THE SPEED QUEEN - by Stewart O´Nan

Cornelia Schwarz, 7b

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THE SPEED QUEEN

by Stewart O´Nan

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Title, Author:

The book is called "The Speed Queen“ and it is written by Steward O´Nan.

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Other Information:

It was first published by Doubleday in New York in 1997.

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Type of book:

It is a novel.

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Subject:

It is about the memories of a murderer.

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Setting:

It takes places in America in this time.

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Characters:

Margie Standiford: She is easy to manipulate and has no selfesteem. Although she loves Lamont, she has an affair with Natalie, but when she gets to know that Lamont also has an affair with her, she is so jealous, that she has no scruple to kill Natalie. She seems to be naive and impulsive.

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Lamont Standiford: He convinced Margie to take drugs and abused her trust. But he shows responsibility for their child.

Natalie Kramer: Margie makes her responsible for the whole situation. She was the planning head and knows what she wants. She uses Margie for her plans.

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Summary:

This book is about the whole life of Margie, who is sitting in death row. She speaks the true story, what had happened some year ago, an two cassettes. Margie had lived a normal childhood like many other kids and was brought up very conservatively. At the age of sixteen, she began to drink alcohol, while she was working. One evening, she met Lamont and it was love at first sight. Lamont made her take drugs like Speed or Cocaine, but both were very happy and felt comfortable with their lives. Margie and Lamont also got a son, named Gayne and everthing seemed to be fine.

But then, Margie had a car-crash and the police found a little package of some drug stuff in her purse. She had to go in prison for half a year, where she got to know Natalie, who became her second big love. When they were set free, they planned a really big drug deal with Lamont, where they would earn much money. But it was not as easy as they thought and so all three of them had to flee. On their flight, Lamont and Natalie killed 12 people, because they needed money. Also Lamont died. He was shot by the police. Margie found out, that he had an affair with Natalie and so she wanted to kill her. She threw her out of the car, but Natalie survived. Margie could be stopped and arrested by the police. She was sentenced to death. She just told her story, because Natalie wrote a book, full of untruthes, that she wanted to correct. She accused Margie to be the main offender.

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Idea:

The author describes the affect of an unimportant event, because the car accident caused that she was arrested and that she got to know Natalie, whosupported her criminal career. He also shows how other peiole can change and influece one´s life.

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Opinion:

It is a very good book, because it is exciting. It is like a diary and so you feel with Margie. Although it is sometimes gory, I recommand it to everyone.

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+: Sorgfältig aufgebautes Referat, das auch eine Analyse der Hauptcharaktere beinhaltet.

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-: Einige Aspekte, vor allem die Interpretation, sollten etwas gründlicher ausgearbeitet werden.