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A Crime in the Neighbourhood
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
'This ambitious account of a sudden coming of age reminded me strongly of To Kill a Mockingbird - and is every bit as moving and satisfying' Daily Telegraph
In the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten-year-old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister; a young boy called Boyd Ellison was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood.
'It is impossible not to be completely swept along. Berne's vision is gently humorous, ironic, quirky, and she writes with such piercing sensitivity . . . a compelling debut novel' The Times
'Intensely evocative. I loved it' Observer
'The writing is marvellous . . . comparisons have been made between her and Anne Tyler and Harper Lee. Same ball-park, delightfully different voice' Mail on Sunday
'This ambitious account of a sudden coming of age reminded me strongly of To Kill a Mockingbird - and is every bit as moving and satisfying' Daily Telegraph
In the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten-year-old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister; a young boy called Boyd Ellison was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood.
'It is impossible not to be completely swept along. Berne's vision is gently humorous, ironic, quirky, and she writes with such piercing sensitivity . . . a compelling debut novel' The Times
'Intensely evocative. I loved it' Observer
'The writing is marvellous . . . comparisons have been made between her and Anne Tyler and Harper Lee. Same ball-park, delightfully different voice' Mail on Sunday
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 6, 1997
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February 28, 2025
Orange Women's Fiction Prize winner 1997 - ostensibly about the father-daughter relationship, this book tells of a long hot summer of 1972 where ten-year old Marsha tries to come to terms with her father leaving the family amidst an idyllic suburban neighbourhood turned upside down by the sex-murder of a young boy. Playing alongside Watergate headlines, in a world no longer safe, Marsha starts spying on new solitary middle aged neighbour Mr Green. Very good read - ironic, quirky, poignant and smart... Berne's vision is deserving of the Prize she was awarded. Four Stars, an 8 out of 12 rating from me.
2012 read
2012 read
January 14, 2019
In the summer of 1972, the suburban neighborhood of Spring Hill is rocked by a hideous crime, one that Bernes masterfully introduces in the opening pages of A Crime in the Neighborhood. What follows is a tense narrative delivered with such clarity and unnerving sense of reality that one easily forgets this is fiction.
Framed through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl who writes observations about her neighborhood in a personal journal, A Crime in the Neighborhood has inklings of Hariet the Spy but with significantly darker themes.
While the mystery unfolds, Bernes explores the nuances of 1970's suburban America: neighborhood politics, resembling a country with each neighbor fulfilling a certain role; the voracious appetite of gossip and its ability to grow at an alarming rate, leaving destruction in its wake; and how domestic order was uprooted by the growing prevalence of divorce, with absent fathers forcing women to redefine their roles and leaving children to struggle with finding a new axis on which their world's should turn.
The most unsettling aspect of A Crime in the Neighborhood is Berne's decision to make the victim of the crime someone who's not particularly well-liked. This adds a fresh and discomforting dynamic to the narrative, one that raises uncomfortable questions:
An unorthodox mystery liable to arouse suspicion and make one squirm, A Crime in the Neighborhood and its merciless exploration of disillusionment is difficult to put down and not easily forgotten.
-
Trigger Warning:
Framed through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl who writes observations about her neighborhood in a personal journal, A Crime in the Neighborhood has inklings of Hariet the Spy but with significantly darker themes.
While the mystery unfolds, Bernes explores the nuances of 1970's suburban America: neighborhood politics, resembling a country with each neighbor fulfilling a certain role; the voracious appetite of gossip and its ability to grow at an alarming rate, leaving destruction in its wake; and how domestic order was uprooted by the growing prevalence of divorce, with absent fathers forcing women to redefine their roles and leaving children to struggle with finding a new axis on which their world's should turn.
The most unsettling aspect of A Crime in the Neighborhood is Berne's decision to make the victim of the crime someone who's not particularly well-liked. This adds a fresh and discomforting dynamic to the narrative, one that raises uncomfortable questions:
"Tragedy has to be interesting. The whole world cares about Richard Nixon. Who cares about the guy down the street?"
"His wife," someone volunteered.
The professor smiled and took off his little oval spectacles to polish them by the blackboard. "Who cares," he said, blinking slyly, "about his wife?"
An unorthodox mystery liable to arouse suspicion and make one squirm, A Crime in the Neighborhood and its merciless exploration of disillusionment is difficult to put down and not easily forgotten.
-
Trigger Warning:
May 8, 2016
I follow three literary prizes - The Man Booker, The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and The Baileys Women's Prize.
Man Booker - usually the winners are bona fide post modern classics BUT usually I tend to prefer the ones that don't win the actual prize.
Pulitzer - The winning novel is always good - the past ten years have been amazing.
However my absolute fave from these three is the Baileys. So far I have read 18 out of the 20 winners and only two disappointed me: Kate Grenvlle's The Idea of Perfection and Zadie Smith's On Beauty. As you can guess A Crime in the Neighborhood is a (1999) Baileys winner.
Part Philip Roth and part Harriet the Spy this is an interesting tale disguised as a mystery.
It's 1972 and a boy has been murdered. Also there's Watergate and Marsha Eberhardt's parents have split up. In the middle of all this mess a new neighbor moves in and Marsha tries to use her sleuthing skills in order to find out if the neighbor is the murderer.
