Call number
FIC GUT
Collection
Genres
Publication
Knopf (2022), 272 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Mystery. HTML:From the award-winning, best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars�??a moving father-son story that is also a taut courtroom drama and a bold examination of privilege, power, and how to live a meaningful life. A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey�??conservative, white fundamentalist Christians�??are charged with her murder. Royal, a Seattle criminal attorney in the last days of his long career, takes Betsy Harvey�??s case. An octogenarian without a driver�??s license, he leans on his son�??the novel�??s narrator�??as he prepares for trial. So begins The Final Case, a bracing, astute, and deeply affecting examination of justice and injustice�??and familial love. David Guterson�??s first courtroom drama since Snow Falling on Cedars, it is his most compellin… (more)
Media reviews
“The Final Case” is a tender, closely observed and often surprising novel that achieves the intimacy — and occasional randomness — of a diary. David Guterson, best known to many as the author of the magical “Snow Falling on Cedars,” again places a criminal trial at the center of his
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novel. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member brangwinn
What I anticipated to be a page-turning tale of an 80-year-old lawyer who has taken on the defense of a fundamentalist Christian mother accused of murder by abuse in the death of her adopted Ethiopian daughter, turned into a rather memoir-like retrospection of life and literature. Based loosely on
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the death of a child in Sedro Wooley Washington in the Skagit Valley I ended up skimming most of the later third of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyadair
So, do you trust your authors? Will you stick with a book, even when you are not sure of the journey? Too often, I see readers who complain about a book and stop reading. They are bored. They don’t ‘like’ the characters. There are too many words. But I have learned to trust the author. A book
I have read several books like that this year. The Final Case is one of the books that a reader MUST finish to the end. Trust me—I was in tears.
The narrator is a writer who has decided to quite fiction and so is available to drive his elderly, practicing lawyer father as he prepares for a trial. The lawyer is to represent a despicable woman, who if not directly guilty of murder, has contributed to the death of an adopted girl. The old man explains to his son his belief in the law and due process, how he has lost at least as many cases as he has won.
The woman and her husband embraced a self-made theology based on punitive control over their children, with obedience their main goal. They adopted an African girl who has lost her family, who showed great tenderness and care to others in the orphanage, but who arrives unhealthy in body. The girl is proud. She will not be brought to control by lash or abuse. She will not become an automation reacting in fear, as the couple’s other children are, even meting their mother’s punishments on command. The children’s psychological health and wholeness are imperiled by this abusive control, but the parents believe they are ‘saved’.
Our narrator tells us his tale of aiding his father and what he learns about this case. He tells us about his sister and her tea house and the employee who quits, accusing the sister of participating in colonialism, ‘getting rich’ from another county’s resources. He tells us about the young man trying to write and how he is overwhelmed with the shoulds and don’ts of being a while male today. He tells us about the divisions of our contemporary world.
And in the end, he shares with us the answer.
It is so simple, really. We embrace our own sin and hold it dear, and count all else as evil. But we should know what is important. What is required of us? To do justice and love one another.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
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is a journey. There may be unexpected side paths, or what seems like extraneous stops along the way, but when you reach the destination you discover the master plan and how it all fits together, building to an experience you won’t soon forget.I have read several books like that this year. The Final Case is one of the books that a reader MUST finish to the end. Trust me—I was in tears.
The narrator is a writer who has decided to quite fiction and so is available to drive his elderly, practicing lawyer father as he prepares for a trial. The lawyer is to represent a despicable woman, who if not directly guilty of murder, has contributed to the death of an adopted girl. The old man explains to his son his belief in the law and due process, how he has lost at least as many cases as he has won.
The woman and her husband embraced a self-made theology based on punitive control over their children, with obedience their main goal. They adopted an African girl who has lost her family, who showed great tenderness and care to others in the orphanage, but who arrives unhealthy in body. The girl is proud. She will not be brought to control by lash or abuse. She will not become an automation reacting in fear, as the couple’s other children are, even meting their mother’s punishments on command. The children’s psychological health and wholeness are imperiled by this abusive control, but the parents believe they are ‘saved’.
Our narrator tells us his tale of aiding his father and what he learns about this case. He tells us about his sister and her tea house and the employee who quits, accusing the sister of participating in colonialism, ‘getting rich’ from another county’s resources. He tells us about the young man trying to write and how he is overwhelmed with the shoulds and don’ts of being a while male today. He tells us about the divisions of our contemporary world.
And in the end, he shares with us the answer.
