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)