Category: Ross Macdonald

Windows Ain’t Walls

Ross MacDonald on what it feels like to be a thief and why his quote works.

Title: Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places Year: 1873 (1870s)
Windows and Walls, and under London.

Quote: But I remembered how it felt to be a thief. It felt like living in a room without any windows. Then it felt like living in a room without any walls.

In Find a Victim (1954) by Ross Macdonald, we hear this thought of the main character, private detective Lew Archer as he is witnessing an interrogation of a thief. He tells us his own experience in two well-crafted sentences of parallel structure.


What makes the Quote quiver?

Neatness and contrast. Continue reading “Windows Ain’t Walls”