A Crime in the Neighbourhood
What interests me about the novel ‘A crime in the Neighbourhood’ by Suzanne Berne is the way in which one central event in the novel is significant to the whole storyline, and the way in which the narrator expresses the whole book in her own opinion. The novel is about a murder in a small suburban community. The narrator Marsha records the events in her diary, which as the novel progresses is significant to the story line. The novel also expresses the betrayal of a husband towards his wife, and the way in which their lives change completely and how their character is viewed by a dramatic change in the community. A key aspect of the novel was the theme of isolation as it has a major impact on the attitudes of the characters.
The story starts off by describing one of the main events in the book, the murder of Boyd Ellison a small 7 yr old boy. He was molested and murdered by someone within the community. The first event starts the never ending roller coaster of tension and depression within the community. This is where the first feeling of isolation is developed, when the father holds his sons corpse in his arms and a wave of desperation strikes his heart. This is obvious from the quotation:
“As he pressed his son against his chest and imagined the beating of his heart was that he had been found.”
This is a very emotional quotation and it expresses the intense love between the father and son really well. There is also a feeling of segregation as he knows that his son is never coming back to him again. The father is sitting alone with his dead son which creates a picture of loneliness. Boyd was the only son in the family, by dieing he has isolated his entire family. The author uses good word choice, the word ‘heart’ is the centre of all emotions. In this quote there is no one else to console the father which creates an impression of loneliness and isolation. This is the first section in the novel...