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Title: Big Nowhere by James Ellroy ISBN: 0-446-67437-0 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (50 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the high points of American crime fiction
Comment: James Ellroy's so-called "L.A. Quartet" (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz) is one of the seminal bodies of work in American crime fiction. I have chosen to include a review under "The Big Nowhere" not because I feel it is the best book of the four (L.A. Confidential has a broader scope, takes greater risks, and is more compelling); simply, none of the other books moved me as much as this one did.
Danny Upshaw, Mal Considine, and Buzz Meeks are among the most vividly-drawn and complex characters ever found in a crime novel. Despite the glaring character flaws in each one of them, some of which border on repugnance, I still managed to empathize with them completely. Ellroy is an absolute master when it comes to tying characters' actions to their various motivations and desires. This gives his works a depth that goes beyond the mere telling of a story. The ways in which Upshaw, Considine, and Meeks relate to the action--the ways in which they internalize it and bend it to their own specific set of needs--force the reader to take a personal interest in them. They are no longer merely the vehicle to draw the reader into the action, as most "detective" characters are in this genre; instead, each one provides a distinct point of view of the action, shaping it as much as they are shaped by it. Not since Philip Marlowe went to jail for Terry Lennox--and Marlowe's own ideals--has a crime novel so tightly woven plot with character.
The story itself is too complicated to do justice in a brief review so I won't even try. The sheer number of subplots and ancillary characters could fill out the entire oeuvre of lesser writers, but Ellroy seamlessly integrates it all into a story that will have you playing the angles long after the book is finished. In fact, a second reading is almost necessary to catch all the nuance.
If you're a fan of detective fiction, these books are required reading. Even if you're not, Ellroy is a fine writer on any level. If you're squeamish at all, you should take a pass.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best book Ellroy has written
Comment: I have read all of Ellroy's books and this is by far the one that made the deepest impression on me. I find all of Ellroy's books utterly riveting, but only Clandestine and L.A. Confidential really come close to this one. The Big Nowhere is, IMHO, Ellroy's greatest because the murders are the most viscerally shocking (to me), and because of the brilliant way that Ellroy brings in HUAC and the Red Scare and Hollywood (not to mention homophobia in the LAPD). Also I find Upshaw to be Ellroy's greatest and most affecting creation, with only the protagonist of Clandestine to be really in the same ballpark.
The other reason I love this book is that it is the least mannered and the most plot-driven of his truly ambitious novels. By White Jazz and American Tabloid, he began indulging his staccato-bebop style for its own sake. The Big Nowhere (as the title suggests) is the Ellroy novel most interested in confronting you with the personal and political abyss its characters face, and, on that basis, his best novel.
A staggering achievement.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ellroy is Tops
Comment: THE BIG NOWHERE is, in my opinion, the best of the LA quartet.
LA CONFIDENTIAL is 2nd, followed by THE BLACK DAHLIA.
I own and have read everything James Ellroy has published.
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Title: Black Dahlia by James Ellroy ISBN: 0446674362 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.99 |
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Title: White Jazz : A Novel by James Ellroy ISBN: 0375727361 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 24 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy ISBN: 0446674249 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: American Tabloid : A Novel by James Ellroy ISBN: 037572737X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 24 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Cold Six Thousand : A Novel by James Ellroy ISBN: 037572740X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 11 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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