Marele Day's Novel, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

1159 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The life and crimes of harry lavender

"Witty, wryly humorous and fast-paced, "The Life and Crimes of Harry

Lavender" is a thriller with a twist which brilliantly evokes the

sleaze below the surface of the city's glittering faade". Is this

what the novel is about?

Marele Day's novel, "The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender" explores a

large scope of issues related to crime and mystery writing. The use of

simple language, symbolism, clever wit and a certain sense of

satirical mockery all contribute to composing this witty, wryly

humorous and fast paced novel. Through the way in which Day portrays

the protagonist, Claudia Valentine, she challenges the stereotypes and

ideas set in the readers' minds, in relation to gender issues. Day

also succeeds to ruthlessly unmask the bare grit and grime of the cold

hard truth, that is, organized crime in Sydney.

"The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender" is a satirical ridicule of the

traditional hard-boiled school crime novel. It complies with the basic

characteristics of a piece of private-eye detective fiction; however

Day has also incorporated a certain extent of irony into the story by

choosing the main character/detective to be a woman. Claudia Valentine

is not depicted as the typical useless female throwaway- either by

being the victim or betrayer. This woman is self-sufficient, gutsy and

heroic. Her involvement challenges stereotypes and ideas set in the

responders' minds in relation to gender issues. She is equal to any

male, completing her job successfully and outwitting anyone in her

path. She is also the intellectual counterpart of Harry Lavender, the

"evil villain" in the story.

In light of the tongue-in-cheek atmosphere of the novel, through

Claudia, Day captures the typically marginalised li...

... middle of paper ...

...it

represents his surname but also because of what lavender

characterizes. This strong, sweet smelling herb is often able to

soothe the atmosphere and mask an unwanted odour, in the same way that

Harry masks the corruption he instigates within the city.

All in all Marele Day has successfully accomplished a novel that is

not only entertaining in its wit and cunning but also investigates

issues that most writers would not dare to delve into. She is able to

communicate her pro-feminist views through producing Claudia Valentine

as a woman who seems realistic yet powerful enough to conquer certain

stereotypical injustices within society. In, "The Life and Crimes of

Harry Lavender" Day also manages to pragmatically approach the topic

of organized crime within Sydney and unmasks the brutal reality that

lies beneath the "surface of the city's glittering faade".

Show More
Related

  • Lavender Lady Research Paper

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    For years, I have been told that Lillian Handlan Lemp, better known as the Lavender Lady is one of the many ghosts of the Lemp Mansion. I had no reason to doubt this until I learned that Lillian never lived in the Lemp Mansion. When Lillian was married to William Lemp Jr, they lived in the in a penthouse on top of the Chase Park Plaza. After finding this out, I had to ask myself; “Why would the Lavender Lady haunt the Lemp Mansion if she never lived there?” I could only come to one conclusion, she doesn’t. If there is no reason, then the ghost everyone claims to see in the Lavender Suite cannot be the restless spirit of Lillian Handlan Lemp. I know this may be hard for some to accept, since so many psychics, paranormal investigators, and television shows have identified the ghost on the second floor as the Lavender Lady, but I still find it very hard to believe Lillian would haunt a home in which they never lived in. Lillian actually died in her apartment on Park Avenue in 1960.

