The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a strange, brilliant book
that readers will find difficult to classify. Is it a Zionist Da Vinci Code? A work
of alternative reality in the manner of Philip K. Dick? A hard-boiled mystery
novel? A grand literary effort in the high style? It is, in fact, all these things,
and more.
Twelve years ago, The Washington Post
dubbed Michael Chabon as “the young
star of American letters.” Chabon, who
turns forty-four in a few days, has lived
up to the early hype. Since the dawn of
the millennium, he has seen his Wonder
Boys made into a movie with Michael
Douglas, and won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize
for his novel The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier and Clay. Along the way, he turned
down a chance to appear in a Gap ad, and
sent People magazine packing when they
wanted to place him on their list of the
“50 Most Beautiful People.” (And who
says that serious novelists don’t lead
glamorous lives?)
Now Chabon has treated his fans with a new novel that will rank among his
finest works. Imagine, for a moment, that Franklin Roosevelt had responded
to the plight of European Jews by setting aside part of Alaska as a homeland
for the Diaspora. This intriguing premise is Chabon’s starting point for The
Yiddish Policemen’s Union – a mind-bending game of what-if similar to Philip
Roth’s recent literary effort to re-imagine America if Lindbergh had been
elected President in 1940, or Dick’s depiction of the United States in the
aftermath of a defeat in World War II.
Chabon takes delight in his alternative Alaska, and lovingly describes all the
small details -- food, fashion, ritual, place names and the like -- in a playful,
ingenious manner. Occasionally, he lets a few other snippets of alternative
history escape in a passing mention, referring to the first lady Marilyn
Monroe Kennedy or a Vietnam-like war in Cuba.
But this imaginative reconstruction of a Jewish Alaska is merely the backdrop
for a intricately plotted mystery, which is the second layer in Chabon’s
multifaceted novel. Down-and-out detective Meyer Landsman finds a dead
body in his skid-row hotel, and is determined to track down the murderer,
despite warnings from higher-ups that this is a case that he should not
investigate.
The clues he assembles are odd ones. Chess pieces are arrayed in a peculiar
endgame position near the body. The deceased lived under different aliases,
all drawn from famous chess players in the past. And the victim’s life is as
puzzling as his death – some saw him as a pathetic junkie, others as the
potential leader of a messianic cult.
The third layer of the plot brings us into the realm of the The Da Vinci Code,
where conspiracies and secretive organizations and two millennia of arcane
history emerge as provocative undercurrents in the story. Yet Chabon brings
all these elements together, seamlessly telling his tale on several different
levels. And, as always with Chabon, the entire book is meticulously written.
Chabon writes with great intelligence and creativity, page by page, paragraph
by paragraph, even sentence by sentence. By any measure, The Yiddish
Policemen’s Union is a significant work by one of America’s finest novelists, a
whimsical whodunit with a double dose of literary flare.
by Michael Chabon
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is a strange, brilliant book
that readers will find difficult to classify. Is it a Zionist Da Vinci Code? A work
of alternative reality in the manner of Philip K. Dick? A hard-boiled mystery
novel? A grand literary effort in the high style? It is, in fact, all these things,
and more.
Twelve years ago, The Washington Post
dubbed Michael Chabon as “the young
star of American letters.” Chabon, who
turns forty-four in a few days, has lived
up to the early hype. Since the dawn of
the millennium, he has seen his Wonder
Boys made into a movie with Michael
Douglas, and won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize
for his novel The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier and Clay. Along the way, he turned
down a chance to appear in a Gap ad, and
sent People magazine packing when they
wanted to place him on their list of the
“50 Most Beautiful People.” (And who
says that serious novelists don’t lead
glamorous lives?)
Now Chabon has treated his fans with a new novel that will rank among his
finest works. Imagine, for a moment, that Franklin Roosevelt had responded
to the plight of European Jews by setting aside part of Alaska as a homeland
for the Diaspora. This intriguing premise is Chabon’s starting point for The
Yiddish Policemen’s Union – a mind-bending game of what-if similar to Philip
Roth’s recent literary effort to re-imagine America if Lindbergh had been
elected President in 1940, or Dick’s depiction of the United States in the
aftermath of a defeat in World War II.
Chabon takes delight in his alternative Alaska, and lovingly describes all the
small details -- food, fashion, ritual, place names and the like -- in a playful,
ingenious manner. Occasionally, he lets a few other snippets of alternative
history escape in a passing mention, referring to the first lady Marilyn
Monroe Kennedy or a Vietnam-like war in Cuba.
But this imaginative reconstruction of a Jewish Alaska is merely the backdrop
for a intricately plotted mystery, which is the second layer in Chabon’s
multifaceted novel. Down-and-out detective Meyer Landsman finds a dead
body in his skid-row hotel, and is determined to track down the murderer,
despite warnings from higher-ups that this is a case that he should not
investigate.
The clues he assembles are odd ones. Chess pieces are arrayed in a peculiar
endgame position near the body. The deceased lived under different aliases,
all drawn from famous chess players in the past. And the victim’s life is as
puzzling as his death – some saw him as a pathetic junkie, others as the
potential leader of a messianic cult.
The third layer of the plot brings us into the realm of the The Da Vinci Code,
where conspiracies and secretive organizations and two millennia of arcane
history emerge as provocative undercurrents in the story. Yet Chabon brings
all these elements together, seamlessly telling his tale on several different
levels. And, as always with Chabon, the entire book is meticulously written.
Chabon writes with great intelligence and creativity, page by page, paragraph
by paragraph, even sentence by sentence. By any measure, The Yiddish
Policemen’s Union is a significant work by one of America’s finest novelists, a
whimsical whodunit with a double dose of literary flare.
| conceptual fiction |
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and its
sister sites may receive review copies
and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
Remembering Fritz Leiber
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and its
sister sites may receive review copies
and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.