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soliteyah's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
By turns depressing and boring. Having certain characters speak in multiple-page blocks didn't really work for me; nor did the florid, paragraph-long sentences. The crime and trial were the most interesting parts of the book, while all the bloviating about aging and tea (my god, enough about the tea!) had me nodding off. I read and enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedars back in the day, but I think I'm going to skip this author from now on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Child abuse
azazellos_fang's review
sad
slow-paced
0.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Trafficking
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
booklistqueen's review
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
From the author of Snow Falling on Cedars comes a new legal drama about privilege, power, and family. A conservative Christan couple, Delvin and Betsey Harvey, are charged with murder when their adoptive Ethiopian daughter dies just feet from the back door of their home. In the final days of his storied career, a Seattle criminal attorney agrees to take the case with the help of his son.
From the premise, The Final Case sounds like it will be an interesting legal story, but it isn't. The book starts and ends with the mindless laments of an aging writer. The middle section describes the trial, a legal case that is transparent from start to finish because everyone and his brother knows this couple is guilty of child abuse. The entire book was pointless and I highly suggest skipping it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Knopf. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death
pomoevareads's review
challenging
sad
slow-paced
4.0
If you enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedars, you might enjoy David Guterson’s newest novel which takes place in the Pacific Northwest.
A writer who has tired of writing fiction is the unnamed narrator of this story. His father, a lawyer in his 80s, calls upon his son to be his driver during a court case that he has volunteered to be the public defender for. The case is upsetting. A fundamentalist Christian couple with several children adopts a young girl from Ethiopia. Having their own ideas about how children should be trained (not raised) to be completely obedient, it is not a surprise when this child who has joined the family with her own history can’t meet their expectations. One cold and rainy night Abigail’s (born Abeba) body is found just steps from the house, having died from hypothermia. The prosecutor has to prove that this is a case of homicide by abuse and Royal, the narrator’s father, is defending Betsy, the adoptive mother.
Guterson builds strong characters and while this story is based on a real case, he has managed to make my stomach upset with the details of the case and the tragic life of Abigail. We learn some about Abigail’s history with an uncle and in an orphanage. I really enjoyed these parts of the story.
I was very engaged with the portions of the story relating directly to the trial and to the character’s backgrounds. I did however get a bit confused when the author chose to go into much detail about things that I couldn’t see as related. Some of these lines of thought or musings involved tea or aerospace engineering or another author’s work for instance. Perhaps the connections were above my awareness.
The topics of rights and freedoms, grief, justice, and race were what held my interest most. The writing is thoughtful but a bit too flowery in the first third of the book for me.
Overall, I can say I enjoyed this book, am happy to have read it and feel comfortable recommending it to those who enjoy literary writing and a complicated criminal case to parse through.
Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for this arc in exchange for my honest opinions. The Final Case publishes January 11, 2022.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Child death
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