The actual murder is a mcguffin. It's dealt with quickly. A Crime in the Neighborhood is more a commentary on how people react when there is a crime in their vicinity. Gossip, rumors, secrets. In other words this is a tale about suburbia, something which was a common theme in the late 90's and early 00's in both literature (The Virgin Suicides,White Teeth, The Corrections) and in film (the Virgin Suicides,American Beauty,Happiness, Donnie Darko). However due to Marsha's deadpan narrative this novel is not a product of it's time but stands out as deceptively complex coming of age story. Reality and Illusion collide nicely and this makes A Crime in the Neighborood compulsive reading.
June 26, 2020
In high school I was in a class called Creative Writing. The teacher assigned students to write a ten-page descriptive essay about a particular subject periodically, such as describing the beginning of autumn, or about a domestic scene of preparing and eating food in a kitchen. The teacher wanted details of surroundings, activities, sights and sounds and smells of everything in the environment. 'A Crime in the Neighborhood' by Suzanne Berne reminded me of that English writing class.
Berne has written a novel about a 1972 suburban neighborhood called Spring Hill. She beautifully describes the green-lawn and Saturday-barbecue environment, the customary routines of family life as it was in the 1970's (dad works, mom stays home raising the kids), and the expected social life of public pleasantries between neighbors. Doors are kept unlocked or keys are hidden under doormats and flower pots. Kids are peddling around on Schwinn bicycles all day everywhere when not in school. Dogs bark and cats stare placidly out at passerbys from interior windows. Everyone keeps a pitcher of lemonade cold in the refrigerator and coffee hot for neighbors casually dropping by. These middle-class routines are described through the eyes of the narrator, Marsha, when she was eight-years-old, looking back on her childhood.
The feeling Marsha has for her early life begins as one of edenic nostalgia, but it slowly becomes poisoned drop by drop by unexpected changes she doesn't fully understand or like. During a homecooked dinner, Marsha's mother Lois explodes with an unusual fury towards her husband. Marsha's dad is a real estate salesman. He also is an adulterer. He is having an affair with Ada, the youngest of Lois's three sisters.
After the violent dish-smashing dinner where Marsha's mother informed Marsha's dad the marriage is done, he moves out to a motel, and eventually runs off with Ada to Canada. Lois tries to find work, eventually selling magazines by phoning from her kitchen table in the afternoons. She dresses in suits in the morning to look for work.
Meanwhile, the twins Steven and Julie, fifteen-year-olds and Marsha's siblings, are moving beyond Marsha's reach and understanding in their activities. Their parents' separation brought the twins closer to each other and they avoid Marsha more and more. Marsha snoops in their rooms, discovering naked pictures hidden in their bedrooms. They also took their mother's side. Marsha vaguely realizes she blames her mother and wants her dad back. She feels lonely, ignored and more isolated the longer her dad stays away. The daily rhythms to which she is accustomed are gone. Mom is selling the house, too, and economising. The twins no longer are receiving an allowance.
When a local twelve-year-old boy's body is discovered, the neighborhood becomes scary for the first time to the adults. Marsha knew Boyd Ellison. She didn't like him as she thought him a bully. She doesn't fully understand the adults in their feelings of increased nervousness but she feels the increasing edginess. President Nixon and Watergate are dominating the TV news and adult conversations all around her as well, usually after they talk about the rape and murder of Boyd.
Then Marsha is shocked when her mother seems to be flirting with the new neighbor, Mr. Green. He isn't particularly attractive or adept at socializing. He is single, and the neighbors do not understand a single man moving into their neighborhood. He is quiet and keeps to himself. But when Marsha's mother calls out to Mr. Green working in his yard and is obviously trying to be friends, Marsha is angry and fearful, though she doesn't know why. So. When detectives come around talking to everybody in the neighborhood, she pointedly tells them no one likes Mr. Green. Marsha has been keeping a journal of sorts, noting everyone's movements and writing down everything she spots in yards or of cars driving by for weeks after reading Sherlock Holmes stories. She has had nothing to do but sit on her porch watching, or sneaking around listening to conversations from behind doors, or from picking up the phone extension in her house. Other than seeing her brother masturbating, which she didn't understand was happening, there is nothing in her notebook to indict anyone. However, everybody is VERY nervous....and Marsha continues to build on her dislike of Mr. Green adding lies, and more lies.
Oh oh.
'A Crime in the Neighborhood' would have worked better for me if it had been a novella. But the writing is exquisitely evocative. The world of the American middle-class suburb in the 1970's is as accurately portrayed as it is described richly in detail. Marsha, even though she keeps to the viewpoint of herself as a naive angry child, narrates the story with an underlying awareness of her personal responsibility in causing a great deal of unpleasantness. The psychological interplay and undertow between Marsha and her mother, and between Marsha and her siblings was authentic to me. However, this literary novel is more about exploring the mystery of a young child's pain in experiencing the unwelcome changes to her life than it is about a murder mystery. Mystery genre fans will be bored with the book.
Berne has written a novel about a 1972 suburban neighborhood called Spring Hill. She beautifully describes the green-lawn and Saturday-barbecue environment, the customary routines of family life as it was in the 1970's (dad works, mom stays home raising the kids), and the expected social life of public pleasantries between neighbors. Doors are kept unlocked or keys are hidden under doormats and flower pots. Kids are peddling around on Schwinn bicycles all day everywhere when not in school. Dogs bark and cats stare placidly out at passerbys from interior windows. Everyone keeps a pitcher of lemonade cold in the refrigerator and coffee hot for neighbors casually dropping by. These middle-class routines are described through the eyes of the narrator, Marsha, when she was eight-years-old, looking back on her childhood.
