Friday, August 04, 2006

Detective story

Last weekend, I finished reading Michael Chabon's "The Final Solution", a book I bought almost as a whim. I've written about Chabon a bunch of times before, he's one of my favorite authors, and the book was the last novel of his that I didn't have yet (now the only Chabon book that's missing from my collection is his anthology "A Model World and Other Stories").

I hadn't been reading much since school started. In fact, the last book I finished was Chabon's brilliant sophomore effort, "Wonderboys", the book that was turned into that Michael Douglas movie, and that was back in June. But "The Final Solution" was short enough, and (as his work goes) beautifully-written enough, that I just had to dig in.

The novella is set in England during World War II, in a town just outside London. The story centers around a cranky old man who used to be famous all over Europe for his detective skills, and a mute Jewish boy, a refugee from Austria, whose only friend in the world is a mysterious North African parrot who blurts out mysterious numbers in German. The parrot disappears, and the old man springs back to action to reunite the boy with the last trace of his old life.

The old man, although he remains nameless in the story, is of course the great Sherlock Holmes. The portrait Chabon paints of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth reminds me of another famous detective, Frank Miller's aged Bruce Wayne in "The Dark Knight Returns". Both have grown to become bitter old men, exhausted of battling their demons, as greatness has passed them by and new eras dawn upon them.

As fans and critics have noted about his stories, Chabon loves his characters, sometimes a little too much, and he always gives them a last chance at redemption. And so, Sherlock's final adventure ends with a touch of tenderness.

Even though the story wasn't as brilliant, as intimate, or as grand as his other work, it resonated with me because some of the first books I ever read were Sherlock Holmes anthologies. I've remained a casual fan over the years, delving more into the Sherlock mythology (he's a crack user!) and even taking a lot of interest in other similar literature from the same era, such as Maurice LeBlanc's French gentleman thief Arsene Lupin.

Stealing away for several hours made me realize how much I miss reading great books and losing my way inside them. It reminds me of what I wrote about Chabon's best book, "The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay", about a year ago.

I was struck by how much reading a wonderful book is rather like falling in love with a beautiful girl. You can't get enough, and you know inevitably that somewhere along the way you're going to get your heart broken, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but whether it ends well or it ends badly, you know it's going to stay with you for quite some time, and you could only be so lucky.

Labels:

Comments:

hmmm... haven't fell in love with a book. :P

ei, remind me next time to return the books i borrowed from you.

 

anong books nga yun? high fidelity tsaka mga batman comics, right?

 

Post a Comment<< Home



ultraelectromagneticblog!
 

Weekly Top Artists - Powered by Last.FM


Subscribe to this blog

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Powered by Blogger

Listed on BlogShares

Pisay 98 Blog
Pisay 98 Website
Pisay 98 Message Boards

Bookish Bimbo
Brooding Pit
cartwheels seven times around the oval
The Ergonomic Quotient
Fire Light Song
For the Mail!
Garden Fresh
I'm ur pAL!!!
the jembunao experience
life, the universe, and everything
The Mighty Dacs
Pro Gamer to Programmer
Purple World
Riverwind
The Raven and the Stormcrow
The sad success story of the corporate slave
Sakura Mind Speaks
Si Yayan, Si Michel at ang Diwata
Sixteenth Floor
Verbal Diarrhea
The Wandering Geek
Whatever You
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Me

502 Bad Gateway
Across the Green Plains
ako? ako. ako. lagi na lang ako...
Anime West
The Buckfutter Blog
Contrast Medium
Locoflip's Xanga Site
Gaming Nookie
getting by...
Just The Type 2 Have 1
life of a kkmonster
karloCastertroy
the keep
Lock and Load
Memories From Dinner Last Night
Mic Olivares' Blog
Morning Has Broken
Paradiddles
Princess Toni's Enchanted Forest
Random Thoughts
So Lovely
Think, Pats! Think!!

Recent Posts

Perspectives
Philippine TV's finest hour
Look at the stars, look how they shine for you
Advertising
Gnarls and Charles
Walang tulugan
Iskul bukol
Kamikazee - A.I.D.S.
Last.FM
Heat 3, Dallas 2

The story so far

September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from jtordecilla. Make your own badge here.


Home
Instant Pancit Canton
The Prose Portal
Email

A Dose Of Cynicism
Adventures in TV Land
Delusions of Grandeur
first draft
Freedom Sessions
Karmic Backstab
Indulgence
Perpetual Paranoia
Project Manila
Sky of Words
Small Furry Alien
telenobela
TravelKage
walanjo ka daril!


100 tears away
55 Words (and more)
Astig-Mama-Tism
Blogging from the UAE
Car Driver
Chaos Theory
Ederic @ Cyberspace
flatride.com
frances.effronte.org
Howie Severino's Sidetrip
The Life of an Earthbound Angel
Manuel L. Quezon III
Mimi and Karl Wedding Photography
moodswings
na(g)wawala
The New Online Confessions
nitpicky.org
No White Flag
Out of Bed
Pinay by the Bay
Rebel Pixel Productions
sablay.org
the silpur life
the sky sweetheart
Some Kind of Wonderful
Tapuy Moments
thinking about tomorrow
The Year of the Dog Woman
Weapon of Choice

Binibini
Clang-Fu
Four-point Play
The Histrionics of a Balding Drama King
i came, i saw, i blogged
intelektwal interkors
The Jason Journals
Mental Foreplay
Orange Pocket
Paiwinklebloo
Paperbag Writer
Peyups.com
Renaissance Girl
Seasonal Plume

avalon.ph
Bill Simmons
Dave Barry
Digg
Everything
Get Firefox!
Guardian Books
HoopsHype
I, Cringley
IMDB
Inside Hoops
Joel on Software
KDE-Look
Lawrence Lessig
Mark Cuban
Newsforge
Pop Matters
Reddit
Richard M. Stallman
Roger Ebert
Salon.com
Slam! Links
Slashdot
The Onion
The Onion AV Club
Wikipedia
Wil Wheaton