2007 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE Read other issues here ---------------------------------------------- Michael Chabon "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" (nv) © 2007, Fourth Estate / Harper Collins --novel : 2008 Hugo W --novel : 2008 Nebula W --second place : 2008 Campbell Memorial/2 --sf novel : 2008 Locus W --novel : 2008 British SF --long form : 2008 Sidewise W --/ second place "alternate history" sf novel --/ idea award --/ style award --/ emotion award --/ mystery award A simply astonishing achievement. The novel is a gut-wrenching, soul-churning, emotional wreck, bringing to mind some Harlan Ellison's "phantasmagorical" hara-kiris - combined with Raymond Chandler, no less. The idea that Jewish people would end up in Alaska instead of Israel, is preposterous and yet... strangely plausible; the mystery plot is engaging (though somewhat blurry in places, as though seen through a swirling Northern fog), the writing style is incisive and sublime - even laconic, but never lacking in subtle poetry and realism. In fact, the weird characters inhabiting this novel are sometimes too real for comfort - with others taken from a lurid roster of pulp fiction heroes - and indeed they all create a marvelous mess, which only a true Messiah can possibly redeem. If you can stomach the idea of universal angst blown to alternate-history proportions, and if you can catch the typically Jewish sense of optimism against the overwhelmingly miserable odds (in this book's brightest moments), then ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union’ will become the most memorable reading event of the year. Trust me, it's that good. Audacious! Atrocious! Brilliant! (review by Avi Abrams) ---------------------------------------------- Return to the Wonder Timeline

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