The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.)… by Michael ChabonIt is not often that someone can find a non-chess book - or movie - that has its chess facts right. Whenever chess is not the central element of a plot - unlike Nabokov's Luzhin Defense - chess is abused; its history, theory and practice butchered by many a good novelist. In that sense, Michael Chabon's novel was a pleasant surprise for my oversensitive, regarding chess, and always alert for misquoting and mislabeling, eyes. Openings are correctly identified, chess figures put in their correct timescale and characters read chess books that do actually exist. And Jan Timman is presented to the reader as the world champion of the game in the late 70s.. oh wait..
Well, the aforementioned "anomaly" is just one of the less important parts of an alternate world situation that Michael Chabon brilliantly developed in order to provide his story with a fitting historical context. The second World War ended with a nuclear attack on Berlin itself in 1946, Soviet Union never happened, Mantsuria is considered a world power and most importantly, the Arabs have triumphed in the war of 1948, therefore destroying the Zionist dream on his birthbed. And for good. United States of America intervene and offer a temporary home for the million of Jewish immigrants - terrified after the Holocaust and yet another war lost. A special arrangement offers to them a district in the state of Alaska. And it's there, surrounded by hostile native tribes and a suspicious US government, that Chabon's scenario takes place.
A crime and a main character that bring Raymond Chandler to mind, a great conspiracy underneath, lots of Yiddish slang and a love story resurfacing in the middle of the whole mess. All and all, it deserves the hype.
Well, the aforementioned "anomaly" is just one of the less important parts of an alternate world situation that Michael Chabon brilliantly developed in order to provide his story with a fitting historical context. The second World War ended with a nuclear attack on Berlin itself in 1946, Soviet Union never happened, Mantsuria is considered a world power and most importantly, the Arabs have triumphed in the war of 1948, therefore destroying the Zionist dream on his birthbed. And for good. United States of America intervene and offer a temporary home for the million of Jewish immigrants - terrified after the Holocaust and yet another war lost. A special arrangement offers to them a district in the state of Alaska. And it's there, surrounded by hostile native tribes and a suspicious US government, that Chabon's scenario takes place.
A crime and a main character that bring Raymond Chandler to mind, a great conspiracy underneath, lots of Yiddish slang and a love story resurfacing in the middle of the whole mess. All and all, it deserves the hype.
Reviewed at the social site for books and libraries http://www.librarything.com by trandism
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