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More About This Book

Overview

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 the 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The starting premise of Michael Chabon's novel rests on a single historical factoid: On the eve of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested that European Jewish refugees be resettled in the Alaskan territory. From this tiny nugget, the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist constructs a richly hued noir alternate history/mystery fable, complete with Yiddish jargon and gangster argot.
Elizabeth McCracken
The moving, shopworn whiz-bang of historical visions of the future -- world's fairs, Esperanto, a belief that the Jews of the world will stop wandering and find a peaceful home somewhere on the planet -- Chabon loves, buries and mourns these visions as beautiful but too fragile to live. The future will always be a fata morgana. In this strange and breathtaking novel, the wise, unhappy man settles for closer comforts. As Landsman says, toward the end of the book, "My homeland is in my hat."
— The Washington Post
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Mr. Chabon’s latest novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, builds upon the achievement of Kavalier & Clay, creating a completely fictional world that is as persuasively detailed as his re-creation of 1940s New York in that earlier book, even as it gives the reader a gripping murder mystery and one of the most appealing detective heroes to come along since Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe.
— The New York Times

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780007149834
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 4/29/2008
  • Pages: 464
  • Sales rank: 74,796
  • Series: P.S. Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.31 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 1.04 (d)

Meet the Author

Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Although his novels and short stories have varied in setting -- from the 1940s New York of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay to the contemporary Pittsburgh of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh -- all of Michael Chabon’s witty and understated books feature memorable, deftly-drawn characters trying to find their place in the world.

Biography

In 1987, at 24, Michael Chabon was living a graduate student's dream. His masters thesis for the writing program at UC Irvine, a novel called The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, was not only published -- it was published to the tune of a $155,000 advance, a six-figure first printing, a movie deal, and a place on the bestseller lists. Mysteries, a coming-of-age story about a man caught between romances with a man on one side, a woman on the other, and the shadow of his gangster father over it all, drew readers with its elegant prose and an irresistibly cool character, Art Bechstein, racing through a long, hot summer.

Following this auspicious debut, Chabon penned a follow-up short story collection, then hit a serious snag. After five years of fits and starts, he abandoned a troublesome work in progress and began work on another novel, a wry, smart book about, natch, an author hoplessly stuck writing his endless, shapeless novel! With 1995's Wonder Boys and its successful film adaptation by Curtis Hanson, Chabon found both critical praise and a wider audience.

In the year 2000, Chabon rose to the challenge of attempting something on a more epic scale. That something was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the story of two young, Jewish comic book artists in the 1940s. Like Chabon's other books, it explored a relationship between two men and dealt with their maturation. But unlike his other books, the novel was grander in scope and theme, blending the world of comic books, the impact of World War II, and the lives of his characters. It won a Pulitzer, and secured Chabon's place as an American talent unafraid to paint broad landscapes with minute detail and aching emotion.

Chabon's ability to capture modern angst in funny, intelligently plotted stories has earned him comparisons to everyone from Fitzgerald to DeLillo, but he has fearlessly wandered outside the conventions of the novel to write screenplays, children's books, comics, and pulp adventures. Clearly, Michael Chabon views his highly praised talent as a story that hasn't yet reached its climax.

Good To Know

Chabon usually writes from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

He has a side interest in television writing, having written a pilot for CBS (House of Gold) that did not get picked up, and a second one for TNT.

Chabon also has an interest in screenwriting; he was attached to X-Men but dropped from the project when director Bryan Singer signed on. Now he is adapting The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for the big screen.

After slaving for five years on a book called Fountain City (parts of which can be read on his web site), Chabon finally decided it was not going to jell and abandoned it. At a low point, he switched gears and began Wonder Boys, the story (of course) of an author hopelessly stuck writing his endless, shapeless novel.

    1. Hometown:
      Berkeley, California
    1. Date of Birth:
      May 24, 1963
    2. Place of Birth:
      Washington, D.C.
    1. Education:
      B.A., University of Pittsburgh; M.F.A., University of California at Irvine
    2. Website:
      http://www.michaelchabon.com/

First Chapter

The Yiddish Policemen's Union LP

Chapter One

Nine months Landsman's been flopping at the Hotel Zamenhof without any of his fellow residents managing to get themselves murdered. Now somebody has put a bullet in the brain of the occupant of 208, a yid who was calling himself Emanuel Lasker.

"He didn't answer the phone, he wouldn't open his door," says Tenenboym the night manager when he comes to roust Landsman. Landsman lives in 505, with a view of the neon sign on the hotel across Max Nordau Street. That one is called the Blackpool, a word that figures in Landsman's nightmares. "I had to let myself into his room."

