How do you play the final act of life?

The father in David Guterson's "The Final Case" continues his criminal defense career, representing one more obviously-guilty human being with respect and dignity.

Bulging at the center of the book. like a python's most recent kill. is the true story of the 2013 murder in the state of Washington of an Ethiopian orphan by her adoptive fundamentalist Christian parents. The father of the narrator agrees to represent the mother.

The book's narrator no longer writes books. He coaches authors still struggling to publish,visits with friends wrapped up in grandchildren, enjoys his wife's company and kills time at his sister's tea room until his father requires a driver for this last case.

Guterson is a master storyteller. His use of the comma guides the reader through page after page of trial transcripts and musings about the end of life.

So how do you play the final act of life? Never stop working at living or loving.

I expected a little more from Guterson than I got. The Final Case was beautifully written—the author’s writing is wonderfully smart. I was looking for a finish as good as the narration.
The novel is divided into three parts, and the third part left me unsatisfied. The story just rambled far from the court case, and didn’t repair well for the finish. I was especially disappointed because I wanted the narrator, who was an author on a self-directed sabbatical, to pick up a bit better in the third section.
The book might suit book clubs well, as discussion on the case, the duty of a lawyer to his clients, and the possibilities for different endings might generate a good deal of discussion.

I expected to love this novel, especially since I have a niece from Ethiopia. Sadly, it didn’t live up to my expectations and I found the prose too rambling for my taste. The central plot involves the narrator and his family as well as the sad death of an Ethiopian child adopted by an American family, stereotypically right wing religious bigots.

I was saddened by the plot, but never really engaged.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

This is a difficult book to review. I am quite impressed with the quality of the writing. There were many moments when I was in awe of the language and could not stop reading. The puzzle is that I don't know what this book is supposed to be. Is it a novel with a story to tell? If so, it is lacking many of the basic elements -- a plot, for example or engaging characters who are relatable and grow over time. Is it a message about the dangers of fundamentalism or the horrors of child abuse? There are many pages devoted to a trial, but the text reads a bit like a court transcript. Is it a "slice of life" story about a man dealing with life changes in himself and others? If that's the goal, there are moments of brilliance.

Much of Guterson's book is told in rambling prose that reflects the way in which many of us speak. Short, sometimes fragmented sentences and phrases that often stray from a central topic, yet seem cohesive and completely understandable at the moment. There are many of these segments -- about writers' block, about strict Biblical beliefs, about aging and death, about the role of white men in today's society, about tea. So much of this is somewhat disconnected to the central story (whatever that story is supposed to be) that it seems really disjointed and unorganized and confusing. Having said all that, this is actually a brilliantly written book that I'm sure will have people talking and sharing their comments. Isn't that what fiction is all about? Did I like it? Not really. Will I recommend it to a select few of my friends? Absolutely!

This was not an easy read because of the subject matter of child abuse and the death of a child from that abuse. The reader goes in knowing the parents charged with murder are guilty of the death of their adopted daughter, Abeba. Royal, an aging criminal defense attorney, represents the mother, Betsy Harvey. The story is told in first person by Royal's son, a writer who doesn't write anymore, who becomes his father's driver. The author has a note in the beginning of the book which states that while this is a work of fiction, there was a real case with the same details (devoutly religious parents abusing a young adopted daughter from Ethiopia) in the Seattle area and that the author was an observer in the courtroom during the trial and interviewed the parties involved. In this fictional account, the story elements, while compelling, never came together for me. The plot felt disjointed between the personal lives of the narrator's family and those of the trial and Abeba's story. The one thing that stays with me is a conversation between father and son about how everyone is entitled to representation and that in real life there is not the dramatic moment in a trial where the real killer is revealed. That's only for the movies or TV shows. Most times, a defense attorney does their best to represent their client and most are never surprised when they lose their case.

This book puzzled me. The description made it sound like the plot revolved around a court case in which an adopted Ethiopian girl is left outside in the brutal cold and died from abuse. But, the story is much more than that. It is Guterson's life as a writer and, more importantly, it is the story of the relationship between father and son. Guterson challenges the reader to see how we live our everyday lives when immense evil exists in the world and how these can exist side by side.
In this story the author has given up writing and his life consists of his relationship with his wife, his sister who owns a struggling tearoom, and his parents. His 80+ year old father who still practices law has a fender bender accident and so the author becomes his chauffeur and companion as the father accepts a case to defend the woman who is the perpetrator of this horrific child abuse.
Guterson's writing is very descriptive and at times I wasn't sure why he chose the sentence and paragraph structure that he did but as I read, it made more sense in telling a story within a story. Instead of being simply a courtroom drama, this is a love story between father and son. The father Royal is everything that is good and right in the world.
A very complex book.

"The Final Case" is a lot. There's an attorney in his 80's asked to defend Betsy Harvey, a woman accused of killing her adopted Ethiopian daughter in an especially protracted and heartrending way. The novel is narrated by the attorney's son who reconnects with his father by being his chauffeur and back-up in the case. The writing is piercing, but fundamentalist Christians are becoming the go-to option for people who do something terrible but think it is right. I'm still thinking about this novel without being able to understand anyone's motivation.