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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
A sprawling crime novel, This is a fast-paced, intense, testosterone-heavy, violent, detailed, and depressing look at the underbelly of Los Angeles in the 1950s. the complicated plot lines, and ‘50s cop lingo wore me down. I had to create a cheat sheet to follow the characters and the plot, as my mind does not work the way Ellroy’s apparently does. All in all a solid crime novel but I think I was as confused at the end by who done it as I was in the beginning.
A solid, gritty noir crime drama that continues our look into Los Angeles via the police, mobsters, call girls, and other seedy characters. This one started pretty slow for me, mostly because it had been a while since I read book 2 of this quartet and had to reacquaint myself with the massive cast of characters. It takes a bit to really get all the names straight in your head, but once you do, you really start to appreciate Ellroy's organization of so many intermingled story lines. There is just so much going that it's almost impossible to get bored with this novel because there is something important happening in one of the dozen one going stories at all times. Some may struggle with the time period language and slang used throughout the novel, but I find it helps to immerse you into the story and characters. I'm going to have to check out the movie that was made based on this in the 90's, but I don't have much hope in it closely following the book, there's just too much going on here.
I didn't love it at first, but it really drew me in as it went on. He's no Chandler, but good stuff.
(4.5) I’ve read five James Ellroy books in the last few months so if you want my thoughts on my personal evolution towards his works, check past reviews. Having read the tail end of his work and the beginning of what made him popular, I can say with confidence this is the best book he’s written. It’s the perfect merger of his style and capability.
I knew the book would be substantially different than the movie, as the latter takes place over three weeks while the book is over five years. But I did not think I would appreciate how well Ellroy would handle the time jumps, making every character hang on the periphery of the others and then bringing them together at just the right moments to advance the dense plot.
There’s a lot going on in this one and a lot of names to remember but what makes it work better than his other works is the portrayal of how a city effects ambition. He does this a little in his Tabloid trilogy with how America effects ambition (with decidedly mixed results). Here, Ellroy takes the many and varied cliches of LA-as-city-of-broken-dreams, rings the familiarity out of them, and infuses it with a twisty noir tale as only he can present.
Unlike other books where Ellroy will sometimes lose track of the pacing or get lost in the plot, he seems to reign himself in rather than give into his base impulses that make him a talented but frustrating writer. LA Confidential hums from beginning to end with a manic energy. This is perhaps the greatest Los Angeles tale.
Re-read 2021:
Still great. The ultimate LA crime story. Essay forthcoming regarding Ellroy, Chinatown, and the Trump era.
I knew the book would be substantially different than the movie, as the latter takes place over three weeks while the book is over five years. But I did not think I would appreciate how well Ellroy would handle the time jumps, making every character hang on the periphery of the others and then bringing them together at just the right moments to advance the dense plot.
There’s a lot going on in this one and a lot of names to remember but what makes it work better than his other works is the portrayal of how a city effects ambition. He does this a little in his Tabloid trilogy with how America effects ambition (with decidedly mixed results). Here, Ellroy takes the many and varied cliches of LA-as-city-of-broken-dreams, rings the familiarity out of them, and infuses it with a twisty noir tale as only he can present.
Unlike other books where Ellroy will sometimes lose track of the pacing or get lost in the plot, he seems to reign himself in rather than give into his base impulses that make him a talented but frustrating writer. LA Confidential hums from beginning to end with a manic energy. This is perhaps the greatest Los Angeles tale.
Re-read 2021:
Still great. The ultimate LA crime story. Essay forthcoming regarding Ellroy, Chinatown, and the Trump era.
Writing style felt off-putting at times - I definitely felt that I had missed some reading before the beginning of this book.
However the author did do a great job at character building the three (four, five?) main characters.
Finally, it's a 2 star to me, because I genuinely had a hunger to discover the outcome. I guessed the main players half way through, but hoped for a more intriguing conclusion.
All in all I felt like this book had a great idea for a plot, but the focus on red herrings, the immense tree of characters, and the pacing of revelations just didn't do it for me.
However the author did do a great job at character building the three (four, five?) main characters.
Finally, it's a 2 star to me, because I genuinely had a hunger to discover the outcome. I guessed the main players half way through, but hoped for a more intriguing conclusion.
All in all I felt like this book had a great idea for a plot, but the focus on red herrings, the immense tree of characters, and the pacing of revelations just didn't do it for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a rare case of i enjoyed the film more. i think the changes they made to the plot for screen were actually an improvement
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The L.A quartet is my absolute guilty pleasure. It's hard to even describe it as pleasure. It's full of racist, sexist, homophobic white men, abused women, and the absolute seediest topics. None of the protagonists are fully likeable.
In L.A. Confidential we have three police men we follow through the years from 51 to 58. Up and comer Ed Exley. Rich, privileged, too smart for his own good, cowardly. In order to pave his career, he snitches on fellow policemen who assaulted Mexican prisoners in jail. One of those policemen he snitches on is Bud White, who has a white knight complex saving women from abusive men, because his own father beat his mother to death. And then there's Trashcan Jack, who works narco, getting tips from a journalist at a gossip magazine and delivers photogenic goods. This ends after he's snitched on by Ed Exley, and he ends up in Ad Vice instead.
The three of them individually investigate a coffee shop shootout, which turns into this incredibly complex case of pornography, mob crime, serial murder, prostitution, you name it. It's gross. It's complex. It's fascinating, and I stayed up til 2 am reading like a madwoman.
It's tough to consider myself a feminist and still enjoy this utter cesspit of toxic masculinity. And yet I do.
In L.A. Confidential we have three police men we follow through the years from 51 to 58. Up and comer Ed Exley. Rich, privileged, too smart for his own good, cowardly. In order to pave his career, he snitches on fellow policemen who assaulted Mexican prisoners in jail. One of those policemen he snitches on is Bud White, who has a white knight complex saving women from abusive men, because his own father beat his mother to death. And then there's Trashcan Jack, who works narco, getting tips from a journalist at a gossip magazine and delivers photogenic goods. This ends after he's snitched on by Ed Exley, and he ends up in Ad Vice instead.
The three of them individually investigate a coffee shop shootout, which turns into this incredibly complex case of pornography, mob crime, serial murder, prostitution, you name it. It's gross. It's complex. It's fascinating, and I stayed up til 2 am reading like a madwoman.
It's tough to consider myself a feminist and still enjoy this utter cesspit of toxic masculinity. And yet I do.
Quanti personaggi…seguire ognuno di loro non è stata un’impresa facile. Alla fine tutto tornava, ma spesso mi sentivo confusa rispetto alle varie teorie e alle varie piste che i differenti investigatori seguivano. I personaggi però mi hanno folgorata: totalmente umani, né buoni né cattivi, difficili da etichettare e imprevedibili. Los Angeles è sempre presente sullo sfondo, ma la parte più dark, quella delle prostitute, della droga e del successo malato. Avrei voluto dare una stella in più per i personaggi, ma la storia era davvero pesante da seguire.