The Barnes & Noble Review
This Michael Chabon experiment with genre fiction -- a follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize winner, The Amazi... read full description
This Michael Chabon experiment with genre fiction -- a follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize winner, The Amazi... read full description
reviews
May 03, 2008
Jason
rated it: 
This is one of four newish books I recently read mostly so I could finally get them off my queue list, all of which were actually pretty good but are mere wisps of manuscripts, none of them over 150 pages or so in length. This one is the 2004 Sherlock Holmes tale The Final Solution by literary wunderkind Michael Chabon, like the others published originally as a magazine story (in The Paris Review; in fact, it won the in-house "Aga Khan Prize" in 2004 for being the best story to appear
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Dec 17, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it: 
I’m downgrading this to a two and am tempted to give it the damning single star but for the fact that Chabon is such a master of cleverness and has such a huge vocabulary I have to admit some sliver of awe and respect. That’s the failing, too, of this book for me. I looked hard and could find no soul. It read like an exercise, with a few interesting results (an admirable point-of-view-of-the-parrot passage, an attempt to embody the mid-century Britishers’ mannered language and vocabulary). This
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Nov 24, 2008
Pete
rated it: 
I'm a Michael Chabon fan, and that may be surprising considering I have no special interest in his favorite topics: superheroes, homosexuality, Jewishness, and genre fiction. His novella "The Final Solution" hits three out of four if you consider Sherlock Holmes a superhero (or gay), and I enjoyed this one as I enjoy all of Chabon’s work.
Set during WWII, the scene opens with an elderly detective we believe to be Sherlock Holmes (it is implied, but the detective is never na More...
Set during WWII, the scene opens with an elderly detective we believe to be Sherlock Holmes (it is implied, but the detective is never na More...
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Dec 16, 2009
barry
rated it:
To echo the chorus, this book is quite disappointing. I surfed through the book staying aloft solely on its intriguing premise-- Sherlock Holmes (unnamed as such but recognizable just the same) survived Reichenbach Falls to live into the 20th century as a reclusive beekeeper and becomes embroiled in an intrigue involving a parrot spouting cryptic numbers perhaps related to Nazi atrocities. It never delivers on the premise, falling prey to an overly ostentatious writing style that suffocates th
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 06, 2008
Evil_Dead_Junkie
rated it:
A nice enough read, but still kind of a lark, or as much as anything concerning the holocaust can be.
The idea of a Dark Knight Returns style Holmes is a good one, as is the idea of using him as a metaphor for the more "civilized" Victorian World's incomprehension of the evils of the modern one, with even it's greatest mind unable to wrap his head around just what is going on. After all what's a murderous Pussy Cat have on the systematic extermination of an entire race? It' More...
The idea of a Dark Knight Returns style Holmes is a good one, as is the idea of using him as a metaphor for the more "civilized" Victorian World's incomprehension of the evils of the modern one, with even it's greatest mind unable to wrap his head around just what is going on. After all what's a murderous Pussy Cat have on the systematic extermination of an entire race? It' More...
