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At some point, I could not take any longer and I gave up. I think they teach you in "Creative writing 101" that the excessive use of metaphors is one of the most common shortcomings of poor writers and I tend to agree (although of course I would not go as far as saying that Mr Chabon is a poor writer. First, I am not well versed in (or particularly interested in) yiddish jargon and after a while the book got very, very tiresome. I would not say that this is a "bad book", but I really did not like it. After all, I had to expect it, silly me. This was my first book by this author, and given its success, I had high expectations, also fed by the very interesting "fictional history" premise of the book.
Why did I give up after a while. This book just did not suit me). After reading (part of) this book, I am not sure I will ever get started with his other book that won the Pulitzer. Second, and for this I DO blame Chabon, I have very low patience for authors that use forced metaphors 2-3 times per page and this is what Mr Chabon does in this book. Do stay away from it if you have a low tolerance to metaphors. Mr Chabon certainly is a very creative and (with one caveat) skilled writer.
But for this, of course, I cannot blame Chabon.
The tale is weaved around an alcoholic, yet highly moral, homicide detective, his ex-wife (now his boss), his missing sister and a bunch Jewish mobsters hiding behind their religion (but which mobster doesn't).Throw in a wannabe messiah as well and you got yourself a story.The novel has a noir feel and smoothly moves along like an old familiar pulp detective novel, the story has some rich Jewish imagery from old Europe as well as jokes and, like the old Yiddish tales, each paragraph is crafted to be rich in meaning and thick with symbolism.This is a good book but, for me, a slow read. The story is interesting, the premise is brilliant. Like other reviewers I bought this book after reading Kavalier & Clay.Unlike the others, I didn't compare the two when writing the review. Maybe the symbolism was too much, maybe I had to re-read some parts or maybe I just didn't "get" several points.Yet, I enjoyed the novel very much.I felt it dragged a bit in the middle, but quickly picked up. This is not just a "Jewish murder mystery", but also about Diaspora, a search for a home and a community which is being ostracized from the world. It's not fair to the author, the reader or to the book as it stands up by its own merit.The premise of the book is simple: what if Israel lost the 1948 war, the Jews were driven into the sea and Roosevelt's proposal of establishing a Jewish state in Alaska passed (I'm sure the deciding vote belonged to Storm Thurman). Thus the setting of Sitka, Alaska - a town where Yiddish is the native tongue and kosher is the law of the land - is born.
anyways. books i found easy to read and DEEP:SILK by that wopThe Fifth bussines by Daviesnot so easy to read, complicated, page turners though:The Illuminatus. and by gripping i dont mean easy, there is gripping and challenging prose, with content. shalom. FELT LIKE WATCHING A MOVIE HAVING TO PAUSE IT EVERY 15 SECONDS. Lets Face It, Great literature holds a firm grip on a reader, makes us turn pages without even realizing how far are we from page 3.It took me almost an hour to understand what the heck Sholem meant, it turned after googling A LOT it was an euphemism for Shalom, which in turn was an euphemism of gun.
ps. ' Robert Anton Wilson The Invisibles ' Grant Morrisondamn, that book was thick. that was in the first 10 pages. IT WOULDNT FLOW. its really hard to read, if you are not yiddish you know there is too little time in this life and too many books, find a gripper and get lost in the flow of a fine prose.
there are authors out there whom will make the deepest remarks in the most simple ways, Chabon es endemoniadamente barroco.
I do feel one would enjoy it more if you were familiar with Hebrew. Just when I was you were getting into a segment, the yiddish started screaming or the focus changed. I am a Michael Chabon fan, at least I read Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys and loved them both. Chabon can write, make no doubt, brillantly, but this novel was simply to hard to follow. Sorry I can not recommend it. But this effort missed its mark for me. It is not a great alternative history and it is not a great detective story.
Prepare for a bumpy ride. Salted amid the prose are short poetic descriptions of events and objects that are brilliant. The writing style is unique; this is not a nod-off mystery. The premise is quirky and very funny, as are situations and characters.
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