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Discussion Questions
COMPLETE DISCUSSION GUIDE HERE
- Michael Connelly said of L.A. Rex that
it’s a “gritty
tale dripping with truth—it could only have come from a writer
who has lived the life.” How has Will Beall’s experience
as an LAPD officer still working the very streets of South Central
that he writes about informed the events and style of the book?
In other words, is it possible to distinguish the line between
what’s based on real events and what’s not in the book?
How much of the book is truth, and how much imagination?
ALSO: Take the L.A. Daily News Will Beall Fact-or-Fiction
Quiz here.
- In L.A. Rex we see the how the criminal justice system
plays out for the victims that society most abhors: Poor minorities,
dangerous criminals, gangsters. What does the book say about the
fairness of our system? Does our system of criminal justice engage
for these type of citizens the same way it would for, say, a high-profile
celebrity?
- The writer Milan Kundera once wrote that
the novel is "the
realm where moral judgment is suspended." In L.A. Rex Will
Beall seems to resist drawing a clear line between the good guys
and the bad guys—the police officers in L.A. Rex are
often just as corrupt as the criminals they’re up against.
Given that Beall himself is a police officer, why do you think
that he resisted portraying the officers as more clearly “the
good guys”? How important is it that he chose to do this?
- Hip-hop culture plays a central role in L.A. Rex. Can
you think of any real life events or people that might have inspired
the character of Darius and the fictional Lethal Injection Records?
- L.A. Rex takes place in South Central during the 1990s.
What was unique about South Central in the nineties that would
inspire Beall to choose that specific period of time to locate
his story in? How do you imagine South Central in the 90s, and
the policing that was going on then, differs from how it is today?
- Still today, after having written
and published L.A.
Rex, Beall continues to work the streets as an officer in
South Central. We know that his experiences in his job informed
to some degree the events and characters in the novel, but do
you think that writing and publishing the novel has in any way
informed the way he does his job? The way he looks at the real
life characters he sees everyday on his beat, or the way he perceives
the events that transpire there? Do you imagine that it has affected
the way his fellow officers regard him in his job?
- There is a long tradition of LA crime novels. What does Will
Beall bring to light that other LA crime novelists like James Ellroy
and Joseph Wambaugh? What unique point of view and experience does
Will Beall bring to the tradition?
- How does Beall’s portrayal of police
life and the criminal justice system compare with the images
that we see on television shows like NYPD
Blue or CSI?
- L.A. Rex has scenes that are graphically
violent and often disturbing. When questioned about the amount
of violence in the book, Beall has said “There are things you see in
South Central that horrify. Ought to horrify. Unfortunately, we’re
so used to hearing about gang violence in the media that our sense
have become deadened, and I think the human tragedy fails to penetrate.
I wanted to find a way to write about this violence in a way that
allows these situations to feel as shocking as they are in real
life.” Do you think Beall has pulled this off?
Do you agree with his refusal to shy away from including violent
scenes in his novel? Knowing that South Central is indeed LA’s
most violent precinct, do you think he could have affectively and
accurately portrayed this neighborhood without including violence?
- How does Beall’s writing style, which is been characterized
as “gritty” and “raw,” add to the effectiveness
of the story itself? How does it reflect the events of the novel,
or the characters involved in the events? Do you think the story
would have been as powerful if the writing style had been different?
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