The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon

I like noir detective stories, and that's what this is essentially. 

I liked the way he set up his alternative universe and I liked the way he created a feeling of "otherness," both for the Jewish settlement in Sitka, Alaska, and for the main character even within that settlement. I can't imagine reading it without knowing a decent amount about Jewish culture and a smattering of Yiddish; half the book would be incomprehensible. 

I am not a huge fan of books written in the present-tense (it sounds like fan fiction to me) and I am often one to avoid Jewish-interest books (because I grew up with it and I went to Brandeis and it just isn't that interesting to me at this point) but I picked it up, and I enjoyed it in a "can't I be late to work to just finish one more chapter?" kind of way.

Grade: B