The feeling Marsha has for her early life begins as one of edenic nostalgia, but it slowly becomes poisoned drop by drop by unexpected changes she doesn't fully understand or like. During a homecooked dinner, Marsha's mother Lois explodes with an unusual fury towards her husband. Marsha's dad is a real estate salesman. He also is an adulterer. He is having an affair with Ada, the youngest of Lois's three sisters.
After the violent dish-smashing dinner where Marsha's mother informed Marsha's dad the marriage is done, he moves out to a motel, and eventually runs off with Ada to Canada. Lois tries to find work, eventually selling magazines by phoning from her kitchen table in the afternoons. She dresses in suits in the morning to look for work.
Meanwhile, the twins Steven and Julie, fifteen-year-olds and Marsha's siblings, are moving beyond Marsha's reach and understanding in their activities. Their parents' separation brought the twins closer to each other and they avoid Marsha more and more. Marsha snoops in their rooms, discovering naked pictures hidden in their bedrooms. They also took their mother's side. Marsha vaguely realizes she blames her mother and wants her dad back. She feels lonely, ignored and more isolated the longer her dad stays away. The daily rhythms to which she is accustomed are gone. Mom is selling the house, too, and economising. The twins no longer are receiving an allowance.
When a local twelve-year-old boy's body is discovered, the neighborhood becomes scary for the first time to the adults. Marsha knew Boyd Ellison. She didn't like him as she thought him a bully. She doesn't fully understand the adults in their feelings of increased nervousness but she feels the increasing edginess. President Nixon and Watergate are dominating the TV news and adult conversations all around her as well, usually after they talk about the rape and murder of Boyd.
Then Marsha is shocked when her mother seems to be flirting with the new neighbor, Mr. Green. He isn't particularly attractive or adept at socializing. He is single, and the neighbors do not understand a single man moving into their neighborhood. He is quiet and keeps to himself. But when Marsha's mother calls out to Mr. Green working in his yard and is obviously trying to be friends, Marsha is angry and fearful, though she doesn't know why. So. When detectives come around talking to everybody in the neighborhood, she pointedly tells them no one likes Mr. Green. Marsha has been keeping a journal of sorts, noting everyone's movements and writing down everything she spots in yards or of cars driving by for weeks after reading Sherlock Holmes stories. She has had nothing to do but sit on her porch watching, or sneaking around listening to conversations from behind doors, or from picking up the phone extension in her house. Other than seeing her brother masturbating, which she didn't understand was happening, there is nothing in her notebook to indict anyone. However, everybody is VERY nervous....and Marsha continues to build on her dislike of Mr. Green adding lies, and more lies.
Oh oh.
'A Crime in the Neighborhood' would have worked better for me if it had been a novella. But the writing is exquisitely evocative. The world of the American middle-class suburb in the 1970's is as accurately portrayed as it is described richly in detail. Marsha, even though she keeps to the viewpoint of herself as a naive angry child, narrates the story with an underlying awareness of her personal responsibility in causing a great deal of unpleasantness. The psychological interplay and undertow between Marsha and her mother, and between Marsha and her siblings was authentic to me. However, this literary novel is more about exploring the mystery of a young child's pain in experiencing the unwelcome changes to her life than it is about a murder mystery. Mystery genre fans will be bored with the book.
August 12, 2012
You know you're getting on a bit when a novel set in the early 1970s can be described as a period piece! This is set in suburban Washington DC in 1972/3 around the time Watergate was developing. It won the Orange prize in 1999 and has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird and Hitchcock's Rear Window. Don't get either of these comparison's, because in my opinion it is not that good.
The story is narrated by nine year old Marsha, looking back as an adult. Marsha, it soon becomes clear is a spectacularly unreliable narrator. Marsha parent's are splitting up because her father has had an affair with one of her aunts; the absent father is a "presence" throughout the novel. Marsha's two siblings are older, twins and tease her, so she is very much alone. She also has broken her ankle and so watches events as they unfold.
As her father leaves, a new neighbour moves in next door, Mr Green, a single, middle-aged and balding man who Marsha instantly dislikes. Then a child is murdered near the local shopping mall, a child Marsha knows (but dislikes). There follows a description of the tensions in the area, the responses of the local community and the search for the killer. Marsha keeps a diary and puts all the newspaper clippings in it. As time goes on Marsha becomes convinced Mr Green is the killer and she tells the police.
Marsha is not at all likeable and feels just a little too knowing for a nine year old at that time. Although the novel is fairly short, I think it would have been better as a short story. the scene setting and feel just don't add enough. There is a general haziness about the whole thing and I am not even sure Marsha was nine; she could have been ten or eleven.
Much of the story is based on the cruelty of children, the pervasiveness of rumour and the scapegoating of stereotypes. However, I'm not sure the story went anywhere and it wasn't memorable.
The story is narrated by nine year old Marsha, looking back as an adult. Marsha, it soon becomes clear is a spectacularly unreliable narrator. Marsha parent's are splitting up because her father has had an affair with one of her aunts; the absent father is a "presence" throughout the novel. Marsha's two siblings are older, twins and tease her, so she is very much alone. She also has broken her ankle and so watches events as they unfold.
As her father leaves, a new neighbour moves in next door, Mr Green, a single, middle-aged and balding man who Marsha instantly dislikes. Then a child is murdered near the local shopping mall, a child Marsha knows (but dislikes). There follows a description of the tensions in the area, the responses of the local community and the search for the killer. Marsha keeps a diary and puts all the newspaper clippings in it. As time goes on Marsha becomes convinced Mr Green is the killer and she tells the police.