It is so simple, really. We embrace our own sin and hold it dear, and count all else as evil. But we should know what is important. What is required of us? To do justice and love one another.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
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LibraryThing member sleahey
This is a multi-faceted novel that addresses issues of guilt, evil, justice, and family, all through the description of a courtroom drama. Told in the first person, the narrator is an author who has decided to take a break from writing fiction, so he is available to help his aged father take on his
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final defense case. It is quickly apparent that the defendants are guilty of a horrific crime, the abuse and torture of the girl they have adopted from Ethiopia. The couple believes unquestioningly in the power of physical punishment to teach their children to submit to their authority in all things, and in the guise of morality they inflict increasing torture on their victim who refuses to submit. Even knowing their guilt, their lawyer believes in their right to a proper defense and the need for the trial to play out. At times, this novel is extremely uncomfortable to read, yet compelling for the moral and ethical questions raised, and the contemporary dilemmas posed by people convinced of their own moral rectitude turned evil by most standards. Show Less
LibraryThing member carole888fort
The Final Case by David Guterson is a legal drama with a difference. The lawyer in the story is an octogenarian who does not have a car and relies on his son for his commute to and from the courthouse. The son, also the narrator, is in a position to describe all that happened before, during and
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after the court case. The case concerns a young Ethiopian girl, Abeba, who has been adopted by a fundamentalist Christian couple with an unorthodox way of raising children. Abeba dies on a day when she is left in the back yard of her house for an entire day, on a cold and rainy day, in order to punish her for a minor infraction. The old lawyer is hired to defend the mother. This is a difficult subject matter but well worth the time. David Guterson’s prose shines because of its simplicity and beauty. Every sentence, every word keeps the pages turning. This is a book that could easily be re-read, for the simple pleasure of a story well told. The subject matter is serious and, at times, difficult but The Final Case will not disappoint. Highly recommended. Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Show Less
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
The Final Case, David Guterson, author; George Newbern, narrator
Although the book was inspired by a real case that the author heard about, he assures the reader that the book is fiction. There are times, however, when the line between fact and fiction is blurred. The storyteller is so skillful at
When the book truly opens, an almost 84-year-old lawyer, Royal, is lamenting to his son, a writer, about having very few cases, and therefore, can hardly find any reason to justify keeping his Seattle legal office open. Suddenly, his phone rings. He is being asked to be the Public Defender for Betsy Harvey, a woman charged with the murder of her adopted Ethiopian child, Abigail. Her husband Devlin has also been charged, but he has his own lawyer.
The story is tragic. The child, whose given name was Abeba, lived with her uncle Solomon in Sebeta, Ethiopia, after the death of both of her parents. When he was unable to take care of her properly, he placed her in an orphanage. At the time, she was ten years old and an Orthodox Christian. She was compliant and agreeable. She loved reading and had dreams of a bright future. She did have Hepatitis B, but exhibited no outward symptoms. When she was put up for adoption, the Devlins, who lived in America, adopted her.
In Ethiopia, Abeba was well behaved and bright, although she had suffered so much loss, she dreamed of a better life. In America, her dreams faded. The Devlins had seven other children. They were an American family of Fundamentalist Christians who devised their own rigid religion with a strict set of rules to live by. The Harveys did not believe in sparing the rod or spoiling the child. They renamed Abeba, Abigail Harvey. Still, however, she remained the biological daughter of Temesgen Addisu, and she hoped to return to Ethiopia one day to reunite with her Uncle Solomon and his family.
In America, the harsh life she was exposed to with the Harvey’s was different than the harsh life in Sebeta, Ethiopia. There she may have been hungry and sometimes dirty, but she was not beaten. She was happy, and she was loved. In America, however, she was brutalized by the Harvey’s, and one wonders how such a family was able to adopt her. It would be the subject of an investigation after her death. In America, her behavior and her attitude changed. She was no longer agreeable or compliant because of the vicious, cold and unfeeling type of care giving she experienced. She grew defiant, the more she was abused. She was just a helpless child. Often, she was punished, shamed, ridiculed and beaten. She was locked into a closet without light. She was whipped by the other siblings, under orders of their mother. They were afraid to disobey her. Eventually, Abeba died alone, in the yard, having refused to return into the house, but who could blame her for not wanting to enter that house of horrors. Both Devlins were charged with her death. Royal, accepted the case from the Public Defender’s office, to defend Betsy Harvey. He did not defend her murder charge, but rather, his approach was to say there is no law against being evil. As the story is related, as it is told by the son, who becomes Royal’s chauffeur and helper when he is in a fender bender and can no longer drive himself to the courthouse or to do any of the investigating necessary to defend Mrs. Harvey, it seems more and more real. As the relationship between the father and son is explored and the case is brought to trial, the reader witnesses both evil and virtue, guilt and innocence playing out. The Harvey's are evil, Royal is virtuous, Abeba is innocent. Society is guilty. Do evil people deserve a lawyer or a trial? How does one mount a defense for someone who is absolutely guilty of the crime, a crime so heinous that few lawyers would want to take the case? Still, someone has to, since everyone is entitled to a fair trial. What is the just punishment for people who never feel remorse but who, instead, feel righteous indignation? Is the real message of the book an examination of our lives and our deaths, of our extreme views and lack of flexibility, of how we feel toward others, how we treat them and how we love them? In the end, the writer and his wife agree, as they talk about their grief for the loss of their loved ones, that after everything, the most important thing to have in your life, is actually love.
