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What Members Thought

Certainly engaging and entertaining, and I always appreciate the "what if history was totally different dudes???!!" conceit (and well, I always enjoy the Jews, obv). Previously, the only Chabon I'd read was Summerland, which for those not in the know (like myself, when I picked it up) is his young adult novel. Anyway, Chabon is a fine writer. His descriptions of his characters have a lightheartedness to them that is both unexpected and heartwrenching, and he somehow finds a way to through in the
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This was okay. I liked the story, but for me, the language got in the way -- there's a lot of Yiddish. Not so much that I couldn't follow along, but enough that I felt I was missing something, whether it was another shade of meaning or a funny/ironic use of a word. For example, I just Googled "shoyfer," the word used in place of cell phone. It roughly means "ritual ram's horn," so there is clearly some joke or tease being made in the use of that word. I'm not one to sit with a dictionary or with
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I'm a sucker for anything noir-ish with a fast talking, fucked up detective in it. Chabon puts a nice twist on the genre.
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Sep 18, 2007
Jen
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Sep 01, 2008
Ching-In
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Jan 15, 2009
Jessica
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Mar 27, 2009
Shannon
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Jun 22, 2009
Anne Gresham
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Jun 18, 2012
Anne
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Aug 01, 2012
Christian
marked it as sci-fi

Dec 04, 2012
Melissa
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Aug 31, 2015
Megan Stembridge
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Sep 08, 2015
Aubrey
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Feb 19, 2016
Wendy E.
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Jul 04, 2016
Christina MOVED TO STORYGRAPH Perucci
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