my problem with the argument that Angie Gennaro is not
hardboiled because she's victimized is that
(spoiler space for A Drink Before the War)
s p o i l e r
before the end of the first book she takes matters into her
own hands and lets Phil know in no uncertain terms that she's
not putting up with his crap anymore. The thing that turned
me off Angie at the beginning of the book
(and probably would have kept me from finishing it if it
hadn't been a
"reading group" selection) was that I saw the character as a
manifestation of Patrick/Lehane's rescue fantasy and assumed
that he was going to end up saving her from the bad husband.
But Lehane subverted that by having Angie come to her own
rescue, and announce that she wasn't going to be a victim
anymore. and from that point on, she pretty consistently
sticks to that. so accepting Jim's definitions of a
hard-boiled character, I'd say that Angie becomes and remains
one after that point in the first book.
Carrie
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