The night manager is a former U.S. Marine who kicked a heroin habit of his own back in the sixties, after coming home from the shambles of the Cuban war. He takes a motherly interest in the user population of the Zamenhof. He extends credit to them and sees that they are left alone when that is what they need.

"Did you touch anything in the room?" Landsman says.

Tenenboym says, "Only the cash and jewelry."

Landsman puts on his trousers and shoes and hitches up his suspenders. Then he and Tenenboym turn to look at the doorknob, where a necktie hangs, red with a fat maroon stripe, already knotted to save time. Landsman has eight hours to go until his next shift. Eight rat hours, sucking at his bottle, in his glass tank lined with wood shavings. Landsman sighs and goes for the tie. He slides it over his head and pushes up the knot to his collar. He puts on his jacket, feels for the wallet and shield in the breast pocket, pats the sholem he wears in a holster under his arm, a chopped Smith & WessonModel 39.

"I hate to wake you, Detective," Tenenboym says. "Only I noticed that you don't really sleep."

"I sleep," Landsman says. He picks up the shot glass that he is currently dating, a souvenir of the World's Fair of 1977. "It's just I do it in my underpants and shirt." He lifts the glass and toasts the thirty years gone since the Sitka World's Fair. A pinnacle of Jewish civilization in the north, people say, and who is he to argue? Meyer Landsman was fourteen that summer, and just discovering the glories of Jewish women, for whom 1977 must have been some kind of a pinnacle. "Sitting up in a chair." He drains the glass. "Wearing a sholem."

According to doctors, therapists, and his ex-wife, Landsman drinks to medicate himself, tuning the tubes and crystals of his moods with a crude hammer of hundred-proof plum brandy. But the truth is that Landsman has only two moods: working and dead. Meyer Landsman is the most decorated shammes in the District of Sitka, the man who solved the murder of the beautiful Froma Lefkowitz by her furrier husband, and caught Podolsky the Hospital Killer. His testimony sent Hyman Tsharny to federal prison for life, the first and last time that criminal charges against a Verbover wiseguy have ever been made to stick. He has the memory of a convict, the balls of a fireman, and the eyesight of a housebreaker. When there is crime to fight, Landsman tears around Sitka like a man with his pant leg caught on a rocket. It's like there's a film score playing behind him, heavy on the castanets. The problem comes in the hours when he isn't working, when his thoughts start blowing out the open window of his brain like pages from a blotter. Sometimes it takes a heavy paperweight to pin them down.

"I hate to make more work for you," Tenenboym says.

During his days working Narcotics, Landsman arrested Tenenboym five times. That is all the basis for what passes for friendship between them. It is almost enough.

"It's not work, Tenenboym," Landsman says. "I do it for love."

"It's the same for me," the night manager says. "With being a night manager of a crap-ass hotel."

Landsman puts his hand on Tenenboym's shoulder, and they go down to take stock of the deceased, squeezing into the Zamenhof's lone elevator, or elevatoro, as a small brass plate over the door would have it. When the hotel was built fifty years ago, all of its directional signs, labels, notices, and warnings were printed on brass plates in Esperanto. Most of them are long gone, victims of neglect, vandalism, or the fire code.

The door and door frame of 208 do not exhibit signs of forced entry. Landsman covers the knob with his handkerchief and nudges the door open with the toe of his loafer.

"I got this funny feeling," Tenenboym says as he follows Landsman into the room. "First time I ever saw the guy. You know the expression ‘a broken man'?"

Landsman allows that the phrase rings a bell.

"Most of the people it gets applied to don't really deserve it," Tenenboym says. "Most men, in my opinion, they have nothing there to break in the first place. But this Lasker. He was like one of those sticks you snap, it lights up. You know? For a few hours. And you can hear broken glass rattling inside of it. I don't know, forget it. It was just a funny feeling."

"Everybody has a funny feeling these days," Landsman says, making a few notes in his little black pad about the situation of the room, even though such notes are superfluous, because he rarely forgets a detail of physical description. Landsman has been told, by the same loose confederacy of physicians, psychologists, and his former spouse, that alcohol will kill his gift for recollection, but so far, to his regret, this claim has proved false. His vision of the past remains unimpaired. "We had to open a separate phone line just to handle the calls."

"These are strange times to be a Jew," Tenenboym agrees. "No doubt about it."

The Yiddish Policemen's Union LP. Copyright © by Michael Chabon. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Customer Reviews
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( 93 )

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  • Posted December 17, 2008

    A tough read.

    I almost abandoned the book several times. I did not understand the background until after reading the book at then reading someone's review. I had to re-read several pages trying to make sense of them. I turned the glossary a lot, which I thought was helpful, but there were still a lot of words that were not listed. I don't plan on recommended it to friends.

