Posted: July 26th, 2015

Writer’s choice

Writer’s choice

1. Compare this novel to the hard-boiled novel. The hard-boiled detective is a no-nonsense, cynical, loner. The values associated with the hard-boiled genre are individualism, little to no reliance on others, strong association of dysfunction and the source of evil with the family, women as “femme fatales” linking sex with death. How does Stephanie compare with the traditional hard-boiled detective and how are the values in this novel different?
2. In this discussion question I’d like you to think about the way gender roles are approached in the novel, and specifically what is represented by Ranger and Morelli for Stephanie, and the way in which what they represent comes up in other ways in the novel.