    Read More

  • Silent Justice in a Different Key: Suzy Clarkson Holstein´s Trifles

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    I. Article Summary: Suzy Clarkson Holstein's article, “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'” evaluates the play Trifles and how the difference between the men in the play mirror how a woman's perspective is very different from a man's. Trifles is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who show up at a house with their husbands and the county attorney to investigate a murder. The entire time the men are looking for evidence to implicate the accused wife, Minnie Wright, of killing her husband. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are there to gather up some items to bring Minnie Wright in jail. While doing so, the women uncover evidence that would prove the wife is culpable but decide to hide it from the men in the last moments of the play. Trifles is evaluated on how the women are able to come up with the evidence unlike the men because they didn't approach it like a crime scene but rather a home, “By contrast, the women arrive at a home. Although neither they or the men realize it, they too are conducting an investigation” (Holstein 283). Holstein also notes they are able to find evidence because they use their own life experiences to relate to the accused murderer, Minnie Wright as shown here; “But the women do not simply remember and sympathize with Minnie. They identify with her, quite literally” (285). Holstein finishes the article by noting the women decide to hide the evidence because of the solidarity they feel towards Minnie Wright; “From Mrs. Hale's perspective, people are linked together through fragile, sometimes imperceptible strands. The tiny trifles of life –a neighbor's visit, a bird's song, the sewing of a quilt –have profound reverberations” (287).

    Read More

  • Good and Evil in Eudora Welty's A Worn Path and Flannery O'Conner's A Good Man is Hard to Find

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    This essay will contrast a good and evil concept between two different stories. There is an obvious distinction that stands out between the stories; however they are similar in one way. In A Worn Path (Eudora Welty) and A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O’Conner) the one thing that sticks out, is the main character in both stories. The main character in both stories being the grandmother. Grandmothers are of course an important part of the family. In each story we have a grandmother of a different race, appearance, and attitude. In each story the grandmothers take different journeys, but there is one thing they both face being treated disrespected. We live in a world in which the grandmother resides with the family and helps to take care of the grandchildren. In the world today things are different and times are still hard if not harder. We live in a time when respect is no longer earned. Now days it seems as if respect is not as important as it was in earlier years and it is evident in these two stories.

    Read More

  • Margaret Tobin's The Unsinkable Molly Brown

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the world refers to her as Molly Brown, those who really knew her called her “Maggie”. Margaret ‘Maggie’ Tobin Brown became well known around the world for her actions during the Titanic tragedy when the press first dubbed her the “Unsinkable Molly Brown”. Margaret’s other achievements in her life a lot of times go unnoticed, but this woman led a very accomplished life. Margaret was born in Hannibal, Missouri to Irish immigrants John and Johanna Tobin in July of 1867. The Tobin’s had strong progressive views that valued education, so Margaret went to school until she was 13 years old when she began work in a factory stripping tobacco leaves at Garth’s Tobacco Company in Hannibal.

    Read More

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance

    2471 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the penultimate chapter of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance, Coverdale offers a “moral” at the end of the narrative that specifically addresses Hollingsworth’s philanthropic and personal failures:

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast Women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Story of an Hour

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex.  Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom.  They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children.  Only recently with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men.  Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men.  This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself.  Two interesting short stories, “The  Yellow Wall-paper and “The Story of an Hour, “ focus on a woman’s plight near the turn of the 19th century.  This era is especially interesting because it is a time in modern society when women were still treated as second class citizens.  The two main characters in these stories show similarities, but they are also remarkably different in the ways they deal with their problems and life in general.  These two characters will be examined to note the commonalities and differences.  Although the two characters are similar in some ways, it will be shown that the woman in the “The Story of an Hour” is a stronger character based on the two important criteria of rationality and freedom.

    Read More

  • The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eudora Welty's first novel, The Robber Bridegroom, is a combination of fantasy and reality while exploring the duality of human nature, time, and the word man lives in. The union of legend, Mississippi history and Grimms' fairy tales create an adult dream world. Every character in the story has little insight to themselves and how they relate to the world around them. The antics of Mike Fink, the Harps, the bandits, and the Indians closely relate to Mississippi folklore. The blending of actual history and pure fantasy create a much richer form of entertainment. Mike Fink was an American frontiersman who is said to have beaten Davy Crockett in a shooting contest. The Harpe brothers were notorious rustlers and killers in the South. "After being felled by a bullet that paralyzed him, Big Harpe was decapitated; as the decapitation began, Big Harpe is reported to have said, "You're a God Damned rough butcher, but cut on and be damned" (Appel 70). The head was put on a post to warn other outlaws. The duality in man himself is a strong theme in the story. The men who fail to realize that man is a combination of good and evil are unable to succeed in the world around them. The Harps and to a lesser extent Mike Fink follow their most basic instincts to be frontiersmen. They are immersed completely in the lives they led and there is no other way to live. This inability to change is there downfall. The Harps are killed and Mike Fink is relegated to a lowly mail rider. This symbolizes the end of the lawless frontier. Unlike the Harps and Mike Fink, Jamie Lockhart, Clemet and Rosamond Musgrove are torn between two different personas in themselves. Jamie must separate the bandit in hims...

