[A recycled piece from Sam V.'s magazine 'Diary' (April 2007). Full review of 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union' to follow, soonish. -JH]
Michael Chabon’s new novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, is set to hit stores this May, and is sure to be both critically and popularly acclaimed. Unfortunately, we here at Diary have still not received our complimentary galley for review. What gives, Mike?
Instead, with a new movie adaptation in the works, starring the notoriously bitter Sienna Miller, we will take this opportunity to reflect on Chabon’s first novel, 1988’s The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Also purchased with petty cash. Mysteries is Chabon’s bildungsroman, his coming-of-age tale of sexual identification. Set near Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University campus over one hectic summer, Art Bechstein falls for a boy...and a girl. Through happenstance Art meets Arthur, and his friend Phlox, a wily student-librarian. Their triangled relationship is a microcosm of a much longer period, and is fueled to the breaking point by the freedom only the summer months can provide. Meanwhile, disenchanted by his father’s life in the mob and their un-familial encounters in a high-priced hotel restaurant, Art meets Cleveland, an aspiring thug looking for his own “made” life. Yet it’s Cleveland that Art begins to admire.
Mysteries is full of choices and dichotomies like these, but the novel’s beauty is in its shades of gray. Chabon is never heavy-handed, and doesn’t pull his punches. When Art is in the deepest emotional confusion and turmoil, the reader is forced to bear it out with him. The lack of sexual “resolution” is just as satisfying as any contrived ending could have been. Instead, Chabon has written a highly entertaining, authentic novel of a modern young man’s maturation.
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