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Dating Games
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Plot Summary of Dating Games
"
R. M. Johnson
Simon & Schuster, Sep 2004, 12.00, 310 pp.
ISBN: 0743244559

In Chicago, with her twin daughters now seventeen and sick of depending on loser human males, thirty-three years old nurse's assistant Livvy Rodgers decides to take care of herself for a change after years of struggling to put food on the table by returning to school to become a registered nurse. Her daughter Hennesey, an honor student with a college scholarship supports the decision; her other daughter street wise Aliz, who is going nowhere, detests the decision because she will have to earn a living instead of sponging off her mom.

Rafe Collins spent three years behind bars for a crime he did not commit as he protected his friend Smoke. Rafe works as an auto mechanic at Smoke's car dealership, which the latter uses to traffic in drugs. Rafe meets Hennesey and they begin to fall in love while mom Livvy meets nice Wade Williams; besides trying to steal Rafe from her sister, Aliz and her street pals make money rolling drunks. However, they chose the wrong target when they mugged Smoke, who takes this as an affront to his manhood and plans to attack Aliz and anyone she might hold dear.

This is a look at the mean streets as readers compare the twins' diametrically opposite ways out of the slums.

Harriet Klausner

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Dating Games
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Family, struggle with Yes
Struggle with: - Sister
Crime & Police story Yes
Story of - being hunted by killer/stalker
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - thief/con artist
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality - Black
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - society
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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R.M. Johnson Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Harriet Klausner  

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