Michael Chabon: The Final Solution

[Wabbit]

I found this very interesting sounding book. This might interest all those here that are fans of detective novels and in particular the adventures of a Mr Sherlock Homes!

It's 1944 and "the old man" as he is refereed too is brought back out of retirement of old age to solve one more mystery and one more crime. Interesting idea. The full review is here should you wish to read it

Particular points in the review caught my attention and interest!

If you're a dedicated Doyle-head, all this comes as no surprise. But here's some fresh news: Sherlock Holmes is very much alive and well, thanks to Michael Chabon. In his newest novel, The Final Solution, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay, brings an aging, decrepit Holmes back for one more case: to discover the whereabouts of a missing parrot and solve a gruesome murder connected to that birdnapping. Set in 1944, The Final Solution never identifies Holmes by name (the character is simply "the old man"), but there's little doubt of the elderly gentleman's identity. All the elementary clues are there in plain view, starting with Chabon's nod to Doyle on the acknowledgments page and continuing with the man's retirement hobby of beekeeping and a mention of his old doctor friend (Watson does not make an appearance on these pages, nor do Inspector Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson the housekeeper, or the Baker Street Irregulars).

and...

The bird is named Bruno and we later learn he can recite poetry and sing German opera ("though from time to time one hears snatches of Gilbert & Sullivan"), as well as repeating that string of mysterious numbers. He belongs to the boy, a mute Jewish orphan who has come to England from Germany, where his parents have apparently been killed in a concentration camp. Young Linus is described as "a quiet nine-year-old boy whose face was like a blank back page from the book of human sorrows." As he did in Kavalier and Clay, Chabon tenderly captures the sorrow and the horror of Hitler's own "final solution" and it's this haunting layer which gives the novel a bedrock of deeper meaning which we wouldn't find in, say, Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Tragedy: A Case to Remember.

Sounds good?

 

[soxfan]

Heck, yeah! Adding yet another title to my already-long queue.

 

[Sitaram]

I am surprised that Chabon chose the title "The Final Solution". When I first saw this title, I thought of Hitler:

http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/finlsol.html

 

[scooter13]

I just recently listened to the audio book version of this (long road trip to visit my folks). It was quite good. I am not a Sherlock Holmes fan, but have read a lot of great reviews of Chabon's writing, and they weren't wrong. Very elegant prose, and a very interesting story. What might have made it better for non-mystery fans like me is that there necessarily weren't clues to wait for or to find. It was mostly the story of "the old man" tracking who could have taken the bird. Or so it seemed to me. I really enjoyed it (though I wish I had read it instead of "reading" it via audio). Michael York however did a great job in his reading.

 

[StillILearn]

Thank you for bumping this, Sitaram and Scooter.

(singing): Here I go again...

 

[Brys]

I agree with Scooter - an excellent novel with brilliant prose, and Chabon made the characters all very interesting. It was also very subtly done - not a traditional murder mystery (which I'm not a great fan of), and the context of the Second World War makes the setting even more interesting.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

Oh, now you've gone and tickled my fancy! I must put this on my TBR list too. I've been an almost life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes.

 

[nixmith]

Final Solution

I am surprised that Chabon chose the title "The Final Solution". When I first saw this title, I thought of Hitler:

http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/finlsol.html

That's why Chabon chose that title. It's also a play on Doyle's story "The Final Problem" in which Doyle 'kills' Holmes.

 

[StillILearn]

There's also this.

 

[pontalba]

There's also this.

I read that years ago. Excellent. Don't remember details now, but I throughly enjoyed it at the time.

 

[StillILearn]

I read that years ago. Excellent. Don't remember details now, but I throughly enjoyed it at the time.

Same thing with me: (The Seven-Per-cent Solution.) For some reason I'm feeling a tiny bit tempted to go on just the smallest little Holmesian binge right about now.

I love your new avatar.

 

[pontalba]

Same thing with me: (The Seventy Percent Solution.) For some reason I'm feeling a tiny bit tempted to go on just the smallest little Holmsian binge right about now.

Ain't no sucha animal.

You know I haven't reread the original stories in many, many years, like 35 years. One of these days......
Post Nabokov I suppose. Whenever that would be.

 

[StillILearn]

Ain't no sucha animal.

You know I haven't reread the original stories in many, many years, like 35 years. One of these days......
Post Nabokov I suppose. Whenever that would be.

It generally takes me about fifteen minutes to slooowly correct all my many typos, and meanwhile you've already answered my question. One can only imagine how a real life conversation between us would sound. My guess is that I'll be needing to rachet up my coffee intake so I can be faster on the uptake.

 

[pontalba]

It generally takes me about fifteen minutes to slooowly correct all my many typos, and meanwhile you've already answered my question. One can only imagine how a real life conversation between us would sound.

Are we having another Twilight Zone Moment?

 

[StillILearn]

Are we having another Twilight Zone Moment?

I think we are, Miss Flying Fingers.