I agree with Mark about Scudder. Also, remember that, for all intents
and purposes, Scudder has been "married" to Elaine for most of the
latter two-thirds of the series, and they have an adopted "son" in
TJ, the streetwise kid who helps Scudder on his cases. I think that
since Scudder is almost a hero in repose, the longterm relationship
with Elaine and his surrogate fatherhood to TJ actually enhances the
realism, maturity, and progression of the character and his "arc" of
development. It all boils down to the skill of the writer and the
richness of the character.
Patrick Lee
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:
>
> Patrick wrote:
>
> "The only reason for a detective to go to an AA meeting is to find a
> killer or find a witness to the killing. If the detective need to
go to
> the meeting for his own purposes, the reader doesn't need to know
about
> it."
>
> Couldn't disagree more. I depends upon how it's handled. For
instance,
> in Block's Scudder books where the detective first grapples with his
> alcoholism, the AA meetings have little to do with the mystery, but
> everything to do with Scudder's character. That is when the series
> really elevated itself.
>
> This also reminded me that Scudder had a kid (kids?), but they were
no
> long a part of his life.
>
> Mark
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 15 Aug 2008 EDT