Marsha is not at all likeable and feels just a little too knowing for a nine year old at that time. Although the novel is fairly short, I think it would have been better as a short story. the scene setting and feel just don't add enough. There is a general haziness about the whole thing and I am not even sure Marsha was nine; she could have been ten or eleven.
Much of the story is based on the cruelty of children, the pervasiveness of rumour and the scapegoating of stereotypes. However, I'm not sure the story went anywhere and it wasn't memorable.
January 11, 2015
While I was reading this book, I kept having to remind myself that it was a novel and not a true story. Berne drew me right into the story from the get-go, and I had to keep flipping back to the front cover to assure myself of the fact that the book was indeed a novel.
February 25, 2020
Marsha is looking back to a couple of months in the summer 1972 when as a child her father leaves her mother for her aunt, and a boy she knows a little, and doesn't really like is molested and murdered in her neighbourhood. Hot days and boiling nights make everyone in the claustrophobic suburbs suspicious of strangers until the undercurrent of hysteria bubbles up into a terrible accusation. This book positively simmers. But don't expect a crime novel; it's more about asking why we do the things we do, and not always knowing the answer.
April 24, 2020
This review can also be found on my blog.
I'm sure there are readers who adore this book. I'm sure there are brilliant messages one can glean from the words written here. Unfortunately, that was all wasted on me. This book and I just did not get along. There's nothing especially heinous about the writing or the plot; I just felt like I was being dragged through it. Part of this is my fault: I was expecting something closer to a thriller while the crime aspect of this novel is very much downplayed. This is absolutely more slice-of-life literary fiction with a dash of mystery to it.
Another thing I struggled with was just not enjoying the narrator. I found Marsha to be quite bland. As a child, she wanders around, watches people, and eavesdrops on conversations. The little agency she has is used negatively, and brought me to actively dislike her. While this book is about adult Marsha looking back on her childhood, I felt this perspective didn't add much. The analyses she provide did not help me to better understand what I was reading.
I'm truly not sure how much of my dislike is purely personal preference, so I would not turn anyone away from reading this, as long as they understand that this more an exploration of suburban life and less a true mystery. This was a buddy read and I hope that the rest of the group has a better experience with it, because I think there is promise here that I was just unable to unearth myself.
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I'm sure there are readers who adore this book. I'm sure there are brilliant messages one can glean from the words written here. Unfortunately, that was all wasted on me. This book and I just did not get along. There's nothing especially heinous about the writing or the plot; I just felt like I was being dragged through it. Part of this is my fault: I was expecting something closer to a thriller while the crime aspect of this novel is very much downplayed. This is absolutely more slice-of-life literary fiction with a dash of mystery to it.
Another thing I struggled with was just not enjoying the narrator. I found Marsha to be quite bland. As a child, she wanders around, watches people, and eavesdrops on conversations. The little agency she has is used negatively, and brought me to actively dislike her. While this book is about adult Marsha looking back on her childhood, I felt this perspective didn't add much. The analyses she provide did not help me to better understand what I was reading.
I'm truly not sure how much of my dislike is purely personal preference, so I would not turn anyone away from reading this, as long as they understand that this more an exploration of suburban life and less a true mystery. This was a buddy read and I hope that the rest of the group has a better experience with it, because I think there is promise here that I was just unable to unearth myself.
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January 23, 2021
While this book had started out a bit slow it actually turned out to be a very excellent story to my surprise and suddenly it became clear to me why this book had won an award.
First of all, this is not your typical mystery or who done it at all. Instead it's about the life of a ten-year-old girl in Washington DC. She and her family live in a quiet neighborhood where nothing ever happens. Everyone knows everyone. Kids ride bikes and do everyday things. Then suddenly a brutal crime happens out of the blue. A young boy dies. Murdered! Rumors start swirling around because no one actually knows what happened...and in the midst of this turmoil is the young girl, Marsha, with her trusty notebook. She writes down everything she sees no matter how small as she thinks she's looking for clues to the crime.
The actual story, in my opinion, started around page 58. After that it grew much more interesting. And towards the end I had a sudden lightbulb go off in my head once I realized what this book was really about. And it's not actually the crime (although the crime is the thing that started it all). It's about how people see other people. How they treat them. Do they fit in? Does someone fit into the neighborhood?
In some ways this story is sad, especially some of the incidents near the end. I just knew that the one thing was going to happen and it did. I also think it's very realistic. Unfortunately kids are going to be kids but the adults in here are equally to blame.
I think everyone should read this.
This is also one of those books when many things are described in details throughout the story. Very rich descriptions yet it doesn't slow down the story at all. Instead it becomes part of the plot. I mean stuff like a bee bumping against the screen of a door, the angry yowl of a prowling cat, the road of a passing airplane which also drowns out the words that Marsha is trying to overhear...it all works out wonderfully.
Most of the characters in here are kids and they each act very differently. Some of them are downright bizarre, like the neighbor girl Launn. I admit I really didn't like her...but there are kids like her too.
A neighborhood is ruled by word of mouth and sometimes some people get excluded for no valid reason but just because they don't fit in. In the end that's what this book is about.
First of all, this is not your typical mystery or who done it at all. Instead it's about the life of a ten-year-old girl in Washington DC. She and her family live in a quiet neighborhood where nothing ever happens. Everyone knows everyone. Kids ride bikes and do everyday things. Then suddenly a brutal crime happens out of the blue. A young boy dies. Murdered! Rumors start swirling around because no one actually knows what happened...and in the midst of this turmoil is the young girl, Marsha, with her trusty notebook. She writes down everything she sees no matter how small as she thinks she's looking for clues to the crime.
