The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

This was sent to me by Mr. Lawrence Totaro. It is about a book with the title The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by the Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon.

May 1, 2007
Books of the Times
Looking for a Home in the Limbo of Alaska
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

From the moment of his precocious debut in 1988 with “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” it was clear that Michael Chabon was an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist. The tales in “A Model World and Other Stories” and “Werewolves in Their Youth” showcased his ability to do wonderful things with words, to conjure everything from the banalities of daily life to the most bizarre of melodrama, just as “Wonder Boys” demonstrated his ability to do slapstick comedy with as much ardor and panache as more serious, emotional material.

Here is an excerpt of the book:

“Since the collapse of his marriage, Landsman has been living in the seedy Hotel Zamenhof, where, one night, “somebody has put a bullet in the brain of the occupant of 208, a yid who was calling himself Emanuel Lasker.” One of the few clues in the room is a chessboard with a mystifying configuration of pieces.

Landsman’s investigation into Lasker’s death will plunge him into a re-evaluation of his own tortured familial history and his relationship with Bina, who, unexpectedly, has become his new supervisor at work. It will cause him to re-examine his feelings about police work and larger, more existential issues. And it will threaten to throw him into a spiral of suicidal despair.”

You can read the NY Times review here. Here is more info about the book.