The Final Solution: A Story of Detection (P.S.)

published	2005 by Harper Perennial
binding	Paperback
isbn	0060777109 (isbn13: 9780060777104)
pages	160
description	Retired to the English countryside, an eighty-nine-year-old man, rumored to be a once-famous detective, is more concerned with his beekeeping than with his fellow man. Into his life wanders Linus Steinman, nine years old and mute, who has escaped from Nazi Germany with his sole companion: an African gray parrot. ...more [close] Retired to the English countryside, an eighty-nine-year-old man, rumored to be a once-famous detective, is more concerned with his beekeeping than with his fellow man. Into his life wanders Linus Steinman, nine years old and mute, who has escaped from Nazi Germany with his sole companion: an African gray parrot. What is the meaning of the mysterious strings of German numbers the bird spews out -- a top-secret SS code? The keys to a series of Swiss bank accounts? Or do they hold a significance both more prosaic and far more sinister? Though the solution may be beyond even the reach of the once-famous sleuth, the true story of the boy and his parrot is subtly revealed in a wrenching resolution.
date added	12-21-06 edit book

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Lizzie rated it:

10/16/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: fans of detection

I would have given this book four stars but for the length. It's just too short. At 131 pages, there's not enough time for Chabon to accomplish any of the things he's known for in his other books. The chief victim here is character development, although plot twists, suspense and various other things also get caught in the fallout. Each of the nine mid- to major characters in the book has great potential for development, for backstory, for humanization, and yet, not a one of them recieves any...more I would have given this book four stars but for the length. It's just too short. At 131 pages, there's not enough time for Chabon to accomplish any of the things he's known for in his other books. The chief victim here is character development, although plot twists, suspense and various other things also get caught in the fallout. Each of the nine mid- to major characters in the book has great potential for development, for backstory, for humanization, and yet, not a one of them recieves anything of the sort. There simply isn't enough space.

The only character to derive any benefit from Chabon's unreal ability to make the reader feel for those who populate his books is the protagonist, an unnamed yet broadly hinted-at Great Detective of late-19th-century England (and if you can't figure it out by the end of the first chapter, but down the book and go back to high school). However, as Chabon is merely expanding upon an already well-established character, the reader gets the uncomfortable feeling that they have just been cheated out of a real example of the author's skill. Yes, Chabon does a very good job of aging the character 30 years, but it's not quite the same.

The rest of the characters don't even get that. The reader does not feel the boy's pain and anguish over the loss of his only friend. They do not feel the mother's sadness and shame that her only son is in prison. These emotions are described coldly in a sentence or two, rather than slowly brought to fruition over the course of many pages. It is as if Chabon just wants us to take his word for it.

The other major developmental problem with the book lies in the rather anemic plot. Again, this is mainly due to length. Chabon has all the elements of an excellent mystery on his hands: a bloody murder, mysterious characters, a stolen parrot that is in the habit of chanting some sort of numerical German code, government and military involvement. However, Chabon again runs out of space before a single one of these plot points has a chance to turn into something compelling. One after another, each plot twist is introduced and then dropped within a couple of pages. The eventual culprit is thrown into the book almost as an afterthought, without any sort of explanation as to who he is or where he came from. Once the Great Detective finally (or rather, almost immediately) solves the case, the "final solution", as it were, feels less like closure than it does convenience.

The story is not completely without merit. Once again, Chabon's cleverness and mastery of the English language shines through. Some of his metaphors absolutely sparkle in their creativity and imagery. The dialogue is well written, and what little description there is of characters and scenery paints an adequate picture for the reader. However, this does little to mask the greater faults of the story, and almost makes one feel as if Chabon was coasting on his inate talents with this one, rather than trying to take them even further.

What is made apparent by this book is that Chabon's writing style and literary bent is far better suited to lengthier prose. Kavalier and Clay borders on epic in its length. Aside from The Final Solution, his next shortest novel, Gentlemen of the Road, still clocks in at almost a hundred pages longer than this one. This then begs the question, why did he keep it so short? Michael Chabon is capable of far greater things at this point in his career, and everyone knows it. Maybe that's why, in the end, The Final Solution feels so incomplete, and finally, just seems lazy....less

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