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Jan 27, 2008
Tony
rated it:
Michael Chabon can do no wrong. The man is utterly entertaining, a great stylist, and he does a great job of taking pulp genres and making high art out of them. In this one, he does so with the Sherlock Holmes-style detective yarn. To my taste, City of Glass does it better, and The Name of the Rose<i/> does it smarter. They all come from the literary example of Jorge Luis Borges, I am guessing. This small, entertaining book, set in England against the background of Nazi national psych
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Mar 29, 2009
Hollie
rated it: 
Last summer I decided that I was going to read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I went to the library and found an extremely large and musty old book that contained every one of the short stories and novels. I spent the next week reading them one by one. As I got closer to the end of the book I found that I was pacing myself so that I wouldn't read them too quickly. I wanted to make the book last, and obviously Doyle wasn't going to be writing any new stories. Doyle is long since gone and Hol
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Feb 05, 2009
From his editorship of an issue of McSweeney's to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Chabon has mined genre fiction and pop culture in pursuit of literary gold. His newest novella finds him polishing up the detective story as an unnamed Sherlock Holmes comes out of beekeeping retirement to work the case. Reviewers applaud the fresh approach Chabon takes with Holmes' character, eschewing analytic genius for emotional complexity. Critics labeled the title's referen
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Oct 03, 2011
Kate
rated it:
“The Final Solution” by Michael Chabon was a witty, creative, and enjoyable read. What stood out the most to me in his writing style was his unusual and clever use of point of view. The narrator’s voice is that of an omniscient third person, removed from the story, but critical in conveying the thoughts and feelings of the main characters to the reader. Although it is written in third person, which each chapter you gain new insight from the perspective of a different character. This created a fa
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Oct 03, 2011
Shayla
rated it:
Sleuthing and Storytelling
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2004.
What initially drew me to this book was the title, a bad habit I’ll admit to. Its play on the title of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story “The Final Problem” had me searching for some similarity between the authors’ styles. Sure enough, Michael Chabon has created “A Story of Detection” just as the subtitle says. Within the 131 pages of this novella, Chabon captured the essence More...
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2004.
What initially drew me to this book was the title, a bad habit I’ll admit to. Its play on the title of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story “The Final Problem” had me searching for some similarity between the authors’ styles. Sure enough, Michael Chabon has created “A Story of Detection” just as the subtitle says. Within the 131 pages of this novella, Chabon captured the essence More...
Sep 18, 2011
Bev
rated it:
Billed as a "suspenseful tale of compassion and wit that reimagines the classic nineteenth-century detective story" and set with "subtle revelations [that] lead the reader to a wrenching resolution." The Final Solution is about an elderly man who is in retirement deep in the English countryside. Villagers vaguely recall that he was once a famous detective up in London. Now his door is pretty well closed to the outside world and all that interests him is his beekeeping. But th
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Jul 08, 2011
Adam
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 06, 2011
Jeff
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 02, 2011
Maggie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 03, 2011
Besha
rated it:
Still not sure whether I liked this book, which is a good thing. Maybe. It’s a tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle, and it succeeds: the hints about the star detective’s identity are satisfying, the Victorian-intricate language is a pleasure to read, and the secondary mystery is wrapped up quite satisfyingly. It’s a smarter and more thoughtful sequel than anyone has yet written. Like Kavalier and Clay, it serves as criticism, tribute, and wank-fest for an entire literary form at once.
I was s More...
I was s More...
Apr 06, 2011
Travis
rated it:
A Review of Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution
Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution is a rather odd book. It takes place in England during the World War II era but really does not use the conflict in its plot. Before I read this book I expected a tale about a parrot that holds some course changing information about the war. While an interesting parrot, Bruno, is featured in the story, the book’s focus is mainly on an old retired detective and his exploits while trying to solve two mysterie More...
Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution is a rather odd book. It takes place in England during the World War II era but really does not use the conflict in its plot. Before I read this book I expected a tale about a parrot that holds some course changing information about the war. While an interesting parrot, Bruno, is featured in the story, the book’s focus is mainly on an old retired detective and his exploits while trying to solve two mysterie More...
Feb 14, 2011
Ian
rated it:
I Bought the Parrot, but Wasn’t Sold on the Story
The Final Solution
By Michael Chabon
Harper Collins Publication Inc.
New York, 2004
When it comes to Michael Chabon’s novel, The Final Solution, I found myself certainly overwhelmed with the solution to the makeshift mystery.
Starting with the image of a boy and his parrot by some railroad tracks, I wasn’t sure where the book was going. I grasped that I was seeing these two characters from the p More...
The Final Solution
By Michael Chabon
Harper Collins Publication Inc.
