This past semester I have taken a literature course entitled Detective Fiction and Film. The purpose of the course was to take works which are not considered "literature" and analyze them as literature. The class looked at The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Maltese Falcon, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Watchmen, and other detective genre works. The last book we read was intended as a look back on themes in many of the books we had previously looked at, basically a capstone for the course all within one book.
As it was so late in the semester, and I am a senior making my desire to read anything which I will not be quizzed, tested, or forced to recall in some manner is at zero I strongly debated not reading this book despite it being only 130 pages. However, I did because I really enjoy the professor's class and felt is was disrespectful not to read it. I did read it and found I was glad I did.
The book is called The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon. Its a detective story set in England during World War II. The story opens with The Old Man (his name is never provided) looking out his window at a boy who has a gray parrot with a red tail on his shoulder. Throughout the novel hints are dropped to alert the reader of The Old Man's identity. A deerstalker hat, a magnifying glass given by the most dear friend he ever had, a pipe, and a penchant for bouncing ideas off of another person (almost any person will do) in order to help him make sense of the case he has been presented (if you can't figure out what literary character The Old Man is supposed to be I suggest you either read the book for a better understanding of the hints that are dropped, I have no plans on revealing him by name).
The case presented to The Old Man is the death of a man and his possible connection to the boy's parrot, which has gone missing. The boy is a mute German Jew who has been brought to England and has escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. The book then describes how the man goes about solving the case.
As The Old Man is supposed to be a character in literature it is interesting to see how he tries to solve the case since some of the elements so essential to him are missing, his youth and vitality, his trusty side kick, among others. There is still a sense of his arrogance, though it is somewhat diminished, and he still has an air of 'I know everything about you just by looking at your boots', though it is also somewhat less as he seems to have lost some of his confidence.
The title also gives a clue to who the famous literary character because it plays on one of the titles this character appears in and the idea that this is the last one for The Old Man. But the title also is a reminder of the Nazi's plan for the Jews which becomes even more obvious upon learning the boy has escaped from Germany.
I really enjoyed the book, but it took me a long time to realize that. It wasn't until the "A-ha!" moment when everything came together that I figured it out I was enjoying it. I really enjoyed all the hints dropped reminding me who The Old Man was and how his age effected him making him almost an anachronism in the world he was living in.
I find my professor's decision and placement of this novel to be spot on. In analyzing it in class it touched on a number of the major issues discussed throughout the semester.
Overall, a nice short read looking at an established character very much at the end of his life, but still able to be as brilliant as ever.
Listening to: .38 Special - "Like No Other Night"
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