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 27, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    I don't get it-

    The first 275 pages were bleak and slow; the next 50 pages were promising; the denouement was disappointing. I can't recommend it.

    3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 9, 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    Ghetto Mentality Retrogression

    Mr. Chabon writes a masterpiece of a ¿what-if¿ portion of history. In this case, what if the Jews lost their War on Independence on 1948?

    The solution was one proffered at that time, of region in Sitka Alaska for a 40 year term, after which there would be no more sanctuary.

    In clear, lyric writing, Chabon brings out the historical facts and dress them with the ¿ghetto mentality¿ prevalent in European Jewry. No longer did the "New Jew" posses the Spartan-like Israeli warrior; instead, we still have the pacifistic minority who try to eke out a living. We see that self-determination is not even on the radar screen for this forlorn group.

    This mystery is shrouded with ¿Jewish-isms¿ ¿ the cerebral approach; psychological turmoil; lust for life (over cover); some of the underground elements (which include some of the arcane elements of the red heifer paradox). It even characterizes the Chasidim, as the Other, as well as the fractious Jewish community.

    I used this book in a book club with extraordinarily good results, particularly showing how the World War 2 generation coped to survive in a world hostile to Jews.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 30, 2009

    I am not worthy

    This book is a work of art. Chabon reinvents the detective story while keeping its conventions. Take "The Big Sleep" meets "Blade Runner", make every character Jewish and set it in near-present Alaska.

    The imagery and description is so compelling and complex, I found myself re-reading paragraphs just for the enjoyment of the words.

    I got lost in this book, and that's the reason I read.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 29, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Wildly Entertaining

    I read all the reviews and sympathize with the person who said he/she may have been thrown off by all the "Yiddish stuff." I love all of Chabon's books--The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay is one of my all-time favorites--and I loved this book too but I can definitely see how someone not familiar with the Yiddish language and Jewish culture would get lost and lose patience. However, if you do know about Hasidic Jewish culture, the tension between secular and religious Jews, and if you know a bit of Yiddish, this book is hilarious and, of course, because it's Chabon, brilliantly written.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 27, 2007

    I am Very Confused and Disappointed!

    I waited so long for this book to be published. I rushed to the bookstore to purchased it immediately.I regret that now.It's a flat,boring,uneven box. I finally plugged my way to the end, but it was tempting to just put it away and forget it. It wasn't worth the time invested in trying to get through it. Maybe I need to learn Yiddish,as many words were puzzling and caused the story the story to lose flow and tone.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 2, 2007

    My first Chabon and worth the read

    Imagine a land with Indians and Jews meshed together by Presidential decree, gangster Jews running around as card sharks and terrorists bent on resdiscovering the second Temple. Then through in a semi-rogue, rarely sober cop, living in a flea-bog hotel gets sucked in by the murder of a chess-obsessed heroin addict who is also supposed to be a messiah. Oh, and the cop's new boss, his ex-wife. This story for the ages runs through so many facets of history, ancient and otherwise, in an entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable read. Chabon is clearly a master storyteller with wit and intrigue to keep the story going. In this day of formulaic novels and give it to me now digital influences, this book is a welcome repreive and reminder of the power of the written word.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    interesting alternate history police procedural frozen Noir

    In 1948 with the collapse of Israel, the question of a Jewish State is temporarily resolved when Alaska becomes the homeland for the Diaspora Jews. However, the agreement is that this is not the Promised Land as the Alaskan Settlement Act authorized a sixty year lease. In two months, the Reversion occurs raising the question what to do about two million Alaskan Jews. --- Sitka police detective Meyer Landsman relies on alcohol to keep him from going over the edge. His marriage died alongside the abortion of their birth defected fetus while his sister died in a plane crash. His sleuthing skills no longer are keen as he does not care whether he solves a case or not. --- Shocking even himself, a murder in his dumpy Hotel Zamenhof awakens the once dedicated cop inside of Landsman as he goes for one last piece of glory knowing he will be unemployed once the reversion is implemented. The victim Emanuel Lasker was a harmless heroin addict who played chess no apparent motive surfaces as to why he was executed. Even more surprising is his former wife and suddenly current boss have reentered his life and he has been promoted the police chief for the final sixty days. Still Landsman allows nothing to intervene in his uncovering the identity of the culprit that is nothing except some hazy rumor that his sister was murdered instead of dying in an accident. --- This interesting alternate history police procedural frozen Noir provides a fascinating spin to the twentieth century issue of the Jewish homeland. The kvetching levels are stratospheric as fears of being abandoned again lead to the historical chosen mantra 'It's a strange time to be a Jew.' Landsman is an interesting character who finds redemption in the murder investigation. Though a conspiracy takes away from the prime theme of what if the Jews were placed elsewhere, readers will appreciate this innovative thriller. --- Harriet Klausner

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 31, 2010

    Excellent

    Great book.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 17, 2010

    Want to read more!

