I recently started listening to audiobooks while working on projects around the house. My first one was finishing a book I started listening to on a recent trip. Then I went looking for something new to listen to. At the beginning of this year I had briefly toyed with the idea of reading Hugo Award winning novels this year, so I searched for one of the those. This book was the first I came across that was immediately available to borrow from my library.
It is not science fiction in the traditional sense. There are no aliens or spaceships. It does not take place in the far future or on another planet. It is more of a detective story that takes place in a speculative alternate history. In this version of history, Israel was destroyed shortly after its founding and Jews found a temporary “home” in a district in Alaska that the US carved out from among Indian land in Alaska. Sixty years later, this district in Sitka is still intact but was never made permanent. Now it is looking like there will be a reversion back to the natives, leaving the Jews there with no place to go.
That’s the background. The story itself revolves around a murder (naturally) that takes place in the same fleabag hotel where the main character lives. He is a detective for the Sitka police, and he is a complete mess. He is divorced with no kids and no self-respect. His partner is his half-Indian, half-Jewish cousin who was more or less raised as his brother. Together they investigate this murder even after they are told to leave it alone. Of course, they begin to uncover things that others in powerful places want left alone.
The writing is absolutely brilliant. It is filled with down-to-earth but often odd metaphors that evoke feelings and imagery that could be achieved in no other way. The audiobook reader is incredible with the voices and accents, really bringing the story to life. There are subplots that touch on different aspects of the human condition and how everyday people struggle with them. It is an amazing work of fiction that deserves all the awards it received.
My rating: 4.5/5
