The Blue Hammer

by Ross MacDonald. I finished this book yesterday. There were a couple of memorable lines which I neglected to mark, but which went something like this: The members of some families should all live in different states and write letters to each other once a year. The members of some families should all live in different states and write letters to each other once a year and then tear them up.

I thought, yes, that is very true. I wonder if it applies to my family. I live with my wife and kids. The only other relatives who live in the area are my cousin and his family. My brothers, Aunts, Uncles and other cousins are scattered all over the 50 states, well, not Hawaii. I wonder why that is. Are we more disagreeable, or just more independent? Some families all stay in the same place. Why is that? Comfort? Family ties? Having a reliable sparring partner?








Update May 2012: Rereading this book and I come across the same passage, which I once again failed to mark. Looked it up on Google Books, which found it on page 187. Reading it there gave me enough context to find it in my paperback copy on page 194.

Update November 2015. Replaced missing picture.