I first became aware of Michael Chabon after seeing the film The Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Jr, which was adapted from his book.
Then I stumbled across The Adventures Of Kavalier And Klay, which became one of my favourite books.
So spotting The Yiddish Policemen’s Union in the bookshop earlier this year, I knew I had to give it a try.
The book is set in a fictional Jewish enclave of Alaska called Sitka, where Jews were relocated after WW2 and the main character is an alcoholic, divorced world-weary cop Meyer Landsman.
Landsman discovers a man murdered in the same hotel in which he lives and, although he’s warned off the case, he feels compelled to solve it.
Chabon creates a completely believeable world and the detective side of the novel is a joy to read.
Occasionally, he tends to be over-descriptive and uses a lot of yiddish words that complicate the flow and understanding of the story, regardless of their necessity to the plot. And the plot itself is possibly more convoluted that it needs to be.
That said, it’s still a cracking read and is well worth checking out. However, I still think Kavalier & Klay is better!
