What exactly is the role of the writer in any literature genre? Does the writer provide a glimpse into the world as it stands, realistically harsh and humbling, or does the writer instead supply us with a more perfect world, where the story has a clear-cut ending and the resolution is reasonable to expect? I usually prefer fiction that offers a poetic twist on the harder reality of life. I do not enjoy a tidy wrap-up to a complex plotline. (I also do not like romantic comedies, but I digress.)
For these reasons, Lauren Myracle's Shine was a bit tough to accept consistently. The novel opens with a newspaper article describing a recent hate crime that left a young man in a coma; from there, we go on to meet our narrator, a young woman (and friend of the victim) who determines to discover the truth of the events leading up to the beating.
I take issue with the narrator being a straight white girl with limited experience in the world of sex and drugs. More importantly, I take issue with the presumption of power taken on by the narrator (and the writer by extension) by not giving a voice to the homosexual characters in the novel. Ultimately, I am curious about the writer's purpose in telling the story as she did, and why the characters more directly affected by the crime were only allowed to speak through the perception of the narrator.
I suppose this would be an opportune time to discuss the issue of first-person versus third-person narratives. Any thoughts?
