Personal Connection

So far I have really been able to connect to this book very well. The town that is set up in the novel of Sitka, Alaska is a Jewish community filled with many ideas and traditions that I can easily relate to. Just the way Chabon writes the novel is very informal and humorous and really chatches spot on to some traditional stereotypes of Jews. In the very beginning when talking about the murder scene, Landsman asks Tenenboym if he touched anything and he replies, “Only the cash and jewlry.” This is very humorous because this alludes to the stereotype of Jews being greedy for money and I can connect with it being Jewish. There are many parts in the novel that remind me of a lot of people in my family, but mainly I can connect to it because much of the humor that is used in the novel is based on either a Jewish stereotype, a tradition or a custom that other people might not be aware of. Because Chabon adds a little Yiddish twist to the text and describes many of the situations through the perspective of a Jew, it kind of already portrays how maybe i would act in situations the characters are put in. There are many remarks in the novel that would have gone over my head if it weren’t for my Jewish identity. These remarks are basically about Jewish customs or traditions that only a Jew would understand as well as understand the humor behind it. An example of this might be, "This conversation is the equivalent of Landsman's kissing the mezuzah, the kind of thing that starts out as a joke and ends up as a strap to hang on to." This remark is a metaphor used by Chabon to show humor through the Jewish custom of kissing the mezuzah (a small box that holds prayers which is placed on the doorposts of a Jewish persons home) as he or she walks in the door. Because so much of this novel is revolved around the Jewish culture it has been really easy for me to get into the book, and with the added murder mystery it makes this novel all the more worthwhile.