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| Plot Summary of A Cry from the Dark |
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"
Scribner, Feb 2004, 24.00, 288 pp.
ISBN 0743253450
She is a famous well respected author living in the heart of London but her roots are in the Outback of Australia in a small town called Bundaroo. She grew up there in between the two World Wars and even at sixteen her teachers and other adults in the community knew she was meant for the outside world. At her high school graduation, something horrific happened to Bettina Whitelaw and all she wanted to do was get away from the town she once loved.
Now in her eighties, Bettina is writing a fictionalized account of her life and the only person who knows the Bettina from Australia is her lifelong friend Hughie, a misfit she adopted when his parents moved from England to Bundareo. One day when she comes back from an outing, she realizes someone was in her flat looking on her desk. When she goes to Scotland for a vacation with her brother and daughter, the police calls her home because the woman who was house sitting for her was viciously attacked and lies in a coma. Bettina does not have a clue as to who could have done such a thing but believes there is a link between this crime and the break-in.
The heroine is a very interesting and complex character but readers will find it difficult to warm up to her because she has almost always put her own needs first. Robert Barnard uses flashbacks at times as a means of allowing the audience to see the heroine in the winter of 1938 and experience the events that caused her to become self-reliant, independent and touchingly vulnerable.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Cry from the Dark |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
General Crime (including known murderer)
Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here?
- crazed boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse
If story PRIMARILY about main chr. being hunted...
- hunted by killer/stalker
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 60's-90's
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 60's-90's
Profession/status:
- writer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Eastern Europe
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Australia
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 1
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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