See, here's the thing. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was so damned beautiful I could hardly stand it, but then Summerland was sort of trite and the only reason I slogged all the way through it was because I was on vacation and it was the only book in my hands. I had such a non-opinion about Wonder Boys that I couldn't even blog it, and then I swore off M.Chab forever. Or, you know, until now..
Union is a thick, spiralling piece of awesome.
.So, there's these Jews, right? (I can call them 'Jews,' right? I feel like all other mono-syllabic ethnic names are all slurs. If I'm being an uwitting racist here, I'm sure I'll be sufficiently trolled.) And they all refugee to Sitka, Alaska after WWII and make a sort of Little Israel, but it's only temporary, and after 'temporary' elapses Sitka is going to revert back to the 'Merica and the Jews will once again be diaspora'd (note: none of this really happened. Also in this alternate universe, JFK marries Marilyn Monroe instead of being assassinated. So...rad).
.But then this dude gets killed in a hotel, and somehow it's the non-biggest deal ever and so you sort of don't pay attention because this detective waltzes on page wearing his Protagonist hat, and then his ex-wife shows up as his new boss and that's tense, and there are some old men playing chess in one corner and it takes you the longest time to realize that this is a murder mystery. A big one.
.But there's none of this...you know when the be-spectacled detective pulls the swatch of fabric off of the nail with the oversized tweezers and is all, Ye gads! A clue! This is all the opposite of that. If you like your whodunnits with plenty of whiz and bang, seek ye elsewhere. This is subtle as hell.
.And Chabon has this way of making what is really a very personal, intimate story simultaneously into this very large, shot-of-the-earth-from-space thing and then coming full circle to tap himself in the back and then your mind collapses on itself.
.All of which to say that it's really good. But also really elaborate and string-like, so do not read it on the beach surrounded by shrieking children. You will be baffled. I'm aware that this review has been less than coherent, but if you need a fully-fleshed plotsum there's always Pedia, King of the Wikis.
.As for this, eight and a half caterpillars. The Chab is back in my good books.
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Done you read what I done read? Let's swap spit links.
