Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Harper Perennial (2005), Paperback, 131 pages
Description
In deep retirement in the English countryside, an 89-year-old man, vaguely recollected by the locals as a former detective, is more concerned with his beekeeping than 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 grey parrot. What is the meaning of the mysterious strings of numbers the bird spews out-a top secret SS code? A Swiss bank account? Or do they hold a far more sinister significance? Though the solution to this case may be beyond the reach of the once-famed sleuth, the true story of the boy and his parrot is revealed in a wrenching resolution.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jeanned
An unnamed, retired, pipe-smoking, beekeeper is engaged by local police to investigate a murder at a Sussex Downs vicarage. The murder coincides with the theft of an African grey parrot from a young Jewish orphan, and it is this crime on which the beekeeper agrees to apply his formidable, yet
"The conquest of his mind by age was not a mere blunting or slowing but an erasure, as of a desert capital by a drifting millennium of sand. Time had bleached away the ornate pattern of his intellect, leaving a blank white scrap."
Yet there is also humor, particularly in the single chapter told from the point of view of Bruno the parrot, driving his kidnapper mad through the application of sleep deprivation techniques.
While some questions are answered for the characters of this book, greater mysteries are left for the reader to ponder, unpunished crimes reduced to numbers whispered by a young boy and his parrot. I rate this novella, filled with exceptional descriptive narrative, at 8 out of 10 stars.
[Aside: The author helped me put a name to a phobia of mine, or at least its cousin: gephyrophobia is the morbid fear of crossing bridges; I am afraid of those roller-coaster-like, curving overpasses at the apex of which, hood of car pointed toward the sky, the horizon is no longer visible.]
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failing, powers of observation and deduction. Chabon's descriptions of the old man's episodes of blankness are horrific:"The conquest of his mind by age was not a mere blunting or slowing but an erasure, as of a desert capital by a drifting millennium of sand. Time had bleached away the ornate pattern of his intellect, leaving a blank white scrap."
Yet there is also humor, particularly in the single chapter told from the point of view of Bruno the parrot, driving his kidnapper mad through the application of sleep deprivation techniques.
While some questions are answered for the characters of this book, greater mysteries are left for the reader to ponder, unpunished crimes reduced to numbers whispered by a young boy and his parrot. I rate this novella, filled with exceptional descriptive narrative, at 8 out of 10 stars.
[Aside: The author helped me put a name to a phobia of mine, or at least its cousin: gephyrophobia is the morbid fear of crossing bridges; I am afraid of those roller-coaster-like, curving overpasses at the apex of which, hood of car pointed toward the sky, the horizon is no longer visible.]
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LibraryThing member Lman
The Final Solution could perfunctorily, or perfectly, be described as svelte: it is a slender-sized work, my copy a mere 130 pages – a short story, a novella at best. Yet from these few pages comes an urbane tale. A polished, refined story with deference to a much-loved literary character, it is
When a boy, with a parrot on his shoulder, wanders along a railway line he passes the cottage of a retired police detective, now a beekeeper. The old man’s instincts – “at one time renowned throughout Europe” – are aroused in this meeting when the only conversation, from the two, is the bird gently spouting German numbers, with a slight lisp. The boy is a Jewish refugee, repatriated (with his bird) to a boarding house in the English countryside of Sussex, in the care of the Panicker family. When a new lodger at this boarding house is murdered, and the parrot is stolen, the local constabulary turn, somewhat unwillingly, to this crotchety octogenarian for help. In keeping with his character he refuses to consider the murder, but willingly accepts to aid in finding the missing bird.
Michael Chabon has, with this book, used a very clever ‘turn of phrase’: in the title and all the particulars integral to the plot; and the opportunity to ponder, with affection, a scenario around the twilight years of a favourite literary character – without ever directly nominating him as such. As well, in this slim tome, there are stories within stories: with palpable insight and understanding the author offers a mixture of the society’s experiences during wartime alongside the mundane aspects of country life, hence the political and social upheaval of the time becoming evident in so many ways.
There is a full quota of intriguing characters, not least the African grey parrot, couched in a complicated set of circumstances within the pages of this small, but sublime, chronicle. And the underlying basis - the intent - that answers to all of life’s little mysteries are not always forthcoming, even to the best of us, is all the more satisfying with the author's economic, and judicious, use of words.
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also a mystery within a snippet of world history resulting in a complex premise and an interesting story-line; all with a delicacy of language that is hard to define.When a boy, with a parrot on his shoulder, wanders along a railway line he passes the cottage of a retired police detective, now a beekeeper. The old man’s instincts – “at one time renowned throughout Europe” – are aroused in this meeting when the only conversation, from the two, is the bird gently spouting German numbers, with a slight lisp. The boy is a Jewish refugee, repatriated (with his bird) to a boarding house in the English countryside of Sussex, in the care of the Panicker family. When a new lodger at this boarding house is murdered, and the parrot is stolen, the local constabulary turn, somewhat unwillingly, to this crotchety octogenarian for help. In keeping with his character he refuses to consider the murder, but willingly accepts to aid in finding the missing bird.
