Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007)
I should be warned by now, because it happened just the same after I finished Serial Season 1. All the books paled in comparison.
A big fat case of book meh. That’s how good the podcast S-Town is. The producers said they wanted to create something like a novel, and man did they succeed in their enterprise!
Now, I am exactly in the middle of Michael Chabon’s (chapter 23 out of 46, not that I’m counting) and I have decided that I won’t go any further. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union fell victim to John B. McLemore’s maze.
Actually, I did trudge through the first half well before S-Town, and this is only the last straw. Chabon’s reputation had put this book high on my TBR list, and so many things appealed to me in theory. But I ended up liking more the idea of the book than the book itself.
A truculent book set in an alternate history, with Yiddish colorful characters set to play with the conventions of the noir genre? It should have been written for me. I liked the Yiddish part well enough, and I liked the plausibility of the alternate history. I vaguely remembered that before WW2 there were real plans to find a new place for all the Jews to resettle, as a convenient way to get rid of “this problem”. I didn’t know that Alaska had ever been a possibility. Michael Chabon’s idea to make Alaska into a Jewish land, a temporary ghetto leased by the US for 60 years, not a glorious, high-tech land, but a derelict, past-its-prime, disappointing one, is a great idea. But I couldn’t warm up to Inspector Meyer Landsman (I know, it’s a bad pun, but Chabon has so many of them, including the one I borrowed for this post’s title).
The conflagration of all these elements, together with Michael Chabon’s flourished style (in French, and I must say that the translation grated on my nerves), the geopolitical allusions, the chess references, was all too much for me. I couldn’t digest it. I’m normally not doing so well with humor books from different cultures and I didn’t really engage with the story.
I might try Chabon’s prize-winning novel another time, but if I do, I’ll certainly read it in English.
Smithereens 
I’ve read this one and Chabon’s middle grade novel Summerland, but that’s all I’ve read by him. I enjoyed this, but it’s been a while so I couldn’t tell you why! Isn’t it awful to have so much of what one reads just slip away into the ether like that? But I suppose that you can view it as any other form of entertainment, and there are only so many movies, TV shows, etc. that really have an impact and stay with you over time. Too bad this one didn’t work for you. I keep meaning to read his Kavalier and Clay.
Laila, i totally relate to forgetting all about a book, that’s one of the reasons why I started this blog in the first place! I’m still interested in trying his Kavalier and Clay too.
Aw what a shame! I know you had such high hopes for this one too!
All is not lost though. Even if the story didn’t work for me, the writing felt very original and I’m glad I tried it.
I know people who call this their favorite book, but I couldn’t get into it either.
Whew, I’m not the only one!
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