Tag: American Tabloid

bookmark_borderThe Black Dahlia

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The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

Ever since I read American Tabloid I’ve always looked forward to picking up another Ellroy novel, his ability to pull you into the era – in this case late 1940s L.A. – is second to none, as is his ability to pace the story perfectly and plant enough seeds that you develop his characters for him.

The story of a brutally murdered woman and the cop that tries to solve her case leads us into a tangled web of corruption, intrigue and… well you can get all that from the blurb on the cover. What Ellroy consistently produces is a well crafted plotline, full of curveballs, smacking you hard in the gut when he drops the chops on how it played out.

If you’ve read any of his other novels you’ll feel at home in this macho world where when hit hard, and dames play the sass to perfection. The grime oozes from the pages as you fall deeper into the story and next thing you know it’s playing out like nothing you thought. He seems to take a perverse pleasure at crafting stories which give you all the clues but that you’ll never solve – allowing some empathy with the lead character.

At times brutal and over the top in many aspects, Ellroy manages to portray the film noir scenes perfectly, knows when to speed things up, and what he can leave up to the reader. Case in point – early on in this book there is a boxing match, whilst reading it on the train I could feel myself racing through the passages, caught up in the fight itself and willing the lead character to win.

Not a book for everyone, but if you’ve never read any Ellroy this is a great place to start. Be warned though, once you’ve read one, you’ll want to read another.

bookmark_borderA Million Little Pieces

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a million little pieces by james frey

I’ve read a few books like this not many and occasionally it’s seemed to be a design decision rather than a writing decision the reasoning more to do with being clever or arty or whatever but for this book it feels right correct spot on and definitely matches the mood and content of the book. The only other book which has unusual prose that I consider is valid for the style of the book is American Tabloid and whilst I wouldn’t place this book in the same league as anything by James Ellroy it is still an excellent read.

On it goes like this page after page after page and soon you don’t notice and it’s just the way it is after a few pages it’s nothing new at all it feels right even though you know it’s wrong.

At times it’s hard to read so much detail the thoughts hammering hammering hammering into your head, the pain and suffering feeling more real as you match the stream of consciousness style prose skipping your brain along in time helping you empathise with the character. There are some gruesome moments moments to laugh at moments to cry at and it’s all real Yes it’s all real every word this is not a novel this is an autobiography and as that realisation hits you it becomes all the more powerful more effecting affecting real real real.

If you can get past the way it’s written the story of a recovering addict a man seriously close to losing everything family friends and life itself then you’ll be easily drawn in rivetted repulsed and engrossed in this gruesome disgusting heartwarming and uplifting story.

More information from the author himself.

UPDATE: You can read an excerpt of the book here which gives an idea of what it’s like.

And re-reading it, my review completely fails to capture just how involving and affecting it was to read this book. But then it’d take a lot longer to capture WHY that is than I have time for at the moment.

bookmark_borderRead fodder

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Karen at Rise is looking for your top five books.

Here’s mine:

1. American Tabloid – James Ellroy
Mainly for the writing style, and in part for my fascination with this particular time period in American history (around the Kennedy assasination), a wonderful twist on the topic.

2. White Trash – John King
Straightforward enough to read, yet deals with some big issues and makes you think more about them than you realise at first. Sympathetic use of the ‘villain’ is slightly scary.

3. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His downfall – Spike Milligan
Hilarious and with a wonderful turn of language, you should read it for that alone.

4. Animal Farm – George Orwell
My first Orwell and still the one that made the biggest impact (reading 1984 in the year 1984 kinda nullified it slightly)

5. Miss Smillia’s Feeling for Snow – Peter Hoeg
Not sure why I picked this up (I suspect Catrina had an influence). Wonderful characterisation, and set in a place foreign to me, what more do you want?

bookmark_borderWeekender

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Not even sure why I’m sitting here, but as I am…

Weekend was very quiet – drank WAY too much on Friday night, top night though. Saturday was spent nursing a hangover, watching the football and then, finally, watching JFK.

Having just read American Tabloid (a fictional account of the events leading up to the assasination), I was in a ‘conspiracy theory’ kind of mood.

A few years ago I borrowed “The Killing of a President” from my father, and it had lain on a bookshelf, forgotten and gathering dust. Having just watched the film (in which the author of the book appears as the courtroom projectionist) I was, again, stunned and amazed that something like that can happen.

Even just flicking through the book, detailing pictures of ‘Black dog man’ ‘umbrella man’ and many revealing photo’s (Lyndon Johnson turning and smiling at a man winking at him, seconds after being sworn in as President), still fills me with a strange feeling of dread.

Unfortunately, and unfairly, I am basing my outrage and astonishment on ideas conceived in a different world. However when there is a strong possibility that some of the people behind the conspiracy to assasinate JFK, were also behind Watergate, and god knows what else… well the mind boggles.

I hope I remember to catch the news sometime in September 2029. Although I fear that, once made public, the confidential documents will contain very little useful information.

bookmark_borderReading

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Ohhh and forgot to say. Finished reading American Tabloid. Very very good book. It gripped me without me realising it, and a late stint last night finished it off. Always a sign, for me anyway, of a good book. One you literally can’t put down.

If you enjoy American conspiracies, Mafia stories, FBI/CIA coverups, and JFK, or anything to do with that Hoover dominated time, I thoroughly recommend it. In fact even if you don’t know that much about that period of American history I would still recommend it, more so in fact, as you’ll never be really sure how much of it is fiction.