Sunday, February 3, 2008 | by nathan

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

I started reading this not long after the beginning of the year, and despite the fact that I’m a fast reader it’s taken me forever to finish it. Why? Because for the first 250 pages or so (out of 411), this book is INTERMINABLY BORING. I read and sorta enjoyed Chabon’s The Final Solution, and I had to give him a shot after his appearance on an episode of The Simpsons.

The book centers around a fictional history in which Israel failed as a state and many Jews were relocated to Indian lands in Alaska, where they passed the last 60 years; now it is the present day and the lands are preparing to revert to American control once more, which will leave the world’s Jewish community without a homeland once again.

The protagonist is a detective with the local police station, who has been told to resolve as many of his outstanding cases as he can before Reversion.

The book tries very hard to mix two things that do not necessarily go well together: a Yiddish sensibility and a story of upheaval and redemption, and a noir-ish detective tale. The strands do not blend well, and as a result the book is a bit like roast beef-flavored toothpaste. Still, for the last 160 pages or so the suspense and intrigue were notched up, and I found myself very interested. I’m just a little sad it took me 3 weeks - and it NEVER takes me 3 weeks to read 250 pages - before we got there.

This book is a perfect example of why I have such a neurosis about finishing every book I start: it might get good, you never know. Thanks, Michael Chabon, for feeding my neurosis.