About this title: A mute boy escapes Nazi Germany with an African grey parrot and wanders into the live of an 89-year-old man rumored to be a once-famous detective. What is the meaning of the mysterious strings of numbers the bird spews out, and is the answer beyond the reach of the famed sleuth?
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Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060777104ISBN:0060777109
Description: Good. Light rubbing to covers and corners due to general use and shelving. Book slightly warped. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and may have creases. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Very Good. B000BPG2LK Almost Like New-**Hardcover**--Dust Jacket is nearly pristine. No writing in the text. Clean, Tight and Neat. Ships Quickly-IN STOCK-Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Very Good. 0060777109 Very Good; **Softcover**--Exact ISBN Match--Cover has extremely minor shelf wear at tips of corners. No personalizations, writing or marks in the text. Clean, Tight and Neat. Absolutely no spine creasing. Ships Quickly-IN STOCK-Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Good. 2005-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Edition: First Edition Thus.
Binding: Softcover.
Publisher: N.Y. : Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060777104ISBN:0060777109
Description: Near Fine. A clean, gently read copy. Includes P.S. Insights, Interviews & More. By the Pulitizer Prize-Winning author of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay". 131 pp. read more
"I was so excited about a Chabon detective story literally financed by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate. And it was great. A quick read with interesting characters, including a close third-person perspective of a parrot, I was really enjoying the book.
Then the mystery was solved. The bad guy/girl/parrot/train (no spoilers here!) was caught and everyone had changed in some way. But the mystery was not solved by deduction, attention to detail, or some incredible insight. The wizened, old super-detective who came out of retirement to investigate the case is told the answer to the problem by an unlikely source. The only sleuthing was understanding the answer. No deduction. No collecting of seemingly extraneous data brought together in an "Aha!" moment.
I was robbed. What's the final solution for my crime?
There is sadness at the heart of the story. Commentary on Jews suffering under Nazi German rule prior to, and during, World War II. Details and characters which are sad. But if a detective novel is the vessel for a deeper message, don't smash up the carrying case and render it a shell of its former glory."
"My taste for "literary masterpieces" must be lacking. This homage was a mish-mash that probably has Arthur Conan Doyle turning over in his grave. Chabon submerges the reader in a clutter of virtually inconsequential "clues", characters that are limp and colorless, and a murder and a mystery that can only be characterized as run-of-the-mill. An 89 year old Sherlock Holmes, possessing limited mental capabilities, should not have wasted the precious little time left in his life attempting to resolve this mess when he could be tending his bees.
The only positive aspect of this tale was the chapter devoted to the grey parrot, Bruno. His thoughts and feelings as he attempted to escape his captor was the only inventive and refreshing part of the book, and presented this feathered fowl as more "human" and more intelligent, by far, than his mortal counterparts.
The solution to the birds utterances of strings of numbers is elementary my dear Watson.......after all it is WWII and the boy & his bird have escaped from Nazi Germany.
My final solution: Four stars for Bruno, one for the rest of the cast."
"Linus is a mute born child who is Jewish and he escaped the wrath of the Nazis. He has this precious parrot, who keeps repeating numbers in German. Linus and this old man, they never truly mentioned the name in the story. They go off and try to find out what the numbers mean, but in the meantime this man named Mr. Shane is killed. And people are trying to find out from what, and maybe, perhaps the numbers might mean something!
I can connect this to school, actually. Because, if something strange occurs, and something else mysterious occurs, people try and figure out if the mysterious occurring is connected with the strange occurring. And that is like in school, because if someone spreads a rumor, saying something strange. And then something that seems, like it might connect with the rumor someone spread, people would try and connect that to what happened. And that is like what happened in The Final Solution.
I would rate the book 4 stars, because sometimes it was hard to understand what the author was talking about or something like that. But it was really interesting and juicy things happened along in the plot. I also really liked the illustrations because they described and pictures things that happened in the book. So, I really liked that. Overall, it was a really good and exciting book to read. I reccomend it to anyone who likes a good mystery, with out it being TOO scary!!! ;)"
"I listened to the audio edition read by Michael York on a long road trip. Chabon is clever and his writing sparkles with sophistication without becoming purple prose. He also moves the genre out of the simple who-done-it into explorations on aging, greed, faith and faithlessness.
Honestly, I didn't think of the old man as Sherlock Holmes, though I admit one could make the argument. The writing is so different from Arthur Conan Doyle's after all. Yes, I guess there are some amazing deductions, but it's without the badinage and companionship of Dr. Watson.
I found the novel difficult to follow at times due to long descriptive passages and not enough dialogue for my taste. The story was enjoyable, and I really liked the narration from the point of view of Bruno the parrot."
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