| Michael Chabon makes no secret of his love for often looked-down-upon “genre” fiction, be it science fiction, fantasy, or mystery. Though most of his books are of the literary fiction variety, he won the Pulitzer for a book about the creators of a Golden Age superhero in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Whole chapters of that book were prose versions of their comic books, making it clear that Chabon doesn’t buy into lit snobbery. Further proof is his novella The Final Solution.
In a scant 131 pages, Chabon tells the tale of an old, retired English sleuth living alone on the countryside in 1944, caring for his bees and basically waiting out his twilight years as peacefully as he can. This is momentarily interrupted when he comes across a mute Jewish boy and his parrot, Bruno, who has a habit of spouting off seemingly random numbers in German.
 When Bruno is bird-napped (leaving behind the body of a mysterious stranger) and the military appears interested in the parrot’s whereabouts, it becomes apparent that the German numbers may not be so random and nonsensical after all. More importantly to the ancient detective, however, is that this boy, not only unable to speak but an orphan as a result of the war, has lost his only friend. Creaking out of retirement, he endeavors to dust the cobwebs of his out of shape but still brilliant analytical mind and solve one last case.
The old man is never mentioned by name, but it’s obvious this is Chabon’s very own Sherlock Holmes tale (even without reading interviews in which the writer comes out and says it). Taking what seems at first to be a fairly mundane little mystery (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle standards) and using a more introspective, third person omniscient narrative rather than that of the curiously unmentioned Dr. John Watson, The Final Solution is clearly in the mystery genre while wrapped in some of the finest literary wordsmithing from one of our modern masters. It’s as much a study of the effects of old age and a life lived alone awkwardly opened up, however briefly, by an unexpected new friend it is a twisty mystery story involving a parrot speaking numerical German in WWII. Adding to the fun is a colorful supporting cast that includes a faith-challenged priest, mysterious dairymen, and suspicious inspectors that live precariously outside of the bombed remnants of a war-torn London. Though slim, this is a very involving quest to figure out “whodunit.”
The voice of this book isn’t what I’ve come to expect from Chabon. It is very much in the vernacular and style of old Sherlock Holmes stories, though it’s no mere copy. It feels more like that kind of flavor filtered Chabon’s own writing voice. Though I always liked Watson’s narration, here we actually get alternating viewpoints, like a chapter written from the point-of-view of Bruno the parrot, which is makes for interesting reading.
Also included in the book are some fine pencil drawings by Jay Ryan that punctuate much of the action, actually incorporating lines from the text into the art. Each drawing is interesting in its own right and adds to the overall feeling of fun this book has in spades.
In addition to being an entertaining little book, The Final Solution can serve two purposes: It’s the perfect intro to Sherlock Holmes mysteries for Chabon readers who might not consider checking out “genre” stories, as well as an segue into Chabon’s work for Holmes devotees. Being a fan of both, I found this story to be an exceedingly good read from start to finish. I also appreciate a “serious” writer not afraid to have fun in a genre. The paperback edition has an interview with Chabon in the back where he states that good writing is simply good writing. Sure lots of genre writing is bad or cheesy, but there are also gems to be found. It’s the same with everything, some good in lots of not so good. Science fiction, fantasy, adventure, horror, or mystery—good fiction is good fiction.
And Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution is good fiction.
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