Although the book was inspired by a real case that the author heard about, he assures the reader that the book is fiction. There are times, however, when the line between fact and fiction is blurred. The storyteller is so skillful at
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telling the story that the reader begins to believe that it is non-fiction that they are reading, and not fiction at all. The author is a writer, his father was a very respected lawyer who died at the age of 83, pretty much the age of the main character in this novel. They also lived and worked in Seattle, Washington. That, however, is as far as the comparison between real life and created life, goes. When the book truly opens, an almost 84-year-old lawyer, Royal, is lamenting to his son, a writer, about having very few cases, and therefore, can hardly find any reason to justify keeping his Seattle legal office open. Suddenly, his phone rings. He is being asked to be the Public Defender for Betsy Harvey, a woman charged with the murder of her adopted Ethiopian child, Abigail. Her husband Devlin has also been charged, but he has his own lawyer.
The story is tragic. The child, whose given name was Abeba, lived with her uncle Solomon in Sebeta, Ethiopia, after the death of both of her parents. When he was unable to take care of her properly, he placed her in an orphanage. At the time, she was ten years old and an Orthodox Christian. She was compliant and agreeable. She loved reading and had dreams of a bright future. She did have Hepatitis B, but exhibited no outward symptoms. When she was put up for adoption, the Devlins, who lived in America, adopted her.
In Ethiopia, Abeba was well behaved and bright, although she had suffered so much loss, she dreamed of a better life. In America, her dreams faded. The Devlins had seven other children. They were an American family of Fundamentalist Christians who devised their own rigid religion with a strict set of rules to live by. The Harveys did not believe in sparing the rod or spoiling the child. They renamed Abeba, Abigail Harvey. Still, however, she remained the biological daughter of Temesgen Addisu, and she hoped to return to Ethiopia one day to reunite with her Uncle Solomon and his family.
In America, the harsh life she was exposed to with the Harvey’s was different than the harsh life in Sebeta, Ethiopia. There she may have been hungry and sometimes dirty, but she was not beaten. She was happy, and she was loved. In America, however, she was brutalized by the Harvey’s, and one wonders how such a family was able to adopt her. It would be the subject of an investigation after her death. In America, her behavior and her attitude changed. She was no longer agreeable or compliant because of the vicious, cold and unfeeling type of care giving she experienced. She grew defiant, the more she was abused. She was just a helpless child. Often, she was punished, shamed, ridiculed and beaten. She was locked into a closet without light. She was whipped by the other siblings, under orders of their mother. They were afraid to disobey her. Eventually, Abeba died alone, in the yard, having refused to return into the house, but who could blame her for not wanting to enter that house of horrors. Both Devlins were charged with her death. Royal, accepted the case from the Public Defender’s office, to defend Betsy Harvey. He did not defend her murder charge, but rather, his approach was to say there is no law against being evil. As the story is related, as it is told by the son, who becomes Royal’s chauffeur and helper when he is in a fender bender and can no longer drive himself to the courthouse or to do any of the investigating necessary to defend Mrs. Harvey, it seems more and more real. As the relationship between the father and son is explored and the case is brought to trial, the reader witnesses both evil and virtue, guilt and innocence playing out. The Harvey's are evil, Royal is virtuous, Abeba is innocent. Society is guilty. Do evil people deserve a lawyer or a trial? How does one mount a defense for someone who is absolutely guilty of the crime, a crime so heinous that few lawyers would want to take the case? Still, someone has to, since everyone is entitled to a fair trial. What is the just punishment for people who never feel remorse but who, instead, feel righteous indignation? Is the real message of the book an examination of our lives and our deaths, of our extreme views and lack of flexibility, of how we feel toward others, how we treat them and how we love them? In the end, the writer and his wife agree, as they talk about their grief for the loss of their loved ones, that after everything, the most important thing to have in your life, is actually love.
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LibraryThing member Dokfintong
It wasn't till I was a few pages into this that I realized that the evil parents about whom the novel revolves are "spare-the-rod" Christians. I quit right then because I know something of these people and I believe that we as a society have the duty to forbid these practices, arrest, convict and
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imprison people who practice them. Parental rights be damned. Anyway, I did not want any additional images in my brain so I did not read. Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
A fiction writer decides to give up writing at about the same time his aged father, a defense attorney, takes a final case but is unable to drive. Thus, the narrator of the story, the son, tells of a trial of a husband and wife charged with murder by abuse. A young girl has been adopted from
The story is tragic as the novel also presents the girl's life in Ethiopia. The descriptions of the abuse are chilling. However, the respect and love between the father and the son is warm, tender and respectful. The father actually passes away before the trial is finished and there are pages that seem to "get off the subject" as the narrator begins to go about his own life, but then the story swings back to the trial which has a new defense attorney.
