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Child of Rage
Jim Thompson Book Review

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Plot Summary of Child of Rage
"CHILD OF RAGE, the last novel of Jim Thompson, has been first published in 1972.

Allen is an 18 years old black boy brought up by his white mother alone. Blaming Allen for her situation, she uses to molest him sexually. The boy, who's got a very high I.Q., has become angry and terribly cynical over the years. In his new school, he meets a family of the black NYC bourgeoisie and imagines a scheme in order to take revenge on the members of this family for the problems he's experiencing. Unable to get sexually involved with young girls, Allen enjoys humiliating them. At last, he will find a way to get even with his mother and also with the school director who gets on his nerves because he's unable to understand Allen's intellectual superiority."

Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Child of Rage
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - upbeat
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Kind of sex: - molestation
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Taboo sex story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric - obsessed - emotionally unstable - wild
Ethnicity/Nationality - Black
How sensitive is this character? - soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - prostitute
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric: - obsessed - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an above average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 (a fair amount)
City? Yes
City: - New York
Misc setting - resort/hotel

Style
Person - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of hetero sex - descript. of female anat. (the big B's) - descript. of female anat. (the big V) - descript. of nude males (the big P)
Lot of foul language? Yes
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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