Michael Chabon has, with this book, used a very clever ‘turn of phrase’: in the title and all the particulars integral to the plot; and the opportunity to ponder, with affection, a scenario around the twilight years of a favourite literary character – without ever directly nominating him as such. As well, in this slim tome, there are stories within stories: with palpable insight and understanding the author offers a mixture of the society’s experiences during wartime alongside the mundane aspects of country life, hence the political and social upheaval of the time becoming evident in so many ways.
There is a full quota of intriguing characters, not least the African grey parrot, couched in a complicated set of circumstances within the pages of this small, but sublime, chronicle. And the underlying basis - the intent - that answers to all of life’s little mysteries are not always forthcoming, even to the best of us, is all the more satisfying with the author's economic, and judicious, use of words.
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LibraryThing member Dorritt
The story is fairly simply told. In a small boarding house in Sussex in 1944, the parrot owned by a mute, emotionally damaged Jewish boy is spouting strings of numbers – in German. Are the numbers significant … perhaps even the key to bank accounts stuffed with stolen money hidden away by
Chabon is clearly having some fun here. The story is clearly about Sherlock Holmes but ostensibly NOT about Sherlock Holmes. Chabon never once employs the famous name, referring to his protagonist as “the old man” throughout. The apparent purpose of this is to de-emphasize “Holmes the legend” – his history, his methods, his life – in order to focus on the “Holmes the man,” for this is NOT a story about an investigation, but rather a story about how ordinary (and not so ordinary) people cope with the gradual unraveling of their lives (the boy), their families/loves (the wife & her husband), their health/wits (Holmes), and their dreams/desires (the villains in the tale). What’s the Final Solution? In the end it’s the parrot (not Sherlock) who "clues" us in, the only one who has understood from the beginning that our best hope surviving the inevitable ravages of life lies in the connections we make, in the love that we give and accept from others.
This definitely isn’t your typical Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The “great detective” here is doing battle not with Moriarty, but with the indignities of age and obsolescence. Nor does he actually ever “solve” the case of the numbers, though clues are plentiful and some possible solutions are dangled for the reader to choose between. (For instance, is the title “Final Solution” meant to be interpreted figuratively, as I’ve done above, or literally, as in the Nazi’s “Final Solution” ... or both?) I admit the mystery fan in me would love to know if the numbers are actually … but no, I won’t spoil the fun of drawing your own conclusions by disclosing my own! It says something about Chabon’s storytelling that I’m content never to know, having derived sufficient enjoyment from the skillfully-drawn characters, the satisfying themes, the author’s sly sense of humor, and – as always – Chabon’s lovely, lyrical prose.
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Nazis? Suddenly, a man is dead, the parrot is missing, and a grumpy, aged retired sleuth who happens to live down the road is forcibly dragged out of dotage to investigate.Chabon is clearly having some fun here. The story is clearly about Sherlock Holmes but ostensibly NOT about Sherlock Holmes. Chabon never once employs the famous name, referring to his protagonist as “the old man” throughout. The apparent purpose of this is to de-emphasize “Holmes the legend” – his history, his methods, his life – in order to focus on the “Holmes the man,” for this is NOT a story about an investigation, but rather a story about how ordinary (and not so ordinary) people cope with the gradual unraveling of their lives (the boy), their families/loves (the wife & her husband), their health/wits (Holmes), and their dreams/desires (the villains in the tale). What’s the Final Solution? In the end it’s the parrot (not Sherlock) who "clues" us in, the only one who has understood from the beginning that our best hope surviving the inevitable ravages of life lies in the connections we make, in the love that we give and accept from others.
This definitely isn’t your typical Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The “great detective” here is doing battle not with Moriarty, but with the indignities of age and obsolescence. Nor does he actually ever “solve” the case of the numbers, though clues are plentiful and some possible solutions are dangled for the reader to choose between. (For instance, is the title “Final Solution” meant to be interpreted figuratively, as I’ve done above, or literally, as in the Nazi’s “Final Solution” ... or both?) I admit the mystery fan in me would love to know if the numbers are actually … but no, I won’t spoil the fun of drawing your own conclusions by disclosing my own! It says something about Chabon’s storytelling that I’m content never to know, having derived sufficient enjoyment from the skillfully-drawn characters, the satisfying themes, the author’s sly sense of humor, and – as always – Chabon’s lovely, lyrical prose.
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LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum
The Final Solution is Michael Chabon's postmodern answer to Sherlock Holmes. "Mysteries" are not so nearly as neatly laid out and the narrative doesn't clearly define every ambiguity. Circumstances extend beyond what is said, and even the most astute detective can't know everything.
The once-famous
The once-famous
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detective is now merely "the old man," a generally anti-social man who has found himself with a mute German boy, and the boy's parrot, to care for. The parrot captures everyone's interest with a string of German numbers it rattles off: a cipher, Swiss bank accounts, a secret code? That's one mystery of the novel; the other is a classic whodunnit murder. Yet the ambiguities that Chabon allows to remain unresolved, or barely hinted at, put the detective genre to rest, even as the novel serves as an homage. Life, its complexities and messiness, exists beyond what's on paper, and any reductivity otherwise simply isn't workable. Show Less
LibraryThing member lizatoad
This book is rather charming, but the title is a bit much given where the plot actually goes. It almost verges on being disrespectful.
LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: In this slim little novella Chabon gives us a Sherlock Holmes story - but not a story of the great detective in his prime. Rather, he paints a picture of Holmes as an old man during the height of World War II. He has long since abandoned Baker Street and now lives alone in a small country
Review: While I've read and seen any number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations and spin-offs, I've yet to read any of the real thing. Nevertheless, I feel like I know enough about the mythos in order to identify when it's done well, and Chabon does pull out a neat little story here. It's true that the solution to the mystery of the bird's location didn't require a whole lot of detailed deducing, but came in a single flash of insight, hingeing on a single clue. It's also true that the solution to the mystery of the numbers is presented to us pretty baldly, without any deducing at all (and was also pretty easy to guess.) But, as I expected from Chabon, the writing is so lovely that the rest of it didn't matter so much. This book is full of these long, winding sentences that in anyone else's hands would be tortuous, but Chabon turns them into something lyrical and round and lovely. He does a fine job with the character sketches as well, showing up personalities with the tiniest of details, and his depiction of the 89-year-old Holmes is perfect, and perfectly heartbreaking. Admittedly, this novella is short enough that there's not much "there" there, but what is there is masterfully crafted. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Short enough to be easily read, I'd suggest this to fans of Sherlock Holmes stories, Michael Chabon, and World War II stories that take place somewhere other than the front, although maybe not to people who are looking for a really meaty mystery.
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village, where the villagers want little to do with the cantankerous beekeeper they think of simply as "the old man." However, into his life wanders nine-year-old Linus Steinman, a refugee from Nazi Germany, who is mute and nearly illiterate, but who has a beautiful African gray parrot that recites long strings of seemingly random numbers. Linus and his parrot fascinate the old man, who wonders what the numbers could be - coded German intelligence or bank account numbers? - but when the parrot goes missing, the old man must resurrect his once-famous powers of deduction in order to reunite the orphan with his only friend.Review: While I've read and seen any number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations and spin-offs, I've yet to read any of the real thing. Nevertheless, I feel like I know enough about the mythos in order to identify when it's done well, and Chabon does pull out a neat little story here. It's true that the solution to the mystery of the bird's location didn't require a whole lot of detailed deducing, but came in a single flash of insight, hingeing on a single clue. It's also true that the solution to the mystery of the numbers is presented to us pretty baldly, without any deducing at all (and was also pretty easy to guess.) But, as I expected from Chabon, the writing is so lovely that the rest of it didn't matter so much. This book is full of these long, winding sentences that in anyone else's hands would be tortuous, but Chabon turns them into something lyrical and round and lovely. He does a fine job with the character sketches as well, showing up personalities with the tiniest of details, and his depiction of the 89-year-old Holmes is perfect, and perfectly heartbreaking. Admittedly, this novella is short enough that there's not much "there" there, but what is there is masterfully crafted. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Short enough to be easily read, I'd suggest this to fans of Sherlock Holmes stories, Michael Chabon, and World War II stories that take place somewhere other than the front, although maybe not to people who are looking for a really meaty mystery.
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LibraryThing member itchyfeetreader
Michael Chabon is clearly a master of the written word – his vocabulary is exceptional and the overall prose beautifully captivating. There were more than a couple of sentences in this book that I read, read again and then read out loud to better enjoy. That said I am not quite sure it works
I did really enjoy the main character and the strong hints we are given to his identity throughout, despite him never being named. I particularly enjoyed seeing the representation of a much older character in a novel and the honest reflections on age were well done and could have stood up to further expansion.
In the young boy, Linus, I again saw a sympathetic and well-sketched character but would again have liked to get to know him better than we do – some of his recent experiences are hinted at but never fully articulated and given this I am not particularly comfortable with the name of the novel. I am not sure, despite Linus’s experiences it has a great deal to say about the Holocaust and I found the naming in poor taste
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particularly well for creating a sense of pace or urgency in a detective / mystery story. In fact, for such a very short book (my copy goes to 126 pages with some slightly odd full page illustrations) there was a distinct lack of pace or indeed very much happening or being uncovered at all. I did really enjoy the main character and the strong hints we are given to his identity throughout, despite him never being named. I particularly enjoyed seeing the representation of a much older character in a novel and the honest reflections on age were well done and could have stood up to further expansion.
In the young boy, Linus, I again saw a sympathetic and well-sketched character but would again have liked to get to know him better than we do – some of his recent experiences are hinted at but never fully articulated and given this I am not particularly comfortable with the name of the novel. I am not sure, despite Linus’s experiences it has a great deal to say about the Holocaust and I found the naming in poor taste
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LibraryThing member craso
This is a well written novella about an old man, a young boy and a parrot. The setting is Britain in World War II. A man staying with the local vicar is murdered and a parrot belonging to a little German boy is stolen. Are the crimes connected? Is the list of numbers the parrot recites in German a
This is a thinly veiled Sherlock Holmes story. The old beekeeper is obviously the great detective. It was a joy to read about Holmes in retirement. To outsiders he seems like an eccentric old man. We the readers know differently. It was heartbreaking however, to read of his fears of failing mind and body.