One of the best sections of the book is the judge's pronouncement to the defendants who so firmly believe they are right and no court of law will be able to convince them otherwise.
An interesting book, well-written - it even held me during long rambling paragraphs. Good read.
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Ethiopia by Christian fundamentalists; she is abused by especially the mother believing to discipline her.The story is tragic as the novel also presents the girl's life in Ethiopia. The descriptions of the abuse are chilling. However, the respect and love between the father and the son is warm, tender and respectful. The father actually passes away before the trial is finished and there are pages that seem to "get off the subject" as the narrator begins to go about his own life, but then the story swings back to the trial which has a new defense attorney.
One of the best sections of the book is the judge's pronouncement to the defendants who so firmly believe they are right and no court of law will be able to convince them otherwise.
An interesting book, well-written - it even held me during long rambling paragraphs. Good read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mykl-s
David Guterson gives us 250 pages of stories stitched into a novel that reads like a memoir. It's about the unnamed narrator, who is a failed writer, his father, a court case involving horrible child abuse by rabidly strict parents of several children, leading to the death of their adopted
I want to believe this is a complex, multilayered telling about current day American life, but still see it as the core story of the trial, padded to fit into the length of a novel.
That's not to say that there isn't strong and beautiful writing from time to time, only that fine speech and description is mixed in with confusing detailed exposition and curiously unrelated storylines.
The book drew me in, kept me alternately interested and wondering, but left me at the end uncertain.
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Ethiopian-born, daughter. The abuse story is woven together with possibly related incidents from the narrators life. I want to believe this is a complex, multilayered telling about current day American life, but still see it as the core story of the trial, padded to fit into the length of a novel.
That's not to say that there isn't strong and beautiful writing from time to time, only that fine speech and description is mixed in with confusing detailed exposition and curiously unrelated storylines.
The book drew me in, kept me alternately interested and wondering, but left me at the end uncertain.
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LibraryThing member thorold
When his 84-year-old father, still nominally in practice as a criminal lawyer, unexpectedly gets called in to act as a public defender in a murder case in Skagit County, WA, the narrator — a blocked novelist — has to drive him around and ends up getting interested in the case himself. But this
The rather harrowing case — based on research Guterson did on a real case in Skagit County from 2011 — involves the death of a young Ethiopian girl, Abeba/Abigail, as a result of sustained abuse by her adoptive parents, people who have lost touch with the rest of society and somehow also lost all sense of proportion in their belief that it is their Christian duty to maintain authority over their children. Abeba is an orphan with an exceptionally tough early childhood in Ethiopia behind her: her tragedy is that she has the strength of mind to resist the Harveys' attempts to dominate her, but not the physical robustness to survive what they do to her.
But then this isn't quite a "true crime" novel, either: for very good reasons, the narrator drops his reportage on the case in mid-stream, and we divert off into another story centred on his family life and writing career, which mostly seems to involve him hanging around in his sister's tea-shop, Cajovna. Because tea-shops is what Seattle is famous for, right?
An interesting and quite worthwhile take on the "novel about not being able to write" idea, with some moderately interesting things to say about families and about what lawyers and writers actually do.
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isn't one of those murder cases you read about in novels, where the defence attorney solves the case himself and proves in the nick of time that someone else did it. Guterson sets up a grimly realistic perspective, where there is no mystery about the essentials of what has happened, and the task of the justice system is to find some kind of resolution to a desperately sad sequence of events whilst treating everyone concerned as fairly as possible. The rather harrowing case — based on research Guterson did on a real case in Skagit County from 2011 — involves the death of a young Ethiopian girl, Abeba/Abigail, as a result of sustained abuse by her adoptive parents, people who have lost touch with the rest of society and somehow also lost all sense of proportion in their belief that it is their Christian duty to maintain authority over their children. Abeba is an orphan with an exceptionally tough early childhood in Ethiopia behind her: her tragedy is that she has the strength of mind to resist the Harveys' attempts to dominate her, but not the physical robustness to survive what they do to her.
But then this isn't quite a "true crime" novel, either: for very good reasons, the narrator drops his reportage on the case in mid-stream, and we divert off into another story centred on his family life and writing career, which mostly seems to involve him hanging around in his sister's tea-shop, Cajovna. Because tea-shops is what Seattle is famous for, right?
An interesting and quite worthwhile take on the "novel about not being able to write" idea, with some moderately interesting things to say about families and about what lawyers and writers actually do.
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Awards
Washington State Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2023)
Pages
272
ISBN
0525521321 / 9780525521327