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

    3631 Words  | 8 Pages

    This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.

    Read More

  • The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human; relating to or having characteristics of a person(Merriam-Webster). A human is truly just a soul combined with characteristics of other people, and this is proven by Jenna Fox; the main character in The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. After finding out what her body is made up of, Jenna along with other characters think she is not human. Despite this Jenna Fox has always had the key elements it takes to be a human been. Jenna for one has a past and memories that make up her life even after the accident. More importantly it is unfair to call her a “monster” when she shows characteristics similar to that of other humans. Needless to say, Jenna just as any other human isn’t perfect, and she later learns that in order to be one hundred percent human she must have the same chances of succeeding in life as any other human would. Jenna Fox is human because she has a soul regardless of her differences.

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing The Awakening and Story of an Hour

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.

    Read More

  • Physical & Emotional Abuse in Jane Eyre: How This Affected Jane’s Evolution Into a Dynamic Character

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Obsessions In The Orchid Thief

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obsessions can lead one to greater heights, but it can also leech off of him until only a shadow remains. That’s the message writer Susan Orlean conveys to readers in the first chapter of her award winning novel The Orchid Thief. This surprising real life account by Orlean takes place at the simultaneously rural and urban state of Florida. When Orlean hears of a horticulturalist’s, John Laroche, trial for having stolen a rare species of orchids from a local state park, she immediately researches deeper into the subject in case “this ball of paper might bloom”, eventually leading her to Laroche himself. Laroche, the reader soon discovers, has a consistent habit of emerging himself in fleeting passions that disappear as suddenly as they emerge. From turtles, to coral fish, to orchids, Laroche’s interests remain as unpredictable as his perseverance is unfaltering. Once Laroche decides he’s interested in a new field, he gives his soul for the occupation, spending every

    Read More

  • A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Phoenix’s journey is a little long just by walking alone in the middle of the

    Read More

  • Lady Audleys Secret

    2374 Words  | 5 Pages

    By using the elements of both melodrama and mystery fiction, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was able to create her most famous work of her long lasted career, Lady Audley’s Secret. Her ability to construe a mystery and keep the reader involved in her work shows the talent she had for writing. Mary Braddon would not have been a popular Victorian novelist if she had not engaged in a certain amount of sentimentality (melodrama) in her fiction (Peterson, 165-166). Her choice of the mystery made her famous and revered by many of her colleagues. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote to her once that he wished his “days to be bound each to each by Miss Braddon’s novels';, and Tennyson declared that he was “simply steeped in Miss Braddon'; (Peterson, 161). By exploring the elements of both melodrama and mystery, it becomes clear that Lady Audley’s Secret fits into both. Using these genres, Braddon was able to create a successful novel of her time that incorporated both reader emotion and Victorian culture.

    Read More

  • The Development Of Character In Harry Potter Series, By J. K. Rowling

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Seuss once wrote that “today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”, but what makes a person unique? A person’s character is what makes them who they are. It is the foundation of personality, words, and actions, and it grows with every trial in an individual’s life. Personal struggle develops character because it brings to light what a person will and will not do, allows them to find or develop talents, it creates an opportunity to alter their mindset, and the experience gained will stay with the individual forever.

    Read More

More about Marele Day's Novel, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

Open Document