One chapter even showed the world seen through the eyes of a parrot. I wonder if parrots are really that smart. I would like to think so.
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secret Nazi code?This is a thinly veiled Sherlock Holmes story. The old beekeeper is obviously the great detective. It was a joy to read about Holmes in retirement. To outsiders he seems like an eccentric old man. We the readers know differently. It was heartbreaking however, to read of his fears of failing mind and body.
One chapter even showed the world seen through the eyes of a parrot. I wonder if parrots are really that smart. I would like to think so.
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
Michael Chabon's The Final Solution belongs on the shelf right next to "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman. Both are sidelong additions to the Sherlock Holmes mythos, and neither ever mentions the famous detective by name. Chabon gives us a geriatric Holmes in 1944, referred to only as "the old
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man." The legendary sleuth is now dedicated to the pursuit of beekeeping, and baited from his retirement by an enigmatic parrot and the mute Jewish refugee boy to whom the parrot belongs. There is a murder, leading the police to seek the old man's aid, but it's not the corpse that intrigues him, nor the hints of espionage surrounding the wartime criminal investigation. The story is a quick read, full of sharply-drawn characters and incisive prose, and it eventuates into distinctly 20th-century concerns with which Arthur Conan Doyle never burdened his Victorian detective. Show Less
LibraryThing member eleanor_eader
A short, fine - if not always entirely convincing - Sherlock Holmes pastiche in which a young, mute, Jewish boy loses his rare pet African parrot and a lodger of the family with whom he is staying is killed.
I say ‘not entirely convincing’, but mean only the set-up; the writing and handling of
I enjoyed the story, but for its brevity, was surprised to see it published alone. I don’t think I’d have paid full price, had I not found it in a charity shop (with full apology to Mr. Chabon for this conclusion).
I say ‘not entirely convincing’, but mean only the set-up; the writing and handling of
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the unnamed detective are wonderful, and there is, towards the end, the most marvellous passage written from the point of view of the parrot itself that absolutely astounded me, it was so evocative. Chabon draws mystery, character and motives in masterful strokes, and tackles this post-career case with profound respect.I enjoyed the story, but for its brevity, was surprised to see it published alone. I don’t think I’d have paid full price, had I not found it in a charity shop (with full apology to Mr. Chabon for this conclusion).
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LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Michael Chabon has done a favor for all of us who can't get enough Sherlock Holmes. Chabon imagines “the old man” at the end of his life, outwardly feeble but still mentally sharp, although not as quick as he once was. The old man's routine is disturbed by a mute Jewish boy with a pet parrot
I've noticed that young children and elderly people often have a special affinity. It's as if they recognize their limitations and join forces to do things that neither one could accomplish alone. The boy and the old man seem to have this kind of relationship, and the pair upstage the other characters in the story. I probably won't remember much about most of the characters in the book, but I'll never forget the boy or the old man.
I listened to the audio version on a road trip. Michael York's narration is perfectly pitched and paced for this story. Warmly recommended!
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and an aura of sadness. The boy, a refugee from Nazi Germany, is lodging with the local vicar. When a fellow lodger is murdered and the parrot disappears, the old man gathers his strength and his wits to tackle one last case. He's driven not so much by solving the murder as he is by his desire to reunite the forlorn boy with his beloved pet.I've noticed that young children and elderly people often have a special affinity. It's as if they recognize their limitations and join forces to do things that neither one could accomplish alone. The boy and the old man seem to have this kind of relationship, and the pair upstage the other characters in the story. I probably won't remember much about most of the characters in the book, but I'll never forget the boy or the old man.
I listened to the audio version on a road trip. Michael York's narration is perfectly pitched and paced for this story. Warmly recommended!
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Chabon takes a stab at adding to the Sherlock Holmes canon, by giving us the great sleuth in advanced retirement, lured out of his self-imposed bee-keeping isolation to help solve a murder and the disappearance of an intriguing parrot. The detection required would have been no challenge at all to
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Holmes in his prime, and presents very little to the failing octagenarian he has become by 1944, but Chabon is a fine story-teller, and this was fun to read. In an NPR interview, Chabon stated that he would hope people who picked this up to read it because he wrote it would be moved to read or re-read Conan Doyle's stories and discover what a good writer Doyle really was. "He was in touch with powerful, painful, deep stuff, and it comes through even within this rather tidy framework of the Victorian detective story." Hear, hear. Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
I knew when I picked up this book that it was a Sherlock Holmes tribute, but somehow I’d managed to forget that fact by the time I started reading it. I’m kind of glad I had… I came to the story without expectations, and very much enjoyed it. It might disappoint some readers who expect a more
Finishing up the book – I missed my subway stop, AND I cried at the end. That’s a recommendation.
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traditional mystery, but I found this tale of an orphaned Jewish refugee in England to be both clever and moving. When the boy’s pet parrot goes missing, an elderly, retired detective is motivated to take up the case. Suspicions reach up to the highest levels and may involve government secrets. Finishing up the book – I missed my subway stop, AND I cried at the end. That’s a recommendation.
