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Michael's Reviews > American Tabloid
American Tabloid (Underworld USA #1)
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This is the first Ellroy I've read, and it will likely be the last. Mostly because I find it impossible to take this seriously.
I don't doubt for a minute his portrayal of mobsters and G-men and teamsters run amok in the fifties and sixties; I'm sure they were just as violent and hellbent on mayhem as they're depicted here. His gloss on the Bay of Pigs jibes, too. There is one neat bit of business following a character's slow arc from soft-skinned do-gooder alcoholic into revenge-driven killer. But that character's evolution isn't near interesting enough.
More the problem is the prose, which is written in a kind of Ellroy clipart style. Every time someone in this book gets punched, that person spits out a tooth. Or swallows a tooth. Or (memorably) spits out a bit of bridgework. If some guys are going to be taken out by shooting, and there is anything combustible nearby, the bodies, the car, the trees, the prose will all be set afire. Just about every time. If someone gets cut, it is always "to the bone." Nearly six hundred pages of this tedious, repetitive twaddle. The ridiculous "hard-boiled" voice keeps the characters from ever gaining more than two-dimensions and always at arm's remove.
People love Ellroy, I get that. A friend recommended this book. But not this reader.
I don't doubt for a minute his portrayal of mobsters and G-men and teamsters run amok in the fifties and sixties; I'm sure they were just as violent and hellbent on mayhem as they're depicted here. His gloss on the Bay of Pigs jibes, too. There is one neat bit of business following a character's slow arc from soft-skinned do-gooder alcoholic into revenge-driven killer. But that character's evolution isn't near interesting enough.
More the problem is the prose, which is written in a kind of Ellroy clipart style. Every time someone in this book gets punched, that person spits out a tooth. Or swallows a tooth. Or (memorably) spits out a bit of bridgework. If some guys are going to be taken out by shooting, and there is anything combustible nearby, the bodies, the car, the trees, the prose will all be set afire. Just about every time. If someone gets cut, it is always "to the bone." Nearly six hundred pages of this tedious, repetitive twaddle. The ridiculous "hard-boiled" voice keeps the characters from ever gaining more than two-dimensions and always at arm's remove.
People love Ellroy, I get that. A friend recommended this book. But not this reader.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
August 14, 2011
–
Finished Reading
August 22, 2011
– Shelved
August 22, 2011
– Shelved as:
bullshit
August 22, 2011
– Shelved as:
mystery-thriller
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Malbadeen
(new)
Aug 27, 2011 07:13AM
I had the same reaction when trying to Ellroy. Sarah looooved "My Dark Places" which I might give a try as it's a memoir and supposedly doesn't have the same tone as his other stuff.
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Four and a half years later, I'm seeing this note! So did you read My Dark Places? Is it worth checking out?
I never did end up reading it, and "four and a half years later" I've dealt with enough of my own Dark Places* to want to explore his.
