a couple posters mentioned Denise Mina, who I think is really
interesting to look at as a female hard-boiled writer. I
haven't read the 2nd or 3rd book yet, but I did observe
Garnethill combines a lot of traditional HB elements with
"survivor" narratives that have traditionally been seen in
women's/feminist fiction. I'm somewhat surprised that Mina's
series is the first crime series I've encountered where the
narrator was a female survivor of sexual abuse, though I'm
sure there are others. The survivor narrative seems to be
showing up more frequently in crime novels by and about men,
although so far i've only seen physical rather than sexual
abuse as a theme in first person books: T.J. Parker's "Silent
Joe," an excellent book that I just finished is one example;
Lehane's Patrick Kenzie books are another.
(Of course, there are male writers who have written about
male victims of sexual abuse, but not in first person).
Cynically, you might say that the use of the survivor
narrative is just a convenient introduction of "past trauma,"
now that Vietnam-war trauma has(some say) been overused to
the point of cliche. On the other hand, it could simply be a
sign that our society is more ready to confront issues of
family abuse.
discuss.
-
He got thirty years for lovin' her/ from some Oklahoma
governor,/ who said
"everything this doughboy does is wrong" - Tom Waits
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