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LibraryThing member nohablo
Tightly and glossily written, and pocked with clever pangs of conscience, but feels a bit unintentionally opaque and unfinished; the final gut punch is subtle and nicely savage, but it too is a little neat, and I have trouble understanding the outpour of critical praise.
LibraryThing member souleswanderer
This read a little too over the top, especially in the lengthy drawn out descriptive passages, of which there are plenty.
Overall, not a bad little story with it's nod to Arthur Conan Doyle's character long beyond retirement age, if one were to believe he could ever retire. One is never outright
Rather detracting was the author's want to see just how much description could be applied to everything.
Overall, not a bad little story with it's nod to Arthur Conan Doyle's character long beyond retirement age, if one were to believe he could ever retire. One is never outright
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told the old man portrayed is Sherlock Holmes, in his twilight years, but every reference is a clear signpost to that conclusion. Rather detracting was the author's want to see just how much description could be applied to everything.
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LibraryThing member pokylittlepuppy
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
The characters were all right, but have the problem that bugs me in a lot of contemporary fiction. What interesting and quirky and touching attributes can I put into this person? And how many can I fit into one place? A mute orphan boy with a talking parrot! A senile sleuth with a smelly house and incredible powers! And oh look, a chapter from the perspective of the bird. Is this a talented man or what.
Can't seem to manage to put a woman in his book though. Parrots, no problem!
Perhaps that's what they call being overwritten. But I find it grating when there's more traits than character.
Something about the zesty little title kind of bugs me too. Cut your darlings, Chabon.
But that's just my cranky.
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
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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 all right, but have the problem that bugs me in a lot of contemporary fiction. What interesting and quirky and touching attributes can I put into this person? And how many can I fit into one place? A mute orphan boy with a talking parrot! A senile sleuth with a smelly house and incredible powers! And oh look, a chapter from the perspective of the bird. Is this a talented man or what.
Can't seem to manage to put a woman in his book though. Parrots, no problem!
Perhaps that's what they call being overwritten. But I find it grating when there's more traits than character.
Something about the zesty little title kind of bugs me too. Cut your darlings, Chabon.
But that's just my cranky.
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LibraryThing member Tuirgin
The Final Solution is Michael Chabon’s homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s a delightful short novel with a once-famous but never-named sleuth, now an elderly bee-keeper, drawn into a mystery involving a mute Jewish boy and his African Gray Parrot. In Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, almost
Oh, she thought, what a fine old man this is! Over his bearing, his speech, the tweed suit and tatterdemalion Inverness there hung, like the odor of Turkish shag, all the vanished vigor and rectitude of the empire.
Chabon has been criticized by reviewers for neglecting the tidy logical forms of the mystery, and he has been criticized for letting his prose run away with the story. It is clear, however, that this is a Chabon story and not a Doyle story. Chabon’s incredible talent is in his command of language, and the ineluctable rhythms of a long sentence. He gives us a Holmes finally aware of his limitations, and of the limitations of rationality and logic. He gives us a story with subtle allusions to heavier things yet unknown to England of the day. Only the boy and the bird knows, and it has turned the boy quiet. The bird sings of things it doesn’t understand. And so do we.
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the whole business is the powerful tidiness of rational deduction, as all the disparate pieces are put together with logic ribbon tied neatly in a bow. In Chabon’s take, the detective is old and diminished, and there is a touch of nostalgia to the story if not the person:Oh, she thought, what a fine old man this is! Over his bearing, his speech, the tweed suit and tatterdemalion Inverness there hung, like the odor of Turkish shag, all the vanished vigor and rectitude of the empire.
Chabon has been criticized by reviewers for neglecting the tidy logical forms of the mystery, and he has been criticized for letting his prose run away with the story. It is clear, however, that this is a Chabon story and not a Doyle story. Chabon’s incredible talent is in his command of language, and the ineluctable rhythms of a long sentence. He gives us a Holmes finally aware of his limitations, and of the limitations of rationality and logic. He gives us a story with subtle allusions to heavier things yet unknown to England of the day. Only the boy and the bird knows, and it has turned the boy quiet. The bird sings of things it doesn’t understand. And so do we.
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LibraryThing member LaurenMae85
The Final Solution opens in Sussex Downs England in the summer of 1944. Sherlock Holmes (though never actually named), has retired from a fruitful career of crime solving in favor of a quieter life of beekeeping in the English countryside. True to form, he takes his hobby seriously-even going so
Holmes finds his curiosity piqued by the appearance of young, mute Jewish-German immigrant boy named Linus who is constantly in the company of his beloved pet parrot. The parrot, named Bruno, regularly chants a seemingly random string of German numbers.
In the course of an evening, we find Mr. Shane, a British Foreign Officer, murdered and Bruno missing. It is assumed the bird was stolen in the interest of decoding the numbers he recites, thought to be some sort of military code or Swiss bank account number. Holmes decides to come out of retirement to assist the local police department, but only to help recover Bruno.
"here was a puzzle to kindle old appetites and energies. He felt pleased with himself for having roused his bent frame from the insidious grip of his armchair."
On the surface, this seems like a light read. The book itself is relatively short, the general story of recovering and returning a beloved child's pet is a sweet one, and who doesn't love the idea of a cantankerous old Sherlock Holmes on one last adventure? However, with a second and deeper look, this story is a lot more powerful.
[
There are really three mysteries presented here: the murder of Mr. Shane, the theft of Bruno, and the meaning of the numbers. While the first two cases are pretty easily cracked by Holmes, Chabon never reveals to the reader the meaning of the German numbers, and they seem to remain a mystery to Holmes himself.
“I doubt very much,” the old man said, “if we shall ever learn what significance, if any, those numbers may hold.”
This gives the reader a chance to play detective.
In the chapter narrated by Bruno himself, he refers to the string of numbers as the "train song". The allusion to trains seems to underscore some gravely traumatic event in Linus's life, which rendered him (mostly) mute. Given what we know-that this takes place during WWII, that Linus is a Jewish-German immigrant with no family, that historically trains were often used to transport Jews to concentration camps-we can assume that Linus is experiencing post traumatic stress in the form of isolated flashbacks of trains and the "train song" refers to the numbers on the boxcars. Perhaps Holme's inability to unravel they mystery of the numbers is a reflection of the sad times the characters find themselves in. The loss of rationale and moral order in the world-the horror of the Holocaust and the war in general-go beyond even the power of Holmes's deductive reasoning.
"The application of creative intelligence to a problem, the finding of a solution at once dogged, elegant, and wild, this had always seemed to him to be the essential business of human beings— the discovery of sense and causality amid the false leads, the noise, the trackless brambles of life. And yet he had always been haunted— had he not?— by the knowledge that there were men, lunatic cryptographers, mad detectives, who squandered their brilliance and sanity [...]"
Perhaps for die hard Sherlock fans, the simplicity of the case solving might be underwhelming. But we have to remember, we're not, in fact, reading Doyle here. This is Chabon's *take* on the classic detective. And he brings something a lot more meaningful and poignant to the tale. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Chabon's writing really sparkled here, and it was the kind of book that, once completed, left me wanting to have a long discussion about it. Perfect for a book club.
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far as to import a new specimen of been from Texas. Otherwise, he is more or less your typical, old curmudgeon (are we really surprised? I found this a delightful portrayal of an 89 year old Holmes). Holmes finds his curiosity piqued by the appearance of young, mute Jewish-German immigrant boy named Linus who is constantly in the company of his beloved pet parrot. The parrot, named Bruno, regularly chants a seemingly random string of German numbers.
In the course of an evening, we find Mr. Shane, a British Foreign Officer, murdered and Bruno missing. It is assumed the bird was stolen in the interest of decoding the numbers he recites, thought to be some sort of military code or Swiss bank account number. Holmes decides to come out of retirement to assist the local police department, but only to help recover Bruno.
"here was a puzzle to kindle old appetites and energies. He felt pleased with himself for having roused his bent frame from the insidious grip of his armchair."
On the surface, this seems like a light read. The book itself is relatively short, the general story of recovering and returning a beloved child's pet is a sweet one, and who doesn't love the idea of a cantankerous old Sherlock Holmes on one last adventure? However, with a second and deeper look, this story is a lot more powerful.
[
There are really three mysteries presented here: the murder of Mr. Shane, the theft of Bruno, and the meaning of the numbers. While the first two cases are pretty easily cracked by Holmes, Chabon never reveals to the reader the meaning of the German numbers, and they seem to remain a mystery to Holmes himself.
“I doubt very much,” the old man said, “if we shall ever learn what significance, if any, those numbers may hold.”
This gives the reader a chance to play detective.
In the chapter narrated by Bruno himself, he refers to the string of numbers as the "train song". The allusion to trains seems to underscore some gravely traumatic event in Linus's life, which rendered him (mostly) mute. Given what we know-that this takes place during WWII, that Linus is a Jewish-German immigrant with no family, that historically trains were often used to transport Jews to concentration camps-we can assume that Linus is experiencing post traumatic stress in the form of isolated flashbacks of trains and the "train song" refers to the numbers on the boxcars. Perhaps Holme's inability to unravel they mystery of the numbers is a reflection of the sad times the characters find themselves in. The loss of rationale and moral order in the world-the horror of the Holocaust and the war in general-go beyond even the power of Holmes's deductive reasoning.
"The application of creative intelligence to a problem, the finding of a solution at once dogged, elegant, and wild, this had always seemed to him to be the essential business of human beings— the discovery of sense and causality amid the false leads, the noise, the trackless brambles of life. And yet he had always been haunted— had he not?— by the knowledge that there were men, lunatic cryptographers, mad detectives, who squandered their brilliance and sanity [...]"
