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What Members Thought
Just starting, been wanting to read this for a long time.
I don't even know how to describe how much I loved this book. I don't know any good Yiddish sayings to say it better with either. It's a who-done-it set in an alternate future where a large community of Jews (about 2 million) end in in Sitka Alaska and start a city. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Wonderfully entertaining, laugh out loud funny, and surprisingly dark and depressing at times. With a warm glow added at the end. The narrator did it great justice.
Post Reread [Feb 2017]
It ...more
Post Reread [Feb 2017]
It ...more
I'm quite conflicted about this. Overall, it was a pretty good murder mystery, but I know nothing & could care less about Jews as a people or a religion & that was an all-pervading theme. (I've known quite a few, but they often have to tell me they're Jewish. I don't care. They're Americans as far as I'm concerned & their religion isn't any sillier than any other. Don't talk to me about it & I won't laugh at it.) This book is based on people being hemmed in by their ancestry (by themselves as of
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Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union came highly recommended, critically acclaimed and on the shortlist for this year’s Hugo Award.
And that said, I don’t see what all the buzz is about. The story is an alternate history and it’s got an intriguing premise. But I just had a hard time getting into or caring about the story or characters for any sustained period of time. There were flashes where the book was bordering on brilliance, but there was a lot in between that just never grabbed me ...more
And that said, I don’t see what all the buzz is about. The story is an alternate history and it’s got an intriguing premise. But I just had a hard time getting into or caring about the story or characters for any sustained period of time. There were flashes where the book was bordering on brilliance, but there was a lot in between that just never grabbed me ...more
An alternate history where Jews lost out in Palestine and were settled in Alaska in Sitka forms the setting for this detective yarn about one such Jew who seeks to solve the murder of a young man who may or may not be a special person as the end of the time for the Jews nears in this their home for the last 60 years. Imaginative, novel, excellent, a work of amazing genius.
Very amused by the bilingual Yiddish/English puns - like "sholem," meaning "piece" (as in gun) and "peace."
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Jul 23, 2008
Ruth
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Mar 20, 2009
Iztok
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Shelves:
read-in-2009,
literary-fiction
May 16, 2016
Paula S
marked it as to-read
Aug 09, 2018
Erika
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2019
Carrie
marked it as to-read
