Book Review - The Yiddish Policemen's Union

I only wish that I was more impassioned about this one. Oddly enough, I wanted to read it. I made sure it was on the book club list. I voted it for it. I encouraged others to vote for it. Now? I feel like an ass. Annie (the one who ALWAYS finished book club books before everyone else) said it gets good right at the end....that is the problem. It means you have to get through the first 300 pages to "really get into it". I grudgingly made it halfway and could not bring myself to trudge though the rest.  Here is the gist: 

Set in a fictional version of Sitka, Alaska. They used all the right names and places, but Sitka had several million people and was a Jewish settlement. I was thinking OK, Jews, murder mystery, and Alaska? How could this not be a good read.  Throughout the portion of the book, the author made this possible.  A Jewish kid is found murdered. An alcoholic cop is on the case. His ex-wife is his boss. The Jewish community is organized around various groups of Jews of varying degrees of power. Interesting, but I really can't get past the writing style to get into the story a whole lot. The following are examples of the writing found throughout:

"Shining skull edged with tufts of grayish hair like pocket lint"

"...prefers to see the man as distended with the gas of violence and corruption"

"naked as a giant bloodshot eyeball without a socket"

"...felt like a fogbound airplane buffeted by updrafts into the surprise of a mountain"

I don't know. I think it is one of those things that you either love or hate - like film noir - and there is no middle ground.  Maybe if I was into the writing style, I would have found the book much more appealing. I didn't really get through enough of it to give any more of a synapsis.  Too bad.