The Final Solution CD: A Story of Detection

Chabon, Michael

ISBN 10: 0060765712 ISBN 13: 9780060765712

Publisher: HarperAudio, 2004

Synopsis

In The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, prose magician Michael Chabon conjured the golden age of comic books, interwining history, legend and story-telling verve. In The Final Solution, he has condensed his boundless vision to create a short, suspenseful tale of compassion and wit that re-imagines the classic 19th-century detective story.

In deep retirement in the English countryside, an 89-year old man, vaguely recollected by the locals as a once-famous detective, is more concerned with his bookkeeping 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 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 at once more prosaic and far more sinister?

Though the solution to this last case may be beyond even the reach of the once famed sleuth, the true story of the boy and his parrot is subtly revealed to the reader in a wrenching resolution to this brilliant homage. The Final Solution is a work from a master story-teller at the height of his powers.

About this title

About the Authors

Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Moonglow and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, among many others. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.

Michael York, an acclaimed actor, has appeared in such films as Romeo and Juliet, Cabaret, Wide Sargasso Sea, and Austin Powers, as well as on the London and Broadway stages.

From the Back Cover

In The Final Solution, Michael Chabon has condensed his boundless vision to craft a short, suspenseful tale of compassion and wit that re-imagines the classic nineteenth-century detective story.

In deep retirement in the English countryside, an eighty-nine-year-old man, vaguely recollected by locals as 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 perhaps? Or something more sinister? Is the solution to this last case -- the real explanation of the mysterious boy and his parrot -- beyond even the reach of the once-famed sleuth? Subtle revelations lead the reader to a wrenching resolution.

This brilliant homage is the work of a master storyteller at the height of his powers.

Performed by Michael York

Reviews

While Chabon's novel of suspense is relatively short and Michael York delivers a stellar performance, it's a challenge to the listener. The work does not translate well to audio. Chabon is a master of complexity, both in the stories he crafts and the style in which he writes. Although these distinctions work well in print, in audio the listener does not have the luxury of being able to turn back pages frequently to re-read complicated sentences. The result is an anomaly. Michael York could not be better, and his style and tone fit well into a mystery based in the English countryside. But York's strengths simply cannot overcome Chabon's complicated plot and narrative style, which are best enjoyed in print. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Following Summerland (2002), his foray into fantasy, Chabon continues to tinker with genre fiction, this time with a peculiar homage to the classical detective story. It's summer 1944: the Allies are slogging their way across France, and deep in the British countryside, a man is killed, apparently while in the act of stealing a German boy's parrot. The boy, a seemingly mute Jewish refugee living with a melancholy African minister and his English wife, captures the interest of a long-retired detective, once famous for his remarkable deductive abilities. Thus begins a slow-moving but atmospheric evocation of the mood and feel of Christie and Sayers. Once roused from his reclusive retirement, our nameless, pipe-smoking, beekeeping hero proves every bit as eccentric and outlandishly brilliant as the classical-era detectives he evokes: Holmes, Poirot, Wimsey. Although Chabon patches together a serviceable plot--the murder victim may have been some sort of spy, and the number-spouting parrot may be hoarding a secret--he is less interested in constructing a genuine puzzle than in assembling a cast of eccentrics and letting them frolic in the countryside. It's all accomplished with plenty of smart, stylistic turns, but finally the short novel feels like a lesser Coen brothers movie: all the trappings without much filling. That's the trouble with genre homages: too often they turn out be Potemkin villages. Bill Ott
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Edition details

• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060765712
• ISBN 13: 9780060765712
• Binding: Audio CD