09-03-2022, 08:32 AM
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
Ooh, literature. The writing was rich and evocative. The story and characters a little nihilistic for my taste.
Detective Meyer Landsman wakes up in his dumpy hotel room to the news another tenant, a chess playing junky has been murdered. The setting is Sitka, Alaska in an alternate universe where this portion of the world was set aside for the Jews rather than giving them Palestine. The only problem is that this Jewish Homeland is about to revert to the United States. Naturally the mystery of the murder ties in with what the Jews are going to do about losing Sitka.
Landsman is a mess. He doesn't eat. He smokes too much. And his ex-wife has just been made his boss who tells him his current murder case is closed because they don't have enough time to solve it before the repatriation.
The story goes through all the different aspects of Jewish life in Alaska. They meet a lot of colorful characters from dwarf policeman to Indian Jews to Mafia members. None of whom want to see this murder solved mainly because the murdered addict is more than he seems. It's a dark and grubby world and by the end I was just tired of it and wanted the murder to be solved.
Ooh, literature. The writing was rich and evocative. The story and characters a little nihilistic for my taste.
Detective Meyer Landsman wakes up in his dumpy hotel room to the news another tenant, a chess playing junky has been murdered. The setting is Sitka, Alaska in an alternate universe where this portion of the world was set aside for the Jews rather than giving them Palestine. The only problem is that this Jewish Homeland is about to revert to the United States. Naturally the mystery of the murder ties in with what the Jews are going to do about losing Sitka.
Landsman is a mess. He doesn't eat. He smokes too much. And his ex-wife has just been made his boss who tells him his current murder case is closed because they don't have enough time to solve it before the repatriation.
The story goes through all the different aspects of Jewish life in Alaska. They meet a lot of colorful characters from dwarf policeman to Indian Jews to Mafia members. None of whom want to see this murder solved mainly because the murdered addict is more than he seems. It's a dark and grubby world and by the end I was just tired of it and wanted the murder to be solved.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm