I don’t know if you can read that too well — it’s a picture I snapped of a page from Fleshmarket Alley by Ian Rankin and the defacing left by a fellow Nampa Public Library patron. This particular Rebus reader wrote “LOVE LOVE LOVE” over the word “hate.”
Every time the word shows up.
(well, every time so far — I’ve got another 50 pages to go, they might have missed one)
Given that it’s a book about a cynical, negative detective investigating what looks like a racially motivated murder with a truckload of racist suspects (and maybe a less-than-PC investigator or two on the case), there’s a more than a couple of opportunities for this patron to pencil in this correction.
I’m not sure that I completely understand the impulse to replace hate with love, love, love — but I sorta get the gist. However, in almost every case here, it’s actually undercutting the subject matter. (I think one of the references was to hating some kind of food or music)
If you’re this hung-up on that word, maybe crime fiction isn’t for you, eh?
Bookstooge
Wow, this set off a really long comment that I self-moderated. You should be proud 😉
Lurv, it’s all we neeeeed….