The actual story, in my opinion, started around page 58. After that it grew much more interesting. And towards the end I had a sudden lightbulb go off in my head once I realized what this book was really about. And it's not actually the crime (although the crime is the thing that started it all). It's about how people see other people. How they treat them. Do they fit in? Does someone fit into the neighborhood?
In some ways this story is sad, especially some of the incidents near the end. I just knew that the one thing was going to happen and it did. I also think it's very realistic. Unfortunately kids are going to be kids but the adults in here are equally to blame.
I think everyone should read this.
This is also one of those books when many things are described in details throughout the story. Very rich descriptions yet it doesn't slow down the story at all. Instead it becomes part of the plot. I mean stuff like a bee bumping against the screen of a door, the angry yowl of a prowling cat, the road of a passing airplane which also drowns out the words that Marsha is trying to overhear...it all works out wonderfully.
Most of the characters in here are kids and they each act very differently. Some of them are downright bizarre, like the neighbor girl Launn. I admit I really didn't like her...but there are kids like her too.
A neighborhood is ruled by word of mouth and sometimes some people get excluded for no valid reason but just because they don't fit in. In the end that's what this book is about.
December 17, 2023
I’m glad that I finally read this novel which has been on my radar for years. It’s a different kind of crime story that isn’t about who did it, or why they did it, but how people respond when a crime happens in their midst. Berne does well to keep the crime on the periphery, just one element of plot and setting, rather than the axis of the novel. Although told from the clearly flawed perspective of this child, this novel examines the psyches of adults just as well. A compelling story about our flaws, the complexity of belonging to a community, and response to threat.
March 19, 2014
Here is the number one rule that all 'mystery' writers should follow: if your plot involves a murder, it is your job to (in the end) tell the readers who did it! Don't leave us hanging.
This book was quite slow in the middle. I kept thinking something more would happen, but it never did. The writing was lovely enough to keep me interested, and when I got near the end, I did have that wonderful "I can't wait to get back to the book" feeling, but only because I thought I would get some answers, or be surprised or (better yet) shocked by something.
Nope.
Nothing happened. The murderer was never caught and I never learned what happened to anyone in the book except the parents and a few aunts. That was beyond frustrating.
This book was quite slow in the middle. I kept thinking something more would happen, but it never did. The writing was lovely enough to keep me interested, and when I got near the end, I did have that wonderful "I can't wait to get back to the book" feeling, but only because I thought I would get some answers, or be surprised or (better yet) shocked by something.
Nope.
Nothing happened. The murderer was never caught and I never learned what happened to anyone in the book except the parents and a few aunts. That was beyond frustrating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2020
“If you hadn’t known what had happened in our neighborhood, the street would have looked like any other suburban street in America.” Marsha remembers the summer of 1972, when her father left her mother for Aunt Ada and news came of a young boy’s sexual assault and murder in the woods behind a mall.
Laid up with a broken ankle from falling out of a tree, the 10-year-old stays out of the way of her snide older twin siblings and keeps a close eye on the street’s comings and goings. Like Harriet the Spy or Jimmy Stewart’s convalescent character in Rear Window, she vows to note anything relevant in her Book of Evidence to pass on to the police. Early on, her suspicion lands on Mr. Green, the bachelor who lives next door. Feeling abandoned by her father and underappreciated by the rest of her family, Marsha embellishes the facts to craft a more exciting story, not knowing or caring that she could ruin another person’s life.
The novel is set in Montgomery County, Maryland, where I grew up, and the descriptions of brutally humid days fit with my memory of the endless summer days of a childhood in the Washington, D.C. area. Although I usually avoid child narrators, I’ve always admired novels that can point to the dramatic irony between what a child experiences at the time and what a person can only understand about their situation when looking back. Stylish and rewarding.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Laid up with a broken ankle from falling out of a tree, the 10-year-old stays out of the way of her snide older twin siblings and keeps a close eye on the street’s comings and goings. Like Harriet the Spy or Jimmy Stewart’s convalescent character in Rear Window, she vows to note anything relevant in her Book of Evidence to pass on to the police. Early on, her suspicion lands on Mr. Green, the bachelor who lives next door. Feeling abandoned by her father and underappreciated by the rest of her family, Marsha embellishes the facts to craft a more exciting story, not knowing or caring that she could ruin another person’s life.
The novel is set in Montgomery County, Maryland, where I grew up, and the descriptions of brutally humid days fit with my memory of the endless summer days of a childhood in the Washington, D.C. area. Although I usually avoid child narrators, I’ve always admired novels that can point to the dramatic irony between what a child experiences at the time and what a person can only understand about their situation when looking back. Stylish and rewarding.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
June 28, 2020
“How do crimes that we witness or commit as children continue to haunt us years later? Can we ever escape the wrongs we’ve done, or the wrongs done to us?”
I love novels about regret. This is such a gem. A coming of age novel of 10 year old Marsh Eberhardt. Summer of ‘72 (and oh boy let me tell you she gets the details perfect, I was 14 that summer) a 12 year old neighbor boy is found molested and murdered in a woods by Marsha’s local shopping mall. It’s also the summer her father has an affair and leaves home. A new neighbor, a single middle aged man moves in next door and starts to raise suspicion in this mostly conventional family neighborhood. This novel manages to feel like true crime but make no mistake, it is not. The tone reminds me of Dandelion Wine, The Virgin Suicides and The Go-Between all wrapped together. Amazing atmosphere as well. A bit creepy, a bit summery, like a thunderstorm on the horizon.
