Hard Time [Hardcover]

Sara Paretsky (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (2000)
• ISBN-10: 0140276726
• ISBN-13: 978-0140276725
• ASIN: B001KT7MBK
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Sara Paretsky is the award-winning creator of the V I Warshawski detective novels. When Sara introduced V I in Indemnity Only in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery novel. By creating a female investigator who uses her wits as well a her fists, Sara challenged a genre in which women were traditionally either vamps or victims.

V I is the quintessential urban woman. She grew up in the shadow of the old steel mills on Chicago's Southeast side and knows her way around every alley in town. She's a street fighter, a singer, a bit of a clothes horse, and a woman of great intensity and passion.

So how much like V I is her creator? They certainly come from very different places. Sara grew up in rural Kansas where she attended a two-room school. She continues to believe the high point of her life came at the age of twelve when she was picked to play third base for the Kaw Valley District 95 baseball team.

Bleeding Kansas, Sara's 14th novel, is set in the part of the Kaw River Valley where Sara grew up.

Sara first came to Chicago in 1966 to do community service work in the same neighborhood where Martin Luther King was organizing. It was a time of fierce passions in the city and in the country as people fought over racial justice, the rights and wrongs of the war in Vietnam, and women's rights. Sara has always felt that that summer changed her life forever, and when she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas, she came back to make Chicago her home. Some of the history of that summer is recounted in her essay collection, Writing in an Age of Silence.

Like V I, Sara likes to sing, in an amateur way, has a hopeless passion for the Cubs, loves Italian shoes'and is obsessed by the search for the perfect cappuccino, so much so that she even went to cappuccino school.

In other academic ventures, Sara received a PhD in American History and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In 1976, she married physics professor Courtenay Wright. The two live in the city of Chicago with their wonder dog Callie. Their lives are made brighter by their adored granddaughter, Maia.

Sara shares V I's passion for social justice. She founded Sisters in Crime in 1986 to support women readers and writers in the mystery world. To give back to the community, Paretsky established the Sara and Two C-Dogs Foundation, which primarily supports girls and women in the arts, letters, and sciences. She has endowed several scholarships at the University of Kansas, and has mentored students in Chicago's inner city schools. She serves on the advisory boards of Literature for All of Us, a literacy group for teen moms, and Thresholds, which serves Chicago's mentally-ill homeless.

Sara has received numerous awards, including the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers Association, the Gold Dagger for best novel for her book Blacklist, and the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from several different universities. Sara's books have been translated into almost thirty languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Surprise, January 29, 2000

By 

Peter Ling (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hard Time (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Hardcover)

I bought Hard Time on a whim having dimly remembered the Kathlene Turner movie. I was expecting a standard tough cookie woman detective novel and instead got a great read.

The book starts off with VI almost running over the body of an "escaped" woman prisoner and rapidly develops into a complex web of Chicago politics, media scheming, and win at all costs capitalism. All without Paretsky losing her lightness of touch and humorous prose.

Although the final third of the novel becomes rather uncomfortable because of the unremitting terrors of the womans' prison scenes, the book achieves important social commentary without being exploitive or in your face. As VI points out, this is an area of society that we non criminals never think about and if we do we reflexively agree that it should come with truckloads of punishment.

The key villain and wife, Eleanor, seem too evil to be real and the final confrontation in church is a little too contrived and symbolic. Overall though I gave it five stars for being a real page turner.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Revisiting and Old Friend, July 20, 2000

By 

Martina "Martina" (Los Angeles, Ca., USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hard Time (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Hardcover)

Reading Paretsky is like going back to visit old friends. As this series progresses, I've noticed that the stories have become more socially relevant. I agree with other Amazon reviewers that V.I. taking so many physical risks in her 40's is getting just plain stupid, but Paretsky's writing and plotting is so good, it's hard to nit pick.

One thing: I started reading this series years ago. V.I. ages, but Golden Retreiver Peppy must be about 20 years old by now. Similarly, Old Lottie and Mr. Contreras must be about 100.

Nontheless, for fans of Sara Paretsky, her books are too few, and too far between. This is one of her best.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once More with Feeling, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hard Time (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Hardcover)

Once more Ms. Paretsky has given us a book peopled with characters that we can feel about. There are those who we can love, hate, feel sorry for. The story is great and is told in such a way that I did not want to put the book down. I wanted to keep reading to know what would happen to V. I. and the other characters.

Beyond the story and characters is a tale that should raise the social consciousnous of the readers. Hopefully all prisons are not like Coolis...but I do wonder how much of this kind of thing might be going on and wonder what I could do to help if it is.

All and all, a first rate novel. I worried that we might never read about V. I. again, but am glad that Ms. Paretsky took her time and came out with a great novel...instead of trying to come up with any old thing just to have a book to publish each year. I hope there is another V. I. book in the future...I will be waiting.