through. I am from the southwest, I am not Jewish and my Jewish friends are not this Jewish. The jests and innuendos are most of the book will be better enjoyed by someone with a better back ground.