I love novels about regret. This is such a gem. A coming of age novel of 10 year old Marsh Eberhardt. Summer of ‘72 (and oh boy let me tell you she gets the details perfect, I was 14 that summer) a 12 year old neighbor boy is found molested and murdered in a woods by Marsha’s local shopping mall. It’s also the summer her father has an affair and leaves home. A new neighbor, a single middle aged man moves in next door and starts to raise suspicion in this mostly conventional family neighborhood. This novel manages to feel like true crime but make no mistake, it is not. The tone reminds me of Dandelion Wine, The Virgin Suicides and The Go-Between all wrapped together. Amazing atmosphere as well. A bit creepy, a bit summery, like a thunderstorm on the horizon.
January 18, 2014
A crime in the neighborhood. It's 1972, the year Nixon went to China and the Watergate burlary happened. And in a suburb of Washington, D.C., a 10-year-old boy is molested and killed in the woods behind a mall. The narrator is 10-year-old Marsha Eberhardt. She tells about the spring and summer of 1972, when her father left her mother to run off with her mother's sister, and a Mr. Green moves in across the street.
The language is fantastic; I could see and smell and hear the sounds of a summer night and feel along with Marsha the unspoken desires and fears she went through.
I was reminded initially of To Kill a Mockingbird, only from the point of view. The rest is unique and wonderful and worth your while. The ending asks more questions than it answers, mostly, "Why do people do the things they do?"
It's a great novel and I'm not sure why it isn't more famous. I have a feeling I'll be thinking about it a long time.
The language is fantastic; I could see and smell and hear the sounds of a summer night and feel along with Marsha the unspoken desires and fears she went through.
I was reminded initially of To Kill a Mockingbird, only from the point of view. The rest is unique and wonderful and worth your while. The ending asks more questions than it answers, mostly, "Why do people do the things they do?"
It's a great novel and I'm not sure why it isn't more famous. I have a feeling I'll be thinking about it a long time.
October 23, 2017
From the moment I began reading, I found it hard to put this book down. A compelling story told about a crime committed in a quiet suburban neighborhood in the D.C. area, set during the time of the Watergate scandal. In this first novel by Suzanne Berne, she presents a great coming-of-age story with believable characters and rich descriptions of a place and time.
October 31, 2018
The claustrophobic world of suburban 1970s is captured beautfully in this book--superficially serene with a very unsettling undertow. Powerful language, great development of children characters, an authentic depiction of how a child experiencing trauma might respond. I am going to read Berne's other books!
February 7, 2018
Perhaps this book deserves a 4. But the many comparisons made to To Kill a Mockingbird meant I had very high expectations for this book, to which it simply did not live up. The book has neither the poignant message of Harper Lee's book nor the same quality of prose. Instead too often it rambles. It is not a bad book, just not the great book I anticipated based on comparisons made.
March 5, 2018
A gorgeously suspenseful, beautifully written story of a girl's coming of age following the brutal murder of a young boy in her neighborhood while she grapples with her own father's betrayal. One of the best novels I've ever read.
January 20, 2015
I was disappointed with this book. It was listed as one of the top 10 crime novels by Kirkus Reviews, so I expected it to be good. It was OK, but not fantastic and the ending was left up in the air. The premise behind this book set in Washington DC in the 1970's is the effect that a murdered twelve-year-old child has on the entire neighbourhood. It was a hot summer in 1972 when young Boyd Ellison went missing. His body was found a day after, and the entire neightbourhood is put on an alert. It's the first time a violent crime has occurred in this quiet suburban neighbourhood. The story is told through the eyes and voice of young Marsha. Marsha is only 9, but she's an observant child, and she takes on a surveillance of her strange new neighbour, and becomes convinced that he was the one who killed Boyd. Marsha and her family are going through some difficulties of their own as their father has just recently left his home and left the area. Marsha's mother is trying to hold what remains of her family together when this crime occurs. Ms. Berne depicts 1970's suburbia very convincingly. It was like going in back in time reading about summer and all the things that occur in neighbourhoods in the summer. Her character development is good as well, but unfortunately I found it difficult to like any of the characters in the book. Even young Marsha's character and her intentions come into question. There is never any resolution to the case, and there is no happy ending to this book. In fact, I felt vaguely depressed when I finished. That is never how I want to feel when I finish a book.
June 17, 2018
This 1999 Orange prize winner is a book that I read in one sitting. In 1973, a young, little boy is found dead in the woods behind a shopping mall in a suburb of Washington, DC. Ravaged and beaten, his assailant was never found. This was a summer of not- to- be -forgotten occurrences.
When Marsha's beloved father chooses to run off with her mothers aunt, the family is torn apart. A small town on edge, consumed with fear after the murder of the small boy, and now, Marsha and her siblings also have to face the fear of life without a father.
Their mother valiantly tries to carry on. But, life is not easy, and soon the family is made to feel out of place. Acting out, Marsha accuses a single older man who lives next door of the crime. She kept a journal all summer long, and it is filled with tidbits regarding his oddities.
As a country learns of Richrd Nixon and Watergate, both nationally and locally, the world seems to be a very unfair, unsafe place to live.
Excellent!
Four Stars!
