The Yiddish Policemen's Union in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Dec 28, 2009 Jessica rated it really liked it

I loved the concept here: The Yiddish Policemen's Union operates under the premise that, following WWII, the whole Israel thing didn't work out, and a huge number of Jews were resettled in southern Alaska. The deal at the time was that they could have the land as an independent state for 60 years, at which point it would revert back to the U.S. Our hero's adventures take place in the period immediately prior to Reversion.

The novel follows the misadventures of washed-up, divorced, alcoholic polic ...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Rae rated it it was ok

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

I gave this award-winning science-fiction-alternative-history-mystery my requisite fifty pages or so and had no desire to go on. Interestingly, I did almost the same thing with the other Chabon novel I attempted to read (Summerland). Guess I'm just not a fan.

I was initially annoyed by the present tense voice. And I found there was way to much Yiddish--and me without a dictionary nearby...

I did like the premise, however. An alternative history setting in which Israel is a flop and American Jews ...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Sarah rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club-books

i enjoyed kavalier and clay more, but it did pick up by the end.

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Oct 02, 2007 gwen g rated it liked it

I'll confess to being disappointed in this book. I was fascinated by the world Chabon created, but the focus seemed so off to me... I wanted to know more about the circumstances of these Jews relocated to Alaska and less about the main character's personal psychology. Such a great concept, and a better premise than Kavalier and Clay, but it fell far short. ...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Lori rated it it was ok

Had I not been trapped on a Greyhound bus I wouldn't have read past the third chapter. It took a while to get into the story, and then I thought it was okay.
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