New York, 2004
When it comes to Michael Chabon’s novel, The Final Solution, I found myself certainly overwhelmed with the solution to the makeshift mystery.
Starting with the image of a boy and his parrot by some railroad tracks, I wasn’t sure where the book was going. I grasped that I was seeing these two characters from the p More...
Jan 13, 2011
Northpapers
rated it:
Michael Chabon is an unapologetic nerd, which is one of the things that makes his work so likeable to me. He wins a Pulitzer Prize for a piece of historical fiction about two friends during the golden age of comics, and follows that audacious victory by writing a piece of Sherlock Holmes fan fiction that's barely long enough to be called a novel. So he publishes it as "A Story of Detection."
Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. Chabon's gift for long, eloquently crafted se More...
Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. Chabon's gift for long, eloquently crafted se More...
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Jan 16, 2010
Casey
rated it:
Although the detective in The Final Solution is never mentioned by name (he is referred to throughout only as "the old man") it is understood that this story is Michael Chabon's tribute to Sherlock Holmes. He imagines Holmes as a retired beekeeper in the quiet English countryside, ninety-some years old and losing not only his physical dexterity, but his mental capacity as well. Nothing could be more terrifying for someone as brilliant as Sherlock Holmes, and Chabon captures Holmes' ter
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Oct 21, 2009
Lori
rated it:
I didn't find the Final Solution "magical or entertaining" to me the story was disquieting. The writing was taut, edgy, tense, I felt some inner anxiety while reading the prose. It was about sad people, the Panicker's who take in a sad boy who though intelligent is mute and worst of all about a once great detective who has with age succumbed to the disintegration of his physical body. Michael Chabon has created an engaging but not entirely likeable story that includes the central chara
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Sep 20, 2009
Sandie
rated it: 
My taste for "literary masterpieces" must be lacking. This homage was a mish-mash that probably has Arthur Conan Doyle turning over in his grave. Chabon submerges the reader in a clutter of virtually inconsequential "clues", characters that are limp and colorless, and a murder and a mystery that can only be characterized as run-of-the-mill. An 89 year old Sherlock Holmes, possessing limited mental capabilities, should not have wasted the precious little time left in his life
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Sep 10, 2009
Ilana
rated it:
Linus is a mute born child who is Jewish and he escaped the wrath of the Nazis. He has this precious parrot, who keeps repeating numbers in German. Linus and this old man, they never truly mentioned the name in the story. They go off and try to find out what the numbers mean, but in the meantime this man named Mr. Shane is killed. And people are trying to find out from what, and maybe, perhaps the numbers might mean something!
I can connect this to school, actually. Because, if someth More...
I can connect this to school, actually. Because, if someth More...
Aug 15, 2009
Ryan
rated it:
Can this guy do anything wrong? Well, okay, this is much thinner than his other books--still wondefully written--but it was a serial in the Paris Review and only qualifies as a "novella" (a word of which I am not fond).
1944, England, and the war is not over yet. A young Jewish boy wanders down the railroad tracks, a gray parrot on his shoulder. The attention of an old man is ensnared, and he rushes out when it looks like the boy will harm himself accidentally. The boy d More...
1944, England, and the war is not over yet. A young Jewish boy wanders down the railroad tracks, a gray parrot on his shoulder. The attention of an old man is ensnared, and he rushes out when it looks like the boy will harm himself accidentally. The boy d More...
Jun 19, 2011
Elliot
rated it:
Oh, the prose! The prose!!!
Chabon's sentences sumersault across the tongue, his descriptions always just what Billy Collins meant when he wrote, in his poem "Thesaurus":
Every now and then, I had to remind myself to stop drooling all over myself and continue onto the next p More...
Chabon's sentences sumersault across the tongue, his descriptions always just what Billy Collins meant when he wrote, in his poem "Thesaurus":
Surely, you have seen pairs of them standing forever
next to each other on the same line inside a poem
a small chapel where weddings like these
between perfect strangers, can take place
Every now and then, I had to remind myself to stop drooling all over myself and continue onto the next p More...
