Friday, August 15, 2008

#37: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Excellent genre-bender from Michael Chabon (whose The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay remains one of my modern-era faves), about a washed-up cop who takes umbrage at a junkie's murder in the very flophouse he resides in. With his reluctant partner, and his ex-wife/commanding officer breathing down his neck, he unearths a wider conspiracy.

Against this background, with its noir conventions tracing a direct line back to Raymond Chandler, is an alternate future based on a real WWII-era plan to create a Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska. Chabon does some intricate and compelling world-building that again recalls a great writer in Philip K. Dick and his The Man in the High Castle.

I listened to an excellent audiobook version read by Peter Riegert. Although Jim Dale's Harry Potter readings are without peer, I would put Riegert's reading in my top five audiobook recordings I have encountered (with Paul Giamatti's presentation of Dick's A Scanner Darkly right there as well). This audiobook was given to me by a friend, and I plan on donating it to the Farmland Public Library.

Highly recommended.

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