The New Yorker: "Citizen Conn" by Michael Chabon

February 13 & 20, 2012: "CitizenConn" by Michael Chabon
I have to say that, even though I found the ending somewhatunsatisfying, I liked this story a lot. 
It's the story of Morty Featherand Artie Conn, two giants of the comic book industry who years ago had afalling out. Now Morty is living in a nursing home in Santa Monica, near deathfrom bone cancer, and Artie, retired to San Diego, is seeking forgiveness. Noone can quite figure out why Morty is so upset with Artie, least of allRebecca, the new rabbi in the nursing home.
So, Artie makes several visits, tries to apologize and giveMorty credit that he might think is due him. But that's not it. There'ssomething else. And that something else is—sort of—revealed at the end. ButArtie still doesn't get it, probably because what Morty wants is somethingArtie can't really give him at this point.
It's a nice piece about friendship, and along the way Chabongets to write about comic books again. There's also a brief interview that'sworth reading: ThisWeek in Fiction with Michael Chabon.
Apart from the slightly unsatisfying ending, my one concernhere was with the narrative voice. I like the choice of the female rabbi,although (a) it isn't clear why it should be a female except that it'sinteresting that her husband is a fan of the comics, and that feels right; (b)the title of the story is too cute; and (c) I wonder if this is a crediblefemale voice. I can't really tell, and I'd welcome comments from women aboutthis.
[Also, I hate this week's cover, which is called "Loading,"but since I'm reading the Kindle version I don't have to look at it much.]