A Crime in the Neighborhood

I am about 2/3 thru' this book and am already looking forward to reading "A Perfect Arrangement" also by this author. Yes, there are faint echoes of Anne Tyler here, but I think that rests more in the setting & characters rather than the actual writing. From the opening page, I found myself absorbed in the ensuing story, finding it deceptively accessible yet very well written. As with another reviewer, I laughed until I choked at the description of the "sordid exploits" of Roy and Tiffany - the modified Barbies belonging to the 8 year old girl next door. Maybe I was a strange child, but together with my best friend, my dolls engaged in some strange activities too! As I am reading, the book is moving into darker territory with allegations being made against an innocent(?) neighbour and I'm sensing that things will get very ugly indeed. But still, it's a book that I hated being wrenched away from when my lunchbreak was over.

...there are usually all sorts of things going on. Suzanne Berg's gently compelling novel A CRIME IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD is set in the early 1970s -- Nixon is in the White House, Watergate is a breaking story. People are beginning to see the cracks in the feet of the statues of their leaders -- they are beginning to see that the world is not the idyllic place they have enjoyed imagining during the 50s and 60s. It is becoming real -- and it is beginning to intrude into their daily lives.The novel is told from the point of view of Marsha Eberhardt -- a ten year-old girl with an older brother and sister (twins) who torment her (isn't that included in the 'job descriptions' of older siblings?); a mother who is intelligent but wearing blinders, scrambling to find her place in life; and a father who has pretty much stepped out of the family picture, having an affair and running off with his wife's sister. Combine all of these emotional drains with the general 'responsibilities' of being a ten year-old girl and the fact that the tranquility of their 'Leave it to Beaver' type neighborhood has just been shattered by the molestation and murder of a young boy, and life-changing circumstances are geared into motion.Marsha's story is told by her adult self, looking back over the span of 25 years or so at the events that formed her outlook on the world -- and at the way she perceived them, and the way that there perceptions guided them along. As much as a look at the events themselves and how they played out -- and there is indeed a palpable aura of mystery here -- the novel addresses the way we respond to events that occur around us, and how the responses we form affect not only our lives but the lives of those around us. Yes, that's right, there's a moral dilemma/lesson to be had here, but not to worry -- Berne's skill and empathy for her characters, as well as her respect for them and for her readers, keeps this from becoming in any way 'preachy'. This is a compelling, intelligent story -- and it's one that will be as relevant for years to come as it is for us today.Gosh -- writing that's intelligent, a bit of a learning experience, and entertaining all at the same time. Not a bad way to spend some reading time. Highly recommended.

A contemporary poet asked, "What is our innocence, what is our guilt?" Echoes of that question reverberate throughout Suzanne Berne's deeply affecting first novel, A Crime In The Neighborhood. In the hands of a less perceptive writer, the crime would be the rape/murder of a young boy in a peaceful suburb of Washington, D.C. during the summer of 1972. However, that is only one of the offenses recorded in copious notes kept by Marsha, the story's 10-year-old narrator. Described as "one of those little girls who never said much but who was always there," Marsha is a reticent child, an inveterate observer of events that have shaken her once secure existence. Infrequently tolerated, often deprecated by her older brother and sister, twins, who shoot Marsha's questions back at her with acid mimicry, she turns to obsessively writing in her "Evidence notebook." Lois, her mother, is one of four sisters raised by a widowed mother and grandmother who "took in sewing, did some typing" and ate corn flakes for dinner. The sisters, known as the Mayhew girls, were intensely loyal to one another. Out of necessity they wore underwear made out of old linen pillowcases, out of experiencethey deemed men lacking in character and strength. Thus, a vital bond is severed when Lois learns that her husband is having an affair with her youngest sister, Ada. A wrenching betrayal, it is all the more painful because Lois believed in Ada "as one trusts someone fully comprehended," while her husband's infidelity was something "she had more or less expected." The other two sisters soon arrive for a visit. If they cannot effect a reconciliation, they hope to at least understand. Their convergence only adds confusion to Marsha's topsy-turvy world: "Suddenly our house filled with raspy whispering female voices, a sibilant, maddening sound to a child who is afraid to know why her father drives off to work red-eyed every morning, while her mother spends her mornings vacuuming ferociously..." As her personal drama is played against the background of the Watergate break-ins, Marsha wonders if the entire world has gone awry. Her father and Ada run away together, and she witnesses her brother shoplifting a carton of cigarettes from the mall drugstore. She duly notes infractions of both global magnitude and yard sale insignificance in her "Evidence notebook." "A kind of lawlessness infected everything," Berne writes, "... eight-year-old Luann Lauder decorated herself with toothpaste one Sunday morning and ran across the lawn in only her underpants." When a Mr. Green moves in next door, Marsha dismisses him as inconsequential. He is balding, perhaps 45. And, as she carefully pens while watching him build a barbecue pit, he has a bare-breasted maiden tatoo "just below the shoulder, where his bicep bunched." As the torpid summer progresses, Marsha connects the young boy's murder, Watergate, and he

As another author, I would highly recommend Suzanne Berne's novel under any circumstances. A Crime in the Neighborhood is subtle, stylish, and memorable, without any self-conscious literary histrionics. I read it two years ago and still remember scenes and lines of dialogue vividly. The fact that I knew Berne in college may have influenced me to pick up the book in the first place, but had nothing to do with keeping it in my hands. This is a page-turner for people who actually know how to read.Which is why I'd also like to respond to some of the more suspiciously negative comments posted here. It seems perfectly obvious that several of these reviews have been written by the same person using different addresses. The dead give-away is that the word "sleeper" is misused over and over to denote boredom rather than to indicate an unexpected pleasure, as is the common usage. Whoever is doing this probably spends most of his or her time alone in a small dark room. They should find better things to do with themselves there.

a great summer read that feels as cool as a summer breeze, yet is filled with tons of depth. i think the best thing about this novel was the "unsolved" crime in the neighborhood. it left you with that great thing- room for conversation as to what each reader would think. suzanne berne is a rising star . this is a must read for anyone who enjoys a mystery/family book wrapped up in summer gift paper. ENJOY!