Sitka site of alternative Jewish history
By Kaplan Tuttlebaum
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Michael Chabon wraps an alternate history of the Jews inside a virtuosic recreation of 1940s-style detective fiction in his new novel "The Yiddish Policeman's Union," his first full-length novel since his Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times best-selling "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay."
Marked by Chabon's characteristic literary legerdemain, this wildly inventive narrative—which as an alternate version of modern Jewish history is structurally reminiscent of Philip Roth's recent "The Plot Against America"—melds an intriguing mystery with a blackly comic, existential examination of identity, purpose and cultural longing.
In the wake of World War II and the subsequent collapse of the fledgling state of Israel, a portion of Alaska was settled as the Jewish homeland. For 60 years the residents of a Yiddish-speaking district of Sitka have enjoyed the protection of the United States, though not the rights of statehood.
But now they face the coming Reversion, wherein they will lose sovereignty of yet another temporary homeland.
Everyday life in Sitka has become uneasy at best, as residents scramble to obtain permanent residence amid rumors of stringent quotas. Everyone agrees that these are strange times to be a Jew.
Meyer Landsman, a stereotypically cynical police officer, could not care less about the impending handover. Still nursing the wounds of a failed marriage, Landsman lives in a cheap hotel in a seedy neighborhood, and carries out his police duties with only the most cursory of interest.
But when he summoned to the scene of a murder at his own hotel, Landsman finds himself drawn to and into the case. The identity of the dead man is itself a mystery: an apparent heroin addict, he was living under the assumed name of Emanuel Lasker, borrowed from the 19th-century chess master.
Along with his partner and cousin, Berko Shemets—a half-Jewish and half-Tlingit mountain of a man—Landsman is ordered by his new boss to close out as many cold cases as possible in the remaining weeks before the Reversion.
As for the death of Emanuel Lasker, it can be permanently filed away as unsolved. The fact that his new boss, Bina Gelbfish, happens to be his ex-wife doesn't make the job any easier. Nor does it mean that he has any intention of following orders as he takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of Lasker's death.
The investigation in Lasker's true identity and the reason for his death draws Landsman and Berko into the shadowy netherworld of the Jewish settlement, a world dominated by criminal religious sects and black market racketeers.
As the search leads them deeper into the darkness beneath Sitka's surface, Landsman runs up against his own past and must confront the demons of his heritage.
"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is vintage Michael Chabon, a novel of colossal ambition and heart from one of today's most important and beloved writers.
Chabon, whom the Library Journal called "a major force in American fiction," is the author of several books, including "The Final Solution," which won the Paris Review's Aga Khan Award and the National Jewish Book Award. He lives in Berkeley, Calif.
"The Yiddish Policeman's Union" by Michael Chabon, May 1, 2007, Harper Collins, hardcover, $26.95. Also available on CD and cassette from HarperAudio for $39.95