Perhaps for die hard Sherlock fans, the simplicity of the case solving might be underwhelming. But we have to remember, we're not, in fact, reading Doyle here. This is Chabon's *take* on the classic detective. And he brings something a lot more meaningful and poignant to the tale. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Chabon's writing really sparkled here, and it was the kind of book that, once completed, left me wanting to have a long discussion about it. Perfect for a book club.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
Arthur Conan Doyle kept writing Sherlock Holmes story up until his death in 1930, but usually backdated them chronologically to place them in the detective’s heyday, the 1890s. The final story in the series’ chronological order, “The Last Bow,” takes place in 1914 on the eve of World War I,
Michael Chabon’s novella The Final Solution takes place in Sussex in 1944, in which an unnamed, octogenarian beekeeper – who once dazzled Victorian London with his detecting skills – meets a mute Jewish refugee boy and his pet African grey parrot, which has a habit of repeating strings of German numbers. When a man is murdered and the parrot goes missing, Holmes agrees to help the local police track it down – not to solve the “unremarkable” mystery of a murder, but simply to reunite the poor child with his only friend.
The Final Solution (an obvious Holocaust reference and a less obvious reference, for readers unacquainted with Holmesian lore, to a famous story called “The Final Problem”) is firmly set within Chabon’s genre-experimentation period, being a detective story touching on all his typical themes: Judaism, the Holocaust, and even superheroes, if you consider Sherlock Holmes to be an early example of one. He doesn’t attempt to mimic Doyle’s style; this is very much a Chabon novel, with all the wonderfully descriptive writing and excellent metaphors one would expect.
I’m not a Sherlock Holmes fan, but obviously many people are, and the character has of course become legend. Even though Doyle himself considered it unremarkable genre fiction which he wrote to pay the rent, many would be miffed with the idea of other writers tinkering with the great detective. But, of course, many have anyway, and there are certainly worse writers to do so than one as gifted as Michael Chabon. There are some poignant scenes as Holmes – still sharp of mind yet beginning to succumb to age – has mental episodes in which he is briefly unable to recognise anything around him.
The conquest of his mind by age was not a mere blunting or slowing down but an erasure, as of a desert capital by a drifting millenium of sand.
Likewise, the final paragraph of the book – and the revelation of precisely what the parrots’ numbers means – is sad and moving. The Final Solution makes any number of veiled commentaries on the concept of mystery and detection, but the most obvious one is the great, unsolvable mystery of the Holocaust, which hangs heavily over the story as a crime that not even Sherlock Holmes can solve. The Final Solution is a short but elegant novella, one which fans of Michael Chabon and fans of Sherlock Holmes alike can enjoy.
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after which Holmes retires from detecting and takes up beekeeping in the country.Michael Chabon’s novella The Final Solution takes place in Sussex in 1944, in which an unnamed, octogenarian beekeeper – who once dazzled Victorian London with his detecting skills – meets a mute Jewish refugee boy and his pet African grey parrot, which has a habit of repeating strings of German numbers. When a man is murdered and the parrot goes missing, Holmes agrees to help the local police track it down – not to solve the “unremarkable” mystery of a murder, but simply to reunite the poor child with his only friend.
The Final Solution (an obvious Holocaust reference and a less obvious reference, for readers unacquainted with Holmesian lore, to a famous story called “The Final Problem”) is firmly set within Chabon’s genre-experimentation period, being a detective story touching on all his typical themes: Judaism, the Holocaust, and even superheroes, if you consider Sherlock Holmes to be an early example of one. He doesn’t attempt to mimic Doyle’s style; this is very much a Chabon novel, with all the wonderfully descriptive writing and excellent metaphors one would expect.
I’m not a Sherlock Holmes fan, but obviously many people are, and the character has of course become legend. Even though Doyle himself considered it unremarkable genre fiction which he wrote to pay the rent, many would be miffed with the idea of other writers tinkering with the great detective. But, of course, many have anyway, and there are certainly worse writers to do so than one as gifted as Michael Chabon. There are some poignant scenes as Holmes – still sharp of mind yet beginning to succumb to age – has mental episodes in which he is briefly unable to recognise anything around him.
The conquest of his mind by age was not a mere blunting or slowing down but an erasure, as of a desert capital by a drifting millenium of sand.
Likewise, the final paragraph of the book – and the revelation of precisely what the parrots’ numbers means – is sad and moving. The Final Solution makes any number of veiled commentaries on the concept of mystery and detection, but the most obvious one is the great, unsolvable mystery of the Holocaust, which hangs heavily over the story as a crime that not even Sherlock Holmes can solve. The Final Solution is a short but elegant novella, one which fans of Michael Chabon and fans of Sherlock Holmes alike can enjoy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member benjclark
The longer this story settles into my mind, the better and better it is-- both as a story, but also technically. Chabon's writing is of such a high caliber, he can outshine his own plotting, characters, etc. Not showing off, mind you-- just so very good that it can make the writing appear, instead
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of the story. Perfect in length, and a great read for lifelong fans of the greatest Consulting Detective. I'd recommend to Sherlock Holmes fans, bird people, World War II buffs, and Writers with a captial W. Show Less
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
The real mystery in Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution is not what happened to Bruno the parrot or the significance of the numbers he repeats . . . in German. The mystery is not even who killed Mr. Shane or what his real job was. No, the mystery is who is the curmudgeonly old man with a fondness
The story is set in England of 1944 and Chabon does a credible job of portraying England of the time. I am not enough of an Anglophile to say that it is historically accurate, but the descriptions are vivid enough, I almost felt I was there. The characters were fleshed out enough to do their jobs, tell their story and evoke the proper emotional response in us. The two characters that were the most developed were Bruno, the parrot, and the mystery old man. In the final scenes of the book, we learn more about the parrot’s background than his human companion. A very strange turn of events, to say the least, and one I enjoyed. The final passage fully explains the numbers, although you probably could have made a close, educated guess before that, and you understand the title.