    This book is a very sharp parody/critique of Zionism. You don't need to be Jewish to really get this book (I'm not), but a good understanding of Judaism or Zionism would be helpful. As the dustjacket states, this books is all sorts of stories in one (part mystery, part critique, part story about love and life). I love the way Chabon writes, and am looking forward to reading more of his work.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 27, 2010

    Witty and Intelligent

    I have to admit I was a little put off by the cover. I was searching for a bookclub novel that was a little bit different. I found the title of the book to be intriquing and after reading the synopsis I purchased the book. I enjoyed the book right from the beginning. Michael Chabon has a way of developing each character so that you feel you could sit down and play chess with them. He develops the plot slowly with humor that actually had me laughing out loud at times. It is a classic "who done it" with an unbelievable twist. I thought to myself "Oy vey, who comes up with this stuff." His use of the Yiddish language throughout the book only adds to making it a more genuine read. I didn't even know there was a glossary in the back until I had turned the last page. The only negative comment that I have is that sometimes it was a bit verbose but I attribute that to Michael Chabbon's literary signature. It's a great read and one that should be added to everyone's must read list.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 17, 2010

    WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!!

    This was my first Michael Chabon book. I thought I'd give it a try due to all the glowing reviews on the back of the book and all the bruhaha regarding all of this other books. The use of all the Yiddish didn't deter me & the plot/storyline seemed like it would hold my interest. Was I wrong. It started out OK but by the middle of the book I was so completly bored and the storyline became so convoluted I almost didn't finish it. But I kept with it because usually the author saves the best part of the story for last. WRONG!!! It took me almost a month to finish the last 50-75 pages. I would definetly not recommend this book.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 23, 2009

    I finally got it!

    Like many reviewers I had difficulty entering into the story, as a "what if" fantasy history was not what I was expecting. I may have given up, but it's our book group choice for November. When I finally got it, I reread some of the first chapters and suddenly found them wonderfully descriptive! I started my own glossary of Yiddioms--do you mean to tell me some books already have glossaries?? Anyway, by repetition their meanings became clearer. (The online Yiddish dictionary link at the end of the book was little help.) Chabon had a thing for describing smells: air, food, body odors, his ex-wife, hotel rooms, babies, etc. They sometimes were lengthy but interesting. I probably would not recommend the book to anyone else I know, but that's no reflection on the author. More likely because I have impatient friends.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 12, 2009

    An Unusual Twist on History

    This book was really different. Not only an acceptable mystery but an intriguing "what if" on a major historical event. It's thoughtful and the characters are compelling. So believable that I hit Wikipedia upon finishing the book to find out if I'd missed my history class when this "happened". Not a quick read, but well worth the time.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 16, 2009

    Disappointing experience after Kavalier and Clay

    I really enjoyed Kavalier and Clay, so assumed I would like Yiddish Policemen's Union. The covers gave this book rave reviews, so I thought I'd give it a chance. Huge disappointment! Not only were the characters forgettable and the plot contrived and hard to follow, but the author depended so heavily on using Yiddish terms instead of English ones that he found it necessary to provide a glossary in the back of the book. It's a novelty to use a glossary a few times, but after thumbing to the back for the seemingly thousandth time, I said "life's too short" and put the book down. Way too much trouble to read and follow!

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 12, 2009

    Did not like this book!

    I struggled with this book. Strange writing. I guess it is not for me.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 13, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Maybe if I were Jewish...

    This quirky book leaves me cold. The plot is truly creative, and the twists and turns intriguing. However, I had no interest in the characters, found parts of the book confusing and overwritten, and in general had to force myself to read it to the end. Not something I would recommend.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 9, 2007

    WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT

    I waited a month to get this book from my public library and I trudged through 130 pages and gave up. I loved The Mysteries of Pittsburgh but all of his other ones didn't tempt me. I decided to read this one because of all the recommendations. I'm sorry I wasted my time. It was very slow and tedious reading. Being jewish, I really thought I would enjoy the jewish theme but I was wrong.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 31, 2007

    A difficult and abandoned read.

    I had great hopes for this book. I liked the premise but had a lot of trouble keeping the characters straight and deciphering the 'yiddish-speak.' (I could have used a dictionary). I gave up 1/3 of the way through.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 4, 2007

    SLOW START...I QUIT

    This book was listed on the best-seller list, so of course I had to give it a try. (I read about 100 books a year) A page turner--NOT! The slow start was so leisurely that to move with any less forward momentum would have to put it into reverse! I gave up about a quarter of the way through. Perhaps if I had stuck to it I would have been impressed--but how long would that have taken???

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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