--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Patrick King
<abrasax93@...>
> Come on! How about diabolical Jean Shaw in La
Brava?
> Both Jackie Burke and Sheronda in Rum Punch?
The
> indomitable Karen Sisco in Out of Sight. And
my
> personal favorite, Amelia of Cuba Libre. I could
go
> on. Earl Stanley Gardner had trouble depicting
women
> effectively or realistically. Leonard's women
are
> fabulous and memorable.
>
I find that they don't behave and talk like any women I've
known. Psychologically, his female characters seem wrong, out
of focus, even stereotyped. Curiously, the one case where he
hit the nail is _Touch_, not a crime novel (a very funny
book, probably forgotten).
There is a possibility that Leonard, with his special
technique, is showing women _only_ from the point of view of
the dumbish and vicious male characters that populate his
novels. That would make some sense, but as a reader, I am
neither Elmore Leonard nor one of his male characters. I am
watching the thing...
Best,
mrt
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