The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Timey

Jedi Master
Words cant describe how much I love this book. Totally came across it by chance, and it blew my mind.

It's very hard for me to describe the plot without giving tons away, but I'll give it a shot.

It is set in an Alternative-reality where the Jews immigrated in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941 and established a permanent settlement there. Isreal was destroyed in 1948 and Sitka sort of became the new Isreal.

Its written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Micheal Chambon and it details the investigation of Detective Meyer Landsman into the killing of a heroin addict. The addict lives in the same hotel as him, and he feels that he owes it to the man to catch his killer. Things get a bit bizarre as the Detective attemps to unravel the strange chess-game that the addict was in the middle of just before he was killed, and things get even stranger as Landsman succeeds in uncovering the dead man's identity; without giving too much away, the Zionists are involved in a very bad way.

The guys is a marvellous writer, and, reading it again after learning what Zionism actually was, I was really surprised at how this guy, who is Jewish, basically hit it right on the mark and showed it for what it is.

It sounds like a dark story, but it is actually filled with some of the best humour I've ever seen in a book.

If you're looking for something different, give it a go! One of my favs without a doubt.
 
I highly agree. I read The Yiddish Policemen's Union a couple of months ago and was blown away by the hilarious intelligent noir-detective style of writing. The Coen brothers are supposed to be making a movie version which is a good recommendation in itself. The book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, which is pretty rare. I agree that Chabon is right on the mark with regard to some pretty explosive Zionist assessments and I believe that the only way he could get away with a story like this is to set it in an alternative as-if setting. Remarkable story in and of itself and the understanding of the Zionist agenda it is truly a gem in my eyes. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a fiction novel so much. I am wondering if Chabon has felt any repercussions from the Zionist groups of PTB?
 
Thor said:
I highly agree. I read The Yiddish Policemen's Union a couple of months ago and was blown away by the hilarious intelligent noir-detective style of writing. The Coen brothers are supposed to be making a movie version which is a good recommendation in itself. The book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, which is pretty rare. I agree that Chabon is right on the mark with regard to some pretty explosive Zionist assessments and I believe that the only way he could get away with a story like this is to set it in an alternative as-if setting. Remarkable story in and of itself and the understanding of the Zionist agenda it is truly a gem in my eyes. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a fiction novel so much. I am wondering if Chabon has felt any repercussions from the Zionist groups of PTB?

Not that I'm aware of. Being a Jew, I think it would be hard for Zionist groups to come down on him. From what I've seen they just tend to discredit people with the anti-Semite label. I'm not even sure if he is exactly anti-Zionist, or more anti-Israel's interpretation of Zionism.
Apparently he is slightly coy about condemning Israel; he is more concerned about the moral issue that the Israeli government's actions bring about. For example, while he expressed concern about the nine deaths that resulted from the Gaza Flotilla, apparently his sympathy was ultimately with the Jew's. He labelled the flotilla raid as "block-headed." A quick google search brought up a couple of interesting articles about his views. Links are below if you're interested.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2010/06/07/chabon-swings-at-israel-%E2%80%94-and-hits-peter-beinart/
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/the-times-runs-michael-chabon-on-the-flotilla.html
 
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