(no subject)

[msmidge]

I started reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The writing style is too herky-jerky for me. Is it so awesome that I really should get over it and keep reading, or can I just stop now?

Comments

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Lord knows I had no idea of the reality behind it. I don't think that's the point. The point is more like, if Israel had never happened, what would an alternate Jewish reality look like. (Actually I read a review with Michael Chabon in which he said that he was inspired by finding a modern Yiddish phrasebook and wanted to come up with a place that would fit it.)

It's true that the first few pages are rough sledding, especially if you don't have a handle on the yiddishisms, but I found that after a while it grew on me really deeply and came to feel really... profound. Try to stick with it.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

I gave it a few more pages. The jury's still out.

The first time around I was being extra-uncharitable. If he had chosen, say, Yukon Territory instead of Sitka, I wouldn't have had the mental block because I wouldn't have been matching his imagination to an actual landscape.