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jupiterjens666's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
8797999's review against another edition
4.0
The finale to the first LA Quartet, it took me a while to warm to this one and I would not hesitate to say it is the weakest of the four in my opinion. The final third redeemed it for me and made it from a 3 to a rounded up 3.5
James ellroy is a great writer, I love how he styles the prose and Dudley Smith is a villain but a very well written one, one of my favourite characters across the series. I'm happy to know he appears in several others books I am yet to read.
I saw on some Q&A's here that these books are good to read as standalone novels but for me having read them in order and together it brings huge benefits when charcaters and threads go from one book to another, certainly adds more depth and benefits the reader to read them as a series.
I look forward to reading more of James Ellroy's work and I have bought some more of his books to read. I also bought all of these on audible and my re-read will be done that way. Looking forward to Dudley Smith's dialogue being brought to life.
James ellroy is a great writer, I love how he styles the prose and Dudley Smith is a villain but a very well written one, one of my favourite characters across the series. I'm happy to know he appears in several others books I am yet to read.
I saw on some Q&A's here that these books are good to read as standalone novels but for me having read them in order and together it brings huge benefits when charcaters and threads go from one book to another, certainly adds more depth and benefits the reader to read them as a series.
I look forward to reading more of James Ellroy's work and I have bought some more of his books to read. I also bought all of these on audible and my re-read will be done that way. Looking forward to Dudley Smith's dialogue being brought to life.
devlinwav's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
antonio507's review against another edition
4.0
Hell yeaaaaaah
I loved the style so much I could forgive when the plot gets too confusing, and trust me- IT DOES. But I was right to trust Ellroy. He stuck the landing. I love Dave Klein and his journey, as well as the floating sacks of shit that surround him. This is a brutal, furious, ugly book. Totally my thing.
I loved the style so much I could forgive when the plot gets too confusing, and trust me- IT DOES. But I was right to trust Ellroy. He stuck the landing. I love Dave Klein and his journey, as well as the floating sacks of shit that surround him. This is a brutal, furious, ugly book. Totally my thing.
nigellicus's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
5.0
The terse, staccato language approaches self-parody, saved by the psychological intensity and the white-knuckle ride into violence, corruption and depravity taken by the plot as it ensnares the utterly rotten Dave Klein, who arguably gets off lightly in the end, but at least he ends up help take down a bunch of people even worse than he is, which, if anything, is the major theme of the LA Quartet. Furiously paced, densely complex and constantly shitfting and swerving, it feels like the crescendo it was presumably meant to be.
kittyroar666's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
comradedan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
CRAAAZY-
bovver's review against another edition
It feels like there’s a fast, complex story here to wrap your head around. One i’d love trying to unravel.
But the incredibly sparse narration, confusing terminology and long list of characters made this more confusing and opaque than enjoyable
But the incredibly sparse narration, confusing terminology and long list of characters made this more confusing and opaque than enjoyable
lelandbuck's review against another edition
1.0
Take the least interesting aspects of bad Film Noir scripts, magnify them, enhance with cardboard dialog, add a generous but unnecessary dose of F-word, N-word and others in a silly attempt to achieve a snappy style, and you are left with the utter failure that is White Jazz.
Ellroy seems to have fallen victim to his own success with this one. The speech patterns of 1950's L.A. hipsters, gangsters and cops do not a readable novel make.
Ellroy seems to have fallen victim to his own success with this one. The speech patterns of 1950's L.A. hipsters, gangsters and cops do not a readable novel make.
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
When Dave Klein, the dirtiest cop in town, catches a burglary, he quickly becomes entangled in a web of drugs, prostitution, and murder...
James Ellroy's four volume treatise on family values and the integrity of the Los Angeles police department comes to a conclusion in White Jazz. White Jazz ties up some nagging lose ends leftover from the previous three volumes. Gone is the "trinity of sin" structure of [b:The Big Nowhere|36058|The Big Nowhere (L.A. Quartet, #2)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348561244s/36058.jpg|972626] and [b:L.A. Confidential|57727|L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet, #3)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348575361s/57727.jpg|2589940], replaced by a first person narrator, a throwback to [b:The Black Dahlia|21704|The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet, #1)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387048173s/21704.jpg|434].
Ellroy's machine gun style is ratcheted up to an insane degree in this one, the short choppy sentences hitting like the needle of a sewing machine. Honestly, it got a little hard to follow what was happening at times. However, the crazy style added something to the book, giving it a frantic, paranoid feel.
The story itself continued in the vein of the previous two; the corpse of the integrity of the LAPD was exhumed, violated in every orifice, and buried again. What starts as a burglary investigation tears the scab off of the gaping wound of the LAPD's narcotics division and exposes the infection beneath, namely their longtime relationship with the Kafesjian family. Dave Klein, a cop, lawyer, and mob enforcer, finds himself navigating a maze of filth to figure out just what the hell is going on, caught in a power struggle between two of the most powerful men on the force.
After finishing LA Confidential, I mentioned that I thought Dudley Smith was James Ellroy's Randall Flagg. After reading this book, I stand by that. The master manipulator was in fine form in White Jazz, doing his puppeteer act from the sidelines for most of the book. Once all the cards were on the table, the book got so frantic I thought I might have an anxiety attack.
As with the previous books, the dialogue and relationships between the characters threw a lot of gas on the fire. Klein's complicated relationships with his sister and Glenda, as well as Junior and the rest, made him another of Ellroy's shitbird characters that you couldn't help but root for, especially since all the other shitