Elementary Education

THE TRULY gifted writers have the effect of making me glance at my own prose and suddenly feel the desire to close my laptop forever and take up needlepoint. Michael Chabon, with his combination of sublime, perspective insight and dirty-hands, real-world immersion, is a prime example. Chabon, who also brings to the table the admirable regular-guy attributes of husband, dad, comic-book geek, and baseball fan, has reached the stage in his estimable career at which he can write just about whatever he wants. If that happens to be a slim homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, so be it.

The Final Solution takes Sherlock Holmes, dubbed only "the old man," and places him in the English countryside in 1944. A frail and fragile beekeeper long past the point of solving mysteries, he's tapped again when a boarder turns up murdered and a young Jewish refugee's pet parrot, who may or may not know a little something about Nazi codes, goes missing. Chabon's elegantly written work is both a tribute and an original, a deeply enjoyable story that, like the best genre fiction, transcends the limitations of pigeonholing to reach the realm of art.

So where's that skein of yarn again?

Rating: **** (of 4)

Comments

[Bill]

I'm a big fan of Chabon (loved "Wonder Boys" and "Kavalier & Klay") and recently started wading through his rather difficult new novel "The Yiddish Policeman's Journal", but somehow missed this novella's release. The Amazon reviews are a little mixed, but I'm definitely willing to give it a try based upon your positive experience, if only because the excessive Jewish colloquialisms in his current release have become very distracting.

So thanks for pointing this out. His writing is absolutely sublime and has definitely helped to improve my own writing by having someone to aspire to.

[franQ]

Hearing all this talk of the new Chabon release makes me a little sad…

A year ago, I would have been thrilled and no doubt attended his book signing. He’s been my favorite author since I first read his debut novel THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH back in the early 90s.

But I can no longer support the work of an author who has no regard for the story and characters that put him on the literary map.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a film version of MOP coming out later this year… Written and directed by the guy who brought us DODGEBALL, in which he’s CHANGED 85% of Chabon’s original story.

And the sad part is… Michael Chabon himself APPROVED of the script! WHY would he do this? I can only think of one possible answer: $$

If you are a Chabon fan, esp MOP, I suggest you do NOT see this movie. You will be sadly disappointed at the COMPLETE removal of the gay character, Arthur Lecomte, and the fabrication of a romantic love triangle between Art Bechstein, Jane Bellwether, and a bi-sexual Cleveland Arning. And really, what is MOP without the presence of Phlox Lombardi? Alas, she’s barely in it.

For a copy of the script email: bechstein[at]yahoo[dot]com

[honda-atv-400]

Cool site! ;)