November 5, 2007
What's great about this book is the way it plays around with an unreliable narrator, something that's signalled right at the beginning of the novel. However I think that, although short, the book is too long for the story it contains and has to be padded out. This seems to be a result of the limitations the narrative perspective imposes-- if we can't know any more than the child, and she isn't well informed, then there isn't too much to tell. Also, the Nixon/family breakdown parallels are done in quite an obvious way. Still, good fun to read, and a challenge for the old brain.
November 23, 2015
This is not a mystery novel. It is not a crime novel. Instead, it is a moving drama filled with much angst, beautiful and evocative writing. Berne's novel, while light on the suspense and mystery, is instead a portrait of what happens when a family falls apart and it's repercussions upon the children. A complex tale of the danger a rumor can have and the willingness of society to persecute the wrong person. The period is brought to life with Berne's descriptions. Anyone in the market for a smooth, dark and meaningful tale should read this book.
Not to be missed!
Not to be missed!
July 27, 2016
I got recommendation of this book as one of the all time top 10 crime fiction novels. So read this whole book with the expectation of a thriller or at least to have a twist at the end. So obviously was highly disappointed and felt a bit blank.. Then I thought maybe I was reading it with wrong expectations and thought about the story from a general fiction perspective but still could not find anything that stands out. There is no story no message, just a plain depiction of happening around the protagonist and her imaginations. Very much disappointed
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this book because the voice is interesting and believable. The best thing about the book is the writing. The world is so closely observed and the narrator is really believable because of that. She does a good job of replicating the claustrophobic world of family and adolescence.
This book was recommended by a friend who knows I am working on/reading a lot of books that have to do with missing kids, etc.
This is definitely one of the best novels I've read about this phenomenon and the effects such crimes have on those who live through it.
This book was recommended by a friend who knows I am working on/reading a lot of books that have to do with missing kids, etc.
This is definitely one of the best novels I've read about this phenomenon and the effects such crimes have on those who live through it.
September 24, 2009
I think I'm in this book! The story is set in the town where I grew up at around the time I was born. The author describes neighbors who are familiar to me (the English lady with Corgis, etc.) She describes a young mother with a crying baby- that's me!
April 23, 2020
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
A Crime in the Neighborhood is a strongly narrated and echoing novel that seems to be about a local murder, on the surface, but is really about parental abandonment.
For you if: You love a good slow burn childhood character study.
FULL REVIEW:
I read A Crime in the Neighborhood because it was the fourth winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and I’m following along their #ReadingWomen challenge this year. I enjoyed it overall and have a strong appreciation for what Suzanne Berne was trying to do (and did, successfully).
The novel starts out quite exciting, and it will hook you write away as the body of Boyce Ellison, who had been molested and murdered, is found. After a few pages, the narrator reveals herself to be a woman named Marsha, now an adult, who was living in that suburban DC neighborhood as a young child at the time. Around the same time that Boyce was murdered, Marsha’s father had an affair with her mother’s youngest sister and ultimately ended up running away with her. All while the Watergate scandal is unfolding.
Marsha, inspired by now “noticing everything” is the key to solving Sherlock Holmes mysteries, starts keeping a notebook with all her observations about her neighbors, especially the suspiciously single and socially awkward Mr. Green who lives next door.
The book is definitely a slow burn, but it does have an undercurrent of suspense — who killed Boyce? Everyone in the neighborhood is on edge and suspicious, fueling a sharp hostility toward anyone who doesn’t fit the nuclear family white-picket-fence mentality. And yet this book isn’t really about Boyce at all. It’s actually about Marsha and the way her father’s abandonment and her mother’s forced single parenthood, all while the government and her community fall down around her, ripped away her innocence.
The choice to have Marsha narrate this book as an adult was really effective. She’s incredibly attuned to her own mistakes and mentality, but the distance and wisdom she’s gained since allows her to reflect on the motivations and experiences that her parents must have lived as well.
After the exciting start, this book didn’t GRAB me throughout. The slow burn felt slow. And if you are looking for a thriller or exciting murder mystery, this isn’t going to be it. But it really is an impressive work of character and narration, I think, will can teach us a lot about good writing.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Child rape; Child murder / loss of a child; Parental abandonment
TL;DR REVIEW:
A Crime in the Neighborhood is a strongly narrated and echoing novel that seems to be about a local murder, on the surface, but is really about parental abandonment.
For you if: You love a good slow burn childhood character study.
FULL REVIEW:
“‘He’s a real romantic,’ said my mother. ‘Romantics are usually bastards, in case you haven’t noticed.’”
I read A Crime in the Neighborhood because it was the fourth winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and I’m following along their #ReadingWomen challenge this year. I enjoyed it overall and have a strong appreciation for what Suzanne Berne was trying to do (and did, successfully).
The novel starts out quite exciting, and it will hook you write away as the body of Boyce Ellison, who had been molested and murdered, is found. After a few pages, the narrator reveals herself to be a woman named Marsha, now an adult, who was living in that suburban DC neighborhood as a young child at the time. Around the same time that Boyce was murdered, Marsha’s father had an affair with her mother’s youngest sister and ultimately ended up running away with her. All while the Watergate scandal is unfolding.
Marsha, inspired by now “noticing everything” is the key to solving Sherlock Holmes mysteries, starts keeping a notebook with all her observations about her neighbors, especially the suspiciously single and socially awkward Mr. Green who lives next door.
The book is definitely a slow burn, but it does have an undercurrent of suspense — who killed Boyce? Everyone in the neighborhood is on edge and suspicious, fueling a sharp hostility toward anyone who doesn’t fit the nuclear family white-picket-fence mentality. And yet this book isn’t really about Boyce at all. It’s actually about Marsha and the way her father’s abandonment and her mother’s forced single parenthood, all while the government and her community fall down around her, ripped away her innocence.
