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Notes:
(1) Well, it's unsurprising the author interview is a lot better than the book.
- Funny how two people talking in colloquial speech can be enjoyable and easy to follow. No dictionary needed!
(2) Probably the most interesting tidbit from this is that the first draft was written in first-person, but was change to third-person.
- Chabon says it worked much better for him. Though, I can attest, not for the reader.

Notes:
(1) There are two featured homosexual characters, Meyer's dead sister Naomi and Mendel Shpilman, the murder victim at the center of the mystery.
- They're both dead (their deaths are tied) and they both only appear in flashbacks.
- There's an immediate affinity between them. Despite only just meeting, they form a kind of alliance.
- I wonder if Chabon's implying some kind of natural/instinctual gay solidarity?

Notes:
(1) A frustrating effect of this book is reading it makes you feel stupid. Not just the esoteric vocab, but you always feel like you missed something.
- Like, why are we visiting this dentist? What chain of clues led here?
- Recaps, please!
(2) In this alternate history, Manchuria is a country.
- While this book's strongest aspect is worldbuilding, I wish Chabon would throw in more divergent tidbits like this.

Notes:
(1) "They wait for the question, and it comes, and Dick's manner hardens."
- If only Chabon's usual prose was as clear and succinct as his Dick jokes.
(2) Another problem I have with Chabon is how unconcerned he is with plot clarity.
- I'm always having to retrace my steps when I resume reading.
- Chabon gets so distracted demonstrating linguistic gymnastics that connecting the dots ends up as an afterthought.

Notes:
(1) In this alternate reality, Sitka Jews call American English "American."
- To "speak American," apparently, isn’t just some sarcastic remark or mock hillbilly affect, as it is in our world.
- Alternatively, it could be American English diverged so much post-WW2 as to be recognized as a language.
(2) "Landsman has heard different stories about Inspector Willie Dick and his motorcycle."
- Willie Dick, eh? SMH

Notes:
(1) "'The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,' says the pie man."
- We finally get the titular line. The significance of which is that, with his badge taken away, his union card is the only way Meyer can prove he’s a cop—a plot point that could have been stated more clearly at the outset.
(2) "Kitka has on black leather jeans and a matching vest worn over his bare skin..."
- Wait, so are they leather or are they jeans?

Notes:
(1) In this alternate reality, JFK married Marilyn Monroe.
- It's unclear whether he ever married Jackie.
(2) There's a big focus on marriages and how they differ.
- Berko and Ester-Malka, for example, have a loving marriage, albeit encumbered by ceaseless pregnancies. They're poor but happy.
- The Shpilmans have an entirely religious marriage of non-communication and marital duty. They're wealthy but distant.

Notes:
(1) First of all, I'm not a person who kicks up a fuss when Westerners attempt ethnic accents. I appreciate they have the nerve to try, especially in times of increased social sensitivities.
- Having said that, Peter Reigert's Filipino accent is awful. It might pass for Chinese or Vietnamese or Thai, but Filipino sounds totally different.
(2) Secondly, Tagalog isn't pronounced like tag-along: it's tuh-GAH-lug.

Notes:
(1) Despite how much I find reading Chabon infuriating, there are things to like. The whole idea of a Hasidic sect being a kind of Jewish mafia is very interesting.
- It's one of those concepts that, on the surface, you wouldn't think would work but does.
- Its rebbe being a spiritual and community authority very much fits into an archetypical mob boss paradigm. Innate respect within a closed society and such.

Notes:
(1) In what world does this pass for a pulp novel?
(2) Just a sampling of Chabon's maddening prose, spanning just three pages:
"...in a way that is meant to signify deep ratiocination..."
"...burning Conestogas have their effect on people's minds."
"He smells the sudden fear ... like caries of the teeth."
- It's this sort of arcane priggish locution that rankles my inured imperturbability!