The real hook that kept you reading was the old man and the numerous clues surrounding his identity. While we are never told his name, the astute reader will come across some very obvious references to one of the best known English language heroes ever put to paper. I guess he is still afraid of reprisals against him, so Chabon never reveals his real name. More’s the credit to keeping the game afoot.
I’m going to stretch my rules a little bit here and go a full five stars for this work. While it is not exactly groundbreaking, Chabon has crafted a wonderful mystery story and shows that brilliant works do not necessarily have to be long, drawn out affairs. In this short work, he has created more of a mystery than many other authors have in twice as many pages. The Final Solution is also far more accessible than his Yiddish Policeman’s Union and is sure to have a broader appeal.
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for a smelly tobacco, wearing outdated cloaks and a mind still surprisingly fit at making great leaps of logic. We are never told his name, but there are a lot of tantalizing clues.The story is set in England of 1944 and Chabon does a credible job of portraying England of the time. I am not enough of an Anglophile to say that it is historically accurate, but the descriptions are vivid enough, I almost felt I was there. The characters were fleshed out enough to do their jobs, tell their story and evoke the proper emotional response in us. The two characters that were the most developed were Bruno, the parrot, and the mystery old man. In the final scenes of the book, we learn more about the parrot’s background than his human companion. A very strange turn of events, to say the least, and one I enjoyed. The final passage fully explains the numbers, although you probably could have made a close, educated guess before that, and you understand the title.
The real hook that kept you reading was the old man and the numerous clues surrounding his identity. While we are never told his name, the astute reader will come across some very obvious references to one of the best known English language heroes ever put to paper. I guess he is still afraid of reprisals against him, so Chabon never reveals his real name. More’s the credit to keeping the game afoot.
I’m going to stretch my rules a little bit here and go a full five stars for this work. While it is not exactly groundbreaking, Chabon has crafted a wonderful mystery story and shows that brilliant works do not necessarily have to be long, drawn out affairs. In this short work, he has created more of a mystery than many other authors have in twice as many pages. The Final Solution is also far more accessible than his Yiddish Policeman’s Union and is sure to have a broader appeal.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sageness
Back in 8th grade Language Arts I went through a phase of reading all the Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle I could find. I'm pretty sure I read all the Holmes stories -- they held my attention better than the Poe for some reason (less baroque language maybe?) -- but my point is that I enjoyed
Which is to say, it's odd, unrealistic, somewhat endearing, and detached enough that the reader doesn't get terribly invested in any one character. That isn't a strength of the form, btw, just a feature of it. The strength is in Chabon's gorgeous way with language. Reading his prose is like swimming through a dictionary.
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this Chabon novella so much because it's essentially Sherlock Holmes fanfic.Which is to say, it's odd, unrealistic, somewhat endearing, and detached enough that the reader doesn't get terribly invested in any one character. That isn't a strength of the form, btw, just a feature of it. The strength is in Chabon's gorgeous way with language. Reading his prose is like swimming through a dictionary.
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LibraryThing member mrkay
A fun tale of mystery told more through the nuances of social relationships than of the mysterious powers of deduction. Interesting play on character as the old man (a well known impressionable sleuth in his youth) comes to terms with his reasoning prowess as well as age. My favorite was the
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chapter presented by Bruno, an African parrot, who describes his world through his understanding of events. Chabon does powerful things with his characters as they interact with one another, often subtle their imperfections kind of wash over the reader as one reaches for the plot. This reflection of our social mores is a powerful tool and may be overlooked by the simplicity of the storytelling. Show Less
LibraryThing member LukeS
In "The Final Solution," Michael Chabon gives us the story of the world-famous detective cracking the case of the interrogated parrot. It turns out someone did the parrot's owner in, and was questioning the parrot. It turns out the parrot knew and could recite rail car numbers of Jews being
This is a haunting little story, with a favorable ending; it's a sweet confection weighted with heavy themes. I enjoyed Chabon quite a bit at this length. "Kavalier and Clay" is too long.
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transported in the camps in the Final Solution. The "world famous detective" is not identified in the book, but no doubt is left before you finish. Conan Doyle's hero cannot be mistaken.This is a haunting little story, with a favorable ending; it's a sweet confection weighted with heavy themes. I enjoyed Chabon quite a bit at this length. "Kavalier and Clay" is too long.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
his charming novella, set in Great Britain near the end of WWII, tells of a very old, retired police detective who gets involved in solving a case of a missing parrot that belongs to a young boy who is mute because of a war trauma. There is also murder, the possibility of spies, and insight into
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the lives of more than one character. A very enjoyable read packed into a small form. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — Fiction — 2005)
Aga Khan Prize for Fiction (2003)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Mystery — 2005)
Original publication date
2004
Physical description
131 p.; 5.31 inches
ISBN
0060777109 / 9780060777104