Another book for the Jewish grad students book club here at Yale, and this one was way better than the first. In fact, I think this book is solidly in the running for my favorite book of the year: it’s incredibly technically well written, packed to the bursting with style, and it kept me guessing in literally every chapter, somehow avoiding the pitfalls of the murder-mystery investigator-cop genre while simultaneously squeezing the form for everything it’s worth. I have already recommended this book to someone and will be paying forward my copy so that it can be enjoyed by others. Never before have I enjoyed a book with a glossary that I felt the need to check every 20 pages, but Chabon somehow makes the reader solving the Yiddish slang in this novel feel like part of the story.