2010 Book 7 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union

My latest literary accomplishment has been Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The back cover of my copy is nothing but accolades, so I'll present you with what is written on the front flap:

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 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.

This novel definitely harks back to the noire novels of the 1940s/1950s era (that is I think they would, if I had ever read one). It was a good story line and kept me interested....even after I flipped to the back of the book and read the last couple of pages when I was just 25 into the book. I'm glad that I did stick with the book because from where the book started and where the last pages ended was a great trip of nice phraseology and definite twists and turns. There were times as I was reading that I felt that the thread of the story was misplaced and I had to sort of just go along with the jumps, but it didn't take anything away from the overall story line.

I would recommend this novel to most people. It isn't necessarily and brain candy type of detective novel that you can tear through, you do have to take your time and work to connect all of the dots, but I would say it is definitely worth the time.