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Title: L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy ISBN: 0-446-67424-9 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.46 (96 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Flawed, but intelligent and gripping crime drama
Comment: Set in the dark, bloody atmosphere of 1950's Los Angeles, James Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential" is a brutal, harsh, unsettling, disturbing, confusing, intelligent, and, ultimately, masterful crime drama. The plot is a thickly layered story involving three detectives, Edmund Exley, Wendell (Bud) White, and John Vincennes, and their exploits considering their own lives during the timeframe of the novel. The plot also revolves around the slayings of six people at the Nite Owl, a diner whose infamy spreads throughout the course of the novel. This is just one of many different plots that intertwine to make an incredibly complex novel, filled with hundreds of characters rich in depth and characterization.
Ellroy's genius lies in his development of plot and characters. This novel is wildly different from the movie and its screenplay. The screenplay was a masterpiece, simply because Ellroy's novel is basically unfilmable in its present state. The novel is too dense, too dark, and too complex to make a movie that makes any sense within time constraints. Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson deserve considerable credit for taking this mammoth novel and condensing, stripping away plot lines and characters by the dozen. Some of the changes they made were masterful, some detract from the overall impact of the film. Ellroy's fixation is on characters. He has many of them, all deeply constructed. No character is without flaws. The character most interesting in this maze is Jack Vincennes, the smart detective whose life takes a variety of turns throughout the novel. It should be mentioned the novel is ABSOLUTELY nothing like the movie. The movie takes place during months; the book takes 7 years to complete its saga. The character of Jack Vincennes in particular is investigated much more in depth through Ellroy's version. The matter of Ed Exley's father, the involvement of Hollywood, and a Hispanic woman named Inez Soto, all missing from the movie, are central characters to this novel.
Somehow, Ellroy keeps all these characters straight. He has a shocking conclusion, and truly keeps a reader riveted. At its dullest, L.A. Confidential can be a confusing mess, but Ellroy always sprinkles scenes of savage violence and brutality to waken the reader. It must be said that this is not a novel for the faint-of-heart. Ellroy exposes the bigotry of 1950's Los Angeles through its hatred of blacks, homosexuals, and other minorities. This, combined with plots on smut, rape, murder, and the like, make this a book which is very powerful, graphic, and brutal. Ellroy's style is not beautiful, but rather shocking. He tries to stun the reader into submission, using very little description but rather blunt, graphic passages to get his point across. His only distinctive writing style is his use of newspaper clippings to tell about 10% of his story: the method is remarkably effective, since it diverts the reader from the profane, blunt, and direct writing of Ellroy just enough to keep the reader's sanity.
This is not an easy book by any means. Its language is very difficult, for it is colloquial profanity, mixed with language so graphic that the book takes on a dirty, forbidden tone. Its positives, however, far outweigh its negatives. It is truly a work of art, not graceful, but brutally intelligent. The plotlines are brimming with inspiration and rich color, the characters are distinctive and memorable, and the conclusion is a devastatingly pure and noble ending. Ellroy is a master of writing, and during most of the book, it shows. He is inspired at the end, taking his myriad of loose ends and combining them into one glorious plot that leaves the reader in awe.
The trick is getting to the end. The plot lines are wickedly confusing; Ellroy challenges the reader to keep with his pace. Moreover, the action is spread out over a long period of time. Many characters, though provided for color, are expendable, and it is easy to see why Hanson and Helgeland condensed the novel so much. It is quite difficult to get to the end of this book while understanding all of the numerous happenings and plots. However, despite the numerous flaws, and the often dull spots in the middle (though combined with gratuitous violence and sex), L.A. Confidential is a winning story and novel after everything is said and done. It is quite memorable, simply because it works at the end, it is an enjoyable, though exhausting ride. The violence and sex, although gratuitous, makes a rich atmosphere unparalleled since the days of Hammett and Chandler. It is a read quite worth it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Confidentially Awesome!
Comment: I saw the movie first and loved it, so when I read the book I was even more impressed. It had everything the movie had plus some. One things about the book that I liked better than the movie is that Ed Exley is portrayed in a more sympathetic light. Yes, he's still a do-gooder rich boy, but you can 'see' more into his character. It's the same with Bud White. The story is rich with detail, there's tons of action to keep you interested, and the plot is extremely complex, with multiple layers to it (which I like a lot!) The ending was very satisfying and similar to the movie. I have to warn you though. If you like simple, straightforward stories, with clear language (Mr. Elloy writes in an odd staccato rhythm that takes a while to get used to) with no offensive racial slurs (this book has a ton of them, used to convey realism, I'm sure) you probably won't like this book. But if like extremely complicated stories like I do, you'll have a wonderful time digesting this story. I didn't know the book was a series until I read some reviews on this site. I look forward to reading all of Mr. Ellroy's stories, especially the books in this particular series!
Rating: 5
Summary: Noir saga with mythic journey at its heart
Comment: It's a spider web. It's a labyrinth, and the minotaur at its heart is both a psychotic murderer and the central selves of its three main characters. As a surface read, this novel is a stellar exemplar of the noir California genre. The Los Angeles it conjures up is both a nightmare and a reality (Johnny Stompanato, the gangster lover of Lana Turner, is a character, and his murder by Turner's daughter provides a final knife-twist in the plot). Ellroy's dark city exhibits more seething, foul vice crawling over itself than I have ever encountered between the covers of one book. Yet it turns out to be about the ultimate redemption, or at least coming to terms with self, of the three primary characters. Ed Exley, a privileged son whose apparently burnished war record is a sham; Jack Vincennes, whose weakness for pills and booze has led him into a shameful error he can't shake; and Bud White, who is trying to overcome his powerlessness to prevent his mother's brutal murder by finding wife-beaters and rapists and punishing them all to a bloody pulp. This trio of damaged and damaging cops all converge on an insanely ramified late night slaying at the Nite Owl cafe. It lines to prostitution, drugs, plastic surgery as a racket, harder than hard-core porn, organized crime, blackmail, extortion, and a host of petty and major criminals both inside the LAPD and outside. Ultimately, though, the lines go way further back by 35 years, to a series of child murders done to create a grotesque little eros--a thing composed of the wings of birds and parts of children. This horrific image should tip you off--you are in the presence of something more epic and mythic than mere noir. What these policemen are searching for and combating is the destruction of innocence and love--their own innocence and ability to love as well as the long-dead children. Ultimately, despite distrust, rivalry and even hatred, they combine forces and experience to untangle the whole ghastly mess. Vincennes dies redeemed by full confession to his loving wife, Bud pushes through tremendous temptations to succumb to Neanderthal violence to actually use his mind to fight evil, and Exley confronts his own and his father's secrets. The psychotic murderer at the root of it all proves to have been the kind of monster we keep inside ourselves--repeatedly altered by plastic surgery and imperfectly controlled by drugs, he keeps destroying until he is unmasked and dis-enabled. Finally--this IS a noir novel--the consciously wicked man remains standing, and powerful, at the close. Read it if you can. It's a hell of a trip to redemption.
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Title: The 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: The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy ISBN: 0446674370 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: White Jazz by James Ellroy ISBN: 0375727361 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir by James Ellroy ISBN: 0679762051 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: American Tabloid by James Ellroy ISBN: 037572737X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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