Blogcritics: Comments on American Tabloid

Comment by Mat Brewster

Mon, 30 May 2005 15:52:11 EDT

I'm right in the middle of the Cold Six Thousand right now and am finding it a chore to get through. His "terse" style is just irritating by this point. I just want to scream write a sentence longer than four words! So, would you recommend the LA trilogy HW? I've heard good things about it, but am feeling a little burned out trying to get through TCST.

Comment by HW Saxton

Mon, 30 May 2005 12:44:53 EDT

James Ellroy does that same thing with several historical characters in the L.A trilogy (Black Dahlia,The Big Nowhere & L.A. Confidential).The characters are either barely disguised or he takes off on some trivia point involving that person and exxagerates it almost to the point of fiction. Makes for some good reading at times as it can be funny and at other times it's just irritating as hell. I used to like Ellroy but upon re- reading the three mentioned above very recently I don't think he holds up well. Rather re-read my Chandler books for the umpteenth times.

Comment by DrPat

Mon, 30 May 2005 11:40:05 EDT

If I were totally cynical, I would say that your point (There aren't any good guys in this novel. Anybody who starts out with anything close to a normal set of morals has completely lost them by story's end...) comes as no surprise - the book is about tabloid journalism and politicians, after all...

Comment by Nick Jones

Sun, 29 May 2005 11:59:46 EDT

American Tabloid is my second-favorite Ellroy novel (L.A. Confidential being the first). I love the twists and turns the three lead characters take as the novel progresses, the (fictional) eavesdropping on the conversations of J. Edgar Hoover, JFK, Howard Hughes, et al., the raw and explicit violence of violent men. The sequel, The Cold Six Thousand, while following new and old characters up to the assasination of Bobby Kennedy, is much less accomplished, and crosses over the line where you start to wonder if the racism of the characters is shared by Ellroy himself.