The choice to have Marsha narrate this book as an adult was really effective. She’s incredibly attuned to her own mistakes and mentality, but the distance and wisdom she’s gained since allows her to reflect on the motivations and experiences that her parents must have lived as well.
After the exciting start, this book didn’t GRAB me throughout. The slow burn felt slow. And if you are looking for a thriller or exciting murder mystery, this isn’t going to be it. But it really is an impressive work of character and narration, I think, will can teach us a lot about good writing.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Child rape; Child murder / loss of a child; Parental abandonment
January 25, 2024
It’s not a mystery, not a thriller, not really even a crime novel, despite its title—you’ll be disappointed if that’s what you’re expecting. It is, however, a rather insightful and compelling (albeit slow moving) coming-of-age story and incidentally a devastating critique of 1970s suburban American life and culture. I found it worthwhile on its own terms…but I can understand why other readers might feel differently.
November 6, 2023
Ratings:
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 4
Impact 4
Overall rating 4
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 4
Impact 4
Overall rating 4
July 7, 2010
In the summer of '72, in the D.C. suburbs, 10 year old Marsha tires to make sense of a word that is becoming increasingly uncertain. On a national level, and in her neighborhood, a boy is molested and murdered. Throughout the summer Marsha watches the building hysteria in the neighborhood, and record. There are so many great things about this book that I wish I could rave about it, but it left me lukewarm. What's right with it? The author has a good ear for dialogue. Her character development of both her minor and major characters is excellent, especially in the case of the protagonist's mother,perhaps the most likable character in the book. The story is set in the early '70s in the Washington, D. C. suburb near Bethesda, MD. I spent the latter '70s in the suburbs of D. C., but in Virginia. In truth, I did not even live in the States until the mid '70's. However, from living among Americans abroad, and later, living in the general area Berne is describing, she hits the right tone and paints a vivid setting that captures the era.
The main thing that is wrong with the book is it is too long to have a real sock in the jaw impact. Part of that is because of the protagonist. She is an observant child, watching everything in the neighborhood. "Rear Window"-like she is rendered partly immobile because of a broken ankle. She spends most of the summer watching and recording the goings on of her neighborhood into her journal. Fine, if this was an interesting child, but she isn't. One blurb compares her to Scout Finch. No way! I think she is more like Frankie from A Member of the Wedding, perhaps one of the most annoying characters in my reading history. Marsha describes herself as a child who was rarely seen, but always on the edge watching any tense or emotional situation. In her home she spends her time eavesdropping, spying on her siblings and searching their rooms. Spying & prying. I can't get over a real dislike for the girl who was not at all interesting, but a creepy, morbid little ghoul. I generally like creepy characters, but this kid is a creepy bore. As for the other children, they aren't much better. Granted Marsha is dealing with some difficult times. First, her father has left her mother, for her mother's younger sister, no less. Mom is trying to figure out how to go it alone, and actually making fine work of it. Her siblings don't care for her and exclude her. Her neighbor who is the closest in age to her is maybe more of a creepy kid than she is. So virtually friendless and dealing with the break-up of her family and a broken ankle, you can have some sympathy for her. Still, when it comes to the heart of the book, I just kept thinking of other authors who have tapped this same well with more chilling impact, Lillian Hellman & Ian McEwan come first to mind.
The main thing that is wrong with the book is it is too long to have a real sock in the jaw impact. Part of that is because of the protagonist. She is an observant child, watching everything in the neighborhood. "Rear Window"-like she is rendered partly immobile because of a broken ankle. She spends most of the summer watching and recording the goings on of her neighborhood into her journal. Fine, if this was an interesting child, but she isn't. One blurb compares her to Scout Finch. No way! I think she is more like Frankie from A Member of the Wedding, perhaps one of the most annoying characters in my reading history. Marsha describes herself as a child who was rarely seen, but always on the edge watching any tense or emotional situation. In her home she spends her time eavesdropping, spying on her siblings and searching their rooms. Spying & prying. I can't get over a real dislike for the girl who was not at all interesting, but a creepy, morbid little ghoul. I generally like creepy characters, but this kid is a creepy bore. As for the other children, they aren't much better. Granted Marsha is dealing with some difficult times. First, her father has left her mother, for her mother's younger sister, no less. Mom is trying to figure out how to go it alone, and actually making fine work of it. Her siblings don't care for her and exclude her. Her neighbor who is the closest in age to her is maybe more of a creepy kid than she is. So virtually friendless and dealing with the break-up of her family and a broken ankle, you can have some sympathy for her. Still, when it comes to the heart of the book, I just kept thinking of other authors who have tapped this same well with more chilling impact, Lillian Hellman & Ian McEwan come first to mind.
June 20, 2014
I read this book way too young, (I think I was younger or close to the same age as the narrator) I definitely consider it an adult themed book even the narrator seems to be taking about their childhood. But still I liked it, and read it again and again when I got older and could understand it even better. This type of writing is really neat to me. How the town/neighborhood obviously remembers this heinous crime, but to the narrator there was just more going on in their life. It almost seems like the theme is people die, life goes on. Because yes these people are affected by the death an horrible act but at the same time they have different concerns that seem bigger because they affect them more directly than the murder of a child who wasn't necessarily close to them. Idk if that makes sense, but that's certainly how it makes me feel
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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