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Grifter posted:The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon is a good book. In it the US created a haven for European Jews in 1940, in Alaska. In this timeline Israel was created and then destroyed a few years later in a pretty grim sounding manner. The novel itself pretty dark, with some similarly dark humor. I just picked this up and I can not put it down - it's absolutely phenomenal. You probably did miss a bit by not knowing much about Jewish culture. It reads kind of like a pulpy Noir book from the 40's, and I mean that in the best possible way. One thing that really impressed me was the style of dialogue. He absolutely nailed the cadence of Yiddish despite writing it in English. A lot of times, writers will say their characters are speaking another language but it's just English - it uses English idioms and phrases or a bad accent. Chabon's characters don't do that. Having spent my life around people who either speak Yiddish or whose parents do, it's amazing to see that particular language rendered so perfectly in English. The story itself is interesting as well, and even if you know absolutely nothing about Judaism, you'll be able to follow along. drat good book. Jedi fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Aug 13, 2014 |
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Aug 13, 2014 17:16
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 21:05 |
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