The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
One-sentence summary: In the temporary Jewish enclave of Sitka, Alaska, detective Meyer Landsman weeds through years of political, religious, and familial history to solve the murder of his neighbor.
Tastes like: The best hard salami/bagel/cream cheese sandwich you ever had (I’m half Jewish so I somehow feel entitled to make this comparison).
Difficulty: If you are looking for a quick & simple detective story, avert your eyes. This is no Finnegans Wake or Infinite Jest, but TYPU does require of its readers an appreciation of wittily intelligent dialogue and a love of intensely detailed characters and communities.
I am SO glad I picked this book up at the library for a second time. My usual selection process involves first making sure the title is interesting, then examining the cover design, and finally reading the inside summary (unless of course I’m searching for a specific author or book). Michael’s TYPU met all three of my criteria (seriously check out the cover art, it is a perfect combination of political, Native American art, detective-y symbols, and trendy colors. Swag on.)
As I was reading this book, I felt like I was breathing insanely fresh, snow-cleansed, air. Dayum lil ma, Michael Chabon can write. He seems to be acutely aware of this fact and his prose feels a little overdone by the end of the book, but when you can pen gems like this, no one’s going to give you a hard time:
"And just last week, amid the panic and feathers of a kosher slaughterhouse on Zhitlovsky Avenue, a chicken turned on the shochet as he raised his ritual knife and announced, in Aramaic, the imminent advent of Messiah. According to the Tog, the miraculous chicken offered a number of startling predictions, though it neglected to mention the soup in which, having once more fallen silent as God Himself, it afterward featured. Even the most casual study of the record, Landsman thinks, would show that strange times to be a Jew have almost always been, as well, strange times to be a chicken."
Equal parts dark hilarity & cutting religiopolitical commentary. Sign me up for the club.
So what is TYPU actually about? Detective Meyer Landsman lives in Sitka, Alaska, an alternate place of refuge for the post WWII Jews (the setting feels so real I had to use Google to make sure I didn’t miss some crucial part of Jewish history). In approximately five months, Sitka will be returned to the Americans and the Jews don’t exactly know who gets to stay or where they’ll be sent. Landsman is very much a product of this liminal space, no real ties to his Jewish heritage, no large extended family to plan for the future with since his parents and sister have all died (although his detective partner, Berko, is his cousin and also awesome). His ex-wife (who he’s still in love with but feels immense guilt around because he thinks he failed her) is his new boss, and he tends to make stupidly brave decisions in his work, giving her difficult decisions to make. Landsman lives in the run-down Hotel Zamenhof, and one of his hotel neighbors is murdered next to a chess board. Landsman’s father was a chesspert (chess expert?) and killed himself so it seems that Landsman must solve this murder to feel redeemed and to resolve his feelings about his father. However, everything surrounding the murder is complicated and Landsman and Berko soon find themselves untangling a deep and strange combination of family issues and political happenings to uncover what really happened.
Michael is an incredible writer, and built this weirdly gritty and fascinating world that feels like it could exist in reality but also has a hint of mythic wonder to it. I can’t tell you enough how much I loved this novel, and how excited I am to read his other books… I think I may have found a new literary crush (sorry Jack Kerouac!) There were points in reading where I had to stop and re-read sentences several times to just thoroughly enjoy the writing. Words are putty in Michael’s hands. Please read this, for your own good and happiness.