Looks like this book is generating a lot of buzz and good reviews. Has anyone bought or planning to buy this book?
I might just head out at lunch and get it at the local bookstore.
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05-08-2007, 10:12 AM #1Merrily We Roll Along
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Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union"
It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife. Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final. - Hannah, Arcadia
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05-08-2007, 01:51 PM #2Modus omnibus in rebus
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The magazine Time didn't seem to like it overmuch, but I would love to read it.
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05-10-2007, 12:02 PM #3Veteran Member
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I've got it, but I want to finish Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Exile before I start it.
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05-10-2007, 05:15 PM #4Senior Member
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Definitely wanna read this. Here's hoping it's more like Kavalier and Clay or Wonderboys than the extremely underwhelming Final Solution. I'll probably wait for the paperback though.
Check out my latest review: Iron Man 3
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05-10-2007, 05:25 PM #5Made for you and me.
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That Michiko Kakutani critic over at the NY Times seemed to love it, and I hear she's quite the hardass.
I'll wait for the paperback too, though. I've got too much piled on my "to read" list.
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06-05-2007, 12:31 PM #6Veteran Member
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Halfway in, give or take. It's a really good read, Chabon's ability to use words to craft a world is clearly on display, but I have no real idea where it's all going.
I remember enjoying Final Solution quite a bit.
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06-07-2007, 03:22 PM #7Senior Member
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For anyone who's interested Chabon is interviewed and the book reviewed on Simon Mayo's show on the BBC website. Shows are normally kept up for a week so click here to download/ stream the show before it gets taken down.
Check out my latest review: Iron Man 3
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06-10-2007, 05:55 PM #8the xenophobe at 9o'clock
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I just finished this book yesterday and I did really enjoy it. It took me a whilel to get used to his Sitka slang, but once I did his wordplay became very enjoyable. The book definitely improved as I read through it.
In comparison to his other works though (the ones I've read); I don't think it stacks up as well. Its certainly a much better detective story than The Final Solution, and better written than The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. I enjoyed Pittsburgh more simply because I'm at that age, living on my own for the first time and questioning my future. However, I'd still say Kavalier & Clay is his best written, most layered, theme-laden work. I knew I was reading a modern classic as I read through that; a feeling I didn't get with The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
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06-12-2007, 08:36 AM #9Junior Member
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I want to read it but I can't rationalize buying hardcovers right now. We'll see about hitting the library sometime soon.
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06-12-2007, 04:48 PM #10Veteran Member
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I've read it and enjoyed it.
But I'm a third-generation Sitkan, so I had a different take on it than your average reader. Same sort of distraction as watching Northern Exposure back in the day.
But it was a fun classical gumshoe mystery. No jaw-dropping twists, but nothing that came out of left field and made no sense either.
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