Book #6 Final Solution by Michael Chabon
“Long life wore away everything that was not essential. Some old men finished their lives as little more than the sum total of their memories, others as nothing a pair of grasping pincers, or a set of bitter axioms proven. It would please him well enough to amount to no more in the end than a single great organ of detection, reaching into blankness for a clue.” — Final Solution, page 83
Things I Liked About The Final Solution:
* It centers around a parrot. (Although, sadly, there are no pirates involved.)
* The word “cuckoldry” is used, and used IN PASSING. How fantastic is that?
* One of the character’s suffers from “gephyrophobia” which is the morbid fear of crossing bridges.
Things I Didn’t Like About The Final Solution:
* The cover design.
* The illustrations. It was as if they were mocking the story, and that’s just not my inner schizophrenic speaking either.
I’m usually either thinking about the last book I read, the last movie I saw, or the last boy I kissed. Since the first item of that list was leaving quite the sour taste, I decided it was time to move on with a quick novel that would put my bad memories to rest. (This reminds me of something I read once about “refreshing one’s palate” by kissing a new boy as soon as possible after a breakup.) I chose Final Solution because I’ve heard so many favorable things about Chabon’s writing style. They were all well warranted. Although the plot of this one wasn’t anything to rave about, I quite loved Chabon’s way with words (hubba hubba) so hopefully this shall be the first of many of his books.
