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Sam asked this question about The Woman in the Library:
Did anyone else feel turned off by Leo (the e-mailer) suddenly becoming anti-cop and worrying about race? I found it off putting.
Susan I took his question about race as an "inside writing" nod. The author was probably asked during drafts about what race her characters were and she got…moreI took his question about race as an "inside writing" nod. The author was probably asked during drafts about what race her characters were and she got into a meta discussion in the book by raising the issue and making us think. Being a white woman I tend to view every
characters as white like me unless I am told otherwise. I did re-think this after the idea was planted that I might be showing my bias. I thought it was an interesting way to make the readers think and not just assume. There was one character I thought was a person of color as soon as he was introduced, and again, I wondered if that was my bias showing. The perfect thing is that the race of the characters do not matter and when they turn this into a movie they can be cast as any race (other than the "old lady neighbor doctor, and again my bias for assuming a jewish name means a white jewish person)

The "anti-cop" statement could possibly be explained that people assume that all people who live in Boston are liberals who want to defund the police but that is not true and Massachusetts has had more Republican Governors than Democrat Governors and a few decades ago one of its Senators was Republican. The statement could also have just been used to show Leo as becoming more and more off balance, but it could also be the author showing us that it shouldn't matter what race you are, you shouldn't be treated the way Leo thinks Cain would have been treated if he were Black. It shows Leo's bias that only Black people live in Roxbury. It is no longer the combat zone that it was 30 -40 years ago. (less)
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The Woman in the Library
by Sulari Gentill (Goodreads Author)
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