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What Members Thought
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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The creative premise of this book really pulled me in completely (instead of Israel being created after WWII, the Jewish people are given a temporary "country" in Alaska) and was quite a robust hanger to hang this story on. A really good detective, mystery story, packed with wonderfully drawn characters, interesting places and a fun created language. A twisty-turny plot which was inventive and surprising to the end.
My edition of the book has an interview with Chabon, a story about Chabon traveli ...more
My edition of the book has an interview with Chabon, a story about Chabon traveli ...more
So I definitely didn't realize how much of an 'alternate history' was created in this book until I was finished. If I had, then I probably would've understood it A LOT more earlier on as well as enjoyed it more. Overall, not a bad book by any means, but I think I hyped it up too much in my head.
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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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I guess I am just not that big a fan of Chabon's writing style. Kavalier & Clay took me FOREVER to get through, and this one just felt like a slog. Meh.
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Mar 04, 2008
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