The Barnes & Noble Review
This Michael Chabon experiment with genre fiction -- a follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize winner, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -- is marked by a notable richness of character and playfulness of plot. Set in sleepy southern England in 1944, the story introduces a nine-year-old refugee, clearly intelligent but mute, and his constant companion, an African Gray parrot who spouts strings of numbers in German. Joining their ranks are a now-unbelieving Malayan minister and his underappreciated English wife, a few of their shady boardinghouse neighbors (one of whom turns up dead), and several inept police officers. When the parrot goes missing, who better to sort out the mystery but a pipe-smoking, beekeeping, 89-year-old retired detective who just happens to live in the neighborhood?

Arthur Conan Doyle fans will remember the last Sherlock Holmes book, The Final Problem, and get the reference right away. Though Chabon never calls his elderly detective by name, Holmes's spirit is decidedly alive in these pages.

Originally published as a novella in the Paris Review, the story is distinguished by its tightness and clean prose. Chabon's knack for giving even the parrot a certain realness and spark (along with a quirky insight that we would not expect) emerges as the real meat of this entertaining fiction, and Michael York's finely detailed performance is an appropriate pairing to the author's tone and pacing. The Final Solution is a pleasing addition to the genre and a satisfying nod to Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Elizabeth McMillan

Initially published in the Paris Review in 2003, Chabon's first significant adult fiction since his Pulitzer-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000) continues his sophisticated, if here somewhat skewed, appropriation of pop artifacts-in this case one of the greatest pop artifacts of all, Sherlock Holmes. As fans of the great detective know, after retirement Holmes moved from London to Sussex, where he spent his days keeping bees. Chabon's story takes place during WWII, when Holmes is 89 and intent on bee-keeping only-until a mysterious boy wanders into town. The boy is remarkable for two reasons: he's clearly intelligent but is mute, and he keeps a parrot that mouths, among other utterances, numbers in German. When the parrot is stolen, local cops turn to Holmes, and he's intrigued enough to dust off his magnifying glass and go to work. The writing here is taut and polished, and Chabon's characters and depictions of English country life are spot on. It's notable, though, that Chabon refers to Holmes never by name but persistently as "the old man"-notable because it's difficult to discern a reason other than self-conscious artistry not to name Holmes; the scenes in the novel that grip the strongest are those that feature Holmes, and more credit is due to Conan Doyle than to Chabon for that. Neither a proper mystery nor particularly fine literature, this haunting novella, for all its strengths, lies uneasily between the two and will fully please few fans of each. (Nov. 12) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Adult/High School-Roused out of retirement, a former detective, now a beekeeper, is identified only as "the old man." The story opens in the summer of 1944 when he sees a boy with a parrot on his shoulder walking along the train tracks. The boy is Linus Steinman, a refugee from Nazi Germany who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Panicker and their grown son in their boardinghouse. Though Linus doesn't speak, his parrot, Bruno, recites strings of numbers in German, as well as bits of poetry and snatches of songs. When a boarder is murdered and Bruno is kidnapped, the local police try to engage the beekeeper in helping them solve the crimes. He agrees to help, but only to find the bird. Thus begins his last case, his "final solution." The double meaning of the title gives subtle layers to the story and reveals the man's deep compassion for Linus. Chabon's writing can be both startlingly clear or laced with intricacies and detours. One chapter is told from the point of view of the parrot. Readers will enjoy the realistic characters and lush descriptions, and, best of all, trying to figure out the mysteries. Even the identity of "the old man" is a mystery until they figure out the clues for themselves-the tweed suit, the pipe, the beekeeping, and the sharp mind that can only belong to one famous sleuth.-Susanne Bardelson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

In wartime England, an old sleuth comes out of retirement to solve the case of a mute boy and his parrot, and their connection to a murder. Chabon's move into the world of detective fiction (after The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, 2000, etc.) produces mostly admirable results. The year is 1944, the setting a remote British village. The retired detective who lives there in rather fearsome solitude-tending to his beekeeping-is brought back to work by the local constabulary after a recent visitor to the village turns up murdered. It's suspected by some that another new arrival to the village may have something to do with the case. Nine-year-old Linus is a mute German-Jewish boy who stays at a local rooming house and is mostly known for the German-speaking parrot that's never far from his shoulder. The sleuth soon realizes that issues of national security could be involved here, with spies and code-breaking a la The 39 Steps, and he has to bring all his analytical skill to bear. That he's an impressive detective is a fact definitely agreed upon by the police, as it is by the author himself, who drops more than a few hints that the quiet old man, whose name seems to never come up, could be the great Sherlock Holmes himself, sans Watson. The result might be less than what Chabon fans would like to see, and also less than hard-core mystery readers would prefer. Nor does a slow start help matters any. Still, though what we have here is definitely Chabon in a minor key, he hasn't spared any effort in its execution. The English countryside is engagingly detailed, a trip to London under the Blitz especially effective in its somber tone of wartime malaise. A fun, short snip of a detective yarnthat, even so, leaves more questions than answers. Agent: Mary Evans/Mary Evans Inc.

On par with the best, most tightly written sections of Chabon’s last novel, the marvelous The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay…exceptional.” — New York Times Book Review

“At once an ingenious, fully imagined work, an expert piece of literary ventriloquism, and a mash note to the beloved boys’ tales of Chabon’s youth, The Final Solution is a major minor work that will come to be seen as a hinge piece in the development of Chabon’s art…A prose magician, Chabon is that rare literary anomaly: a gentle-spirited writer of boundless ambition." — Village Voice

“One of the best-written American novels published this fall . . . an experiment by a master.” — The New York Sun

“Chabon writes with plummy luxury . . . the language is luscious enough to lap up.” — Washington Post

“Deftly composed…the slender but elegant narrative begins churning on its way…seating us around a rooming-house dinner table of a Sunday with a full cast of secondary characters…it’s a method that dovetails beautifully…[The Final Solution] is a lovingly constructed tribute to a form.” — Chicago Tribune

“A profound pleasure.” — New York magazine

“The tough, fibrous membrane that used to separate literary fiction from popular fiction is rupturing. The highbrow and the lowbrow, once kept chastely separate, are now hooking up, which is why we have great, funky, unclassifiable writers like Chabon…this is literature in mid-transformation, the modernist bleeding into the postmodern and beyond.” — Time magazine

“Chabon’s fans will eagerly clue in on a fine new quality in his nimble voice-something firm, rich, and anything but child’s play.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Delightful…and deceptively profound...Chabon shows his greatness.” — Louisville Courier Journal

“Simple and startlingly sad…Chabon has created a minor masterpiece.” — Hartford Courant

“A haunting novella.” — Publishers Weekly

“Brilliant and unswervingly entertaining.” — The Forward

“The writing is everything that Chabon’s fans expect—gorgeous, muscular, mildly melancholic…wonderfully executed.” — Baltimore Sun

“Packed with gorgeous writing…a knockout. You’ll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Michael Chabon, is, simply, the coolest writer in America.” — Christian Science Monitor

“Chabon’s writing here is elegant and limber…[The Final Solution] is a little mystery story with big ideas.” — San Francisco Chronicle (Best Books of 2004)

“A knockout…you’ll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again.” — Denver Post

“Watching Chabon skillfully zigzag between literary and genre is half the fun of the book…refreshing.” — Miami Herald

“Exuberant…the real mystery is how Chabon managed to fit so much hope and humanity into such a brief tale.” — BookPage

“Infused with a graceful, elegiac atmosphere…wrought with innovative construction, glittering with epiphany…remarkable.” — Buffalo News

Chabon writes with plummy luxury . . . the language is luscious enough to lap up.

Deftly composed…the slender but elegant narrative begins churning on its way…seating us around a rooming-house dinner table of a Sunday with a full cast of secondary characters…it’s a method that dovetails beautifully…[The Final Solution] is a lovingly constructed tribute to a form.

Chabon’s fans will eagerly clue in on a fine new quality in his nimble voice-something firm, rich, and anything but child’s play.

A profound pleasure.

Delightful…and deceptively profound...Chabon shows his greatness.

Simple and startlingly sad…Chabon has created a minor masterpiece.

One of the best-written American novels published this fall . . . an experiment by a master.

The tough, fibrous membrane that used to separate literary fiction from popular fiction is rupturing. The highbrow and the lowbrow, once kept chastely separate, are now hooking up, which is why we have great, funky, unclassifiable writers like Chabon…this is literature in mid-transformation, the modernist bleeding into the postmodern and beyond.

On par with the best, most tightly written sections of Chabon’s last novel, the marvelous The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay…exceptional.

At once an ingenious, fully imagined work, an expert piece of literary ventriloquism, and a mash note to the beloved boys’ tales of Chabon’s youth, The Final Solution is a major minor work that will come to be seen as a hinge piece in the development of Chabon’s art…A prose magician, Chabon is that rare literary anomaly: a gentle-spirited writer of boundless ambition."

Chabon writes with plummy luxury . . . the language is luscious enough to lap up.

Deftly composed…the slender but elegant narrative begins churning on its way…seating us around a rooming-house dinner table of a Sunday with a full cast of secondary characters…it’s a method that dovetails beautifully…[The Final Solution] is a lovingly constructed tribute to a form.

A knockout…you’ll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again.

Packed with gorgeous writing…a knockout. You’ll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again.

Watching Chabon skillfully zigzag between literary and genre is half the fun of the book…refreshing.

Michael Chabon, is, simply, the coolest writer in America.

Infused with a graceful, elegiac atmosphere…wrought with innovative construction, glittering with epiphany…remarkable.

Brilliant and unswervingly entertaining.

Chabon’s writing here is elegant and limber…[The Final Solution] is a little mystery story with big ideas.

Exuberant…the real mystery is how Chabon managed to fit so much hope and humanity into such a brief tale.

The writing is everything that Chabon’s fans expect—gorgeous, muscular, mildly melancholic…wonderfully executed.

Watching Chabon skillfully zigzag between literary and genre is half the fun of the book…refreshing.

"Chabon’s writing here is elegant and limber…[The Final Solution] is a little mystery story with big ideas."

"A profound pleasure."

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