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Oct 25, 2009
Spencer
rated it:
I was so excited about a Chabon detective story literally financed by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate. And it was great. A quick read with interesting characters, including a close third-person perspective of a parrot, I was really enjoying the book.
Then the mystery was solved. The bad guy/girl/parrot/train (no spoilers here!) was caught and everyone had changed in some way. But the mystery was not solved by deduction, attention to detail, or some incredible insight. The wizened, o More...
Then the mystery was solved. The bad guy/girl/parrot/train (no spoilers here!) was caught and everyone had changed in some way. But the mystery was not solved by deduction, attention to detail, or some incredible insight. The wizened, o More...
Aug 14, 2011
Kristy
rated it:
When I grabbed “The Final Solution” from the library, I didn’t realize that it was another outing with Sherlock Holmes (or so I later inferred – it never actually mentions Holmes by name). I had wanted to try something by Michael Chabon, whose “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” has been on my to-read list for a while. But this was the only book of his I could find.
Well, Chabon undoubtedly has lovely writing and an extensive vocabulary. But in attempting to recreate the w More...
Well, Chabon undoubtedly has lovely writing and an extensive vocabulary. But in attempting to recreate the w More...
Jun 18, 2010
Cheryl
rated it:
As a fan of Sherlock Holmes I was disappointed in the characterization of him as an old man. It just didn't ring true. So that was disappointing. I've read that Chabon is a master of vocabulary, but honestly, sometimes you don't want to have to work that hard to get the meaning out of a sentence. I get it, Michael, you are smart and you have a great vocab. And if by tightly written, the critics mean confusing, then I agree. There was, at once, too much detail and too little detail.
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Nov 26, 2010
Mike
rated it:
Thia is a brief little book of "novella" length that I found fun and endearing.
I picked it up solely based on the title and was handsomely rewarded for doing so. While I try not to put spoilers in these notes, I will say that a big part of my scoring this a "4" instead of a "3" has to do with one of the characters. The appearance of certain person of detection fame instantly had me into the story. This quite possibly is the oldest age that the character More...
I picked it up solely based on the title and was handsomely rewarded for doing so. While I try not to put spoilers in these notes, I will say that a big part of my scoring this a "4" instead of a "3" has to do with one of the characters. The appearance of certain person of detection fame instantly had me into the story. This quite possibly is the oldest age that the character More...
Mar 17, 2010
Lizzie
rated it:
I bought this book when it was new in 2004 and I'd just read Kavalier & Clay, but I didn't read it til two days ago. Funny how it goes.
It was a satisfactory little story, but not a lot of bang. The mystery didn't amount to much, and that would've been nice. The best part is the chapter where the two men go to London and react to the effects of the Blitz. It's great. I'd have squeezed every drop of the story into that setting if it were up to me.
The characters were al More...
It was a satisfactory little story, but not a lot of bang. The mystery didn't amount to much, and that would've been nice. The best part is the chapter where the two men go to London and react to the effects of the Blitz. It's great. I'd have squeezed every drop of the story into that setting if it were up to me.
The characters were al More...
Feb 06, 2009
Julia
rated it:
I WANTED to really like this book--but it's a thin little volume that does a good job of emulating the writing style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but only offers the skeleton of a story.
Sherlock Holmes is retired, now 89 years old, keeping bees--and a little nine-year old German boy enters his life. The boy has a parrot that keeps uttering lists of numbers and singing. It's Nazi time again, and only in the last paragraph do we hear the boy counting trains, while the bird repeats the num More...
Sherlock Holmes is retired, now 89 years old, keeping bees--and a little nine-year old German boy enters his life. The boy has a parrot that keeps uttering lists of numbers and singing. It's Nazi time again, and only in the last paragraph do we hear the boy counting trains, while the bird repeats the num More...
