As awful as crime can be, it's what happens afterward - the struggling to get out of bed, to put one foot in front of the other - that alters people.
Karin SlaughterRead
Good crime writing holds up a mirror to the readers and reflects in a darker light the world in which they live.
Interpretation
Crime writing reveals uncomfortable truths about society.
Karin Slaughter's quote suggests that effective crime writing serves as a reflection of reality, illuminating the darker aspects of the human experience and society. By engaging with these stories, readers confront unsettling truths about their own world, allowing for deeper reflection and understanding of the complexities of life.
In practice
This quote can be used in a literary discussion about the role of crime fiction in understanding societal issues.
As awful as crime can be, it's what happens afterward - the struggling to get out of bed, to put one foot in front of the other - that alters people.
Reading is exercise for our brains in the guise of pleasure. Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If they are really good, they make us believe that we are better for having read them.
I think there are more good sportswriters doing more good sportswriting than ever before. But I also believe that the one thing that's largely gone out is what made sport such fertile literary territory - the characters, the tales, the humor, the pain, what Hollywood calls 'the arc.'
Great, big, serious novels always get awards. If it's a battle between a great, big, serious novel and a funny novel, the funny novel is doomed.
A people's literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can.
My theory is that literature is essential to society in the way that dreams are essential to our lives. We can't live without dreaming - as we can't live without sleep. We are 'conscious' beings for only a limited period of time, then we sink back into sleep - the 'unconscious.' It is nourishing, in ways we can't fully understand.
All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.
Only in the mystery novel are we delivered final and unquestionable solutions. The joke to me is that fiction gives you a truth that reality can't deliver.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.