The Final Solution: A Story of Detection - Softcover

Chabon, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060777109 ISBN 13: 9780060777104

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005

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

Review

"Michael Chabon, is, simply, the coolest writer in America."--Christian Science Monitor

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

"A knockout...you'll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again."--Denver Post

"Delightful...and deceptively profound...Chabon shows his greatness."--Louisville Courier Journal

"A haunting novella."--Publishers Weekly

"Watching Chabon skillfully zigzag between literary and genre is half the fun of the book...refreshing."--Miami Herald

"Infused with a graceful, elegiac atmosphere...wrought with innovative construction, glittering with epiphany...remarkable."--Buffalo News

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

"Packed with gorgeous writing...a knockout. You'll be done before you know it. Then you might well read it again."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Simple and startlingly sad...Chabon has created a minor masterpiece."--Hartford Courant

From the Back Cover

Retired to the English countryside, an eighty-nine-year-old man, rumored to be 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? Or do they hold a significance both more prosaic and far more sinister?

Though the solution may be beyond even the reach of the once-famous sleuth, the true story of the boy and his parrot is subtly revealed in a wrenching resolution.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060777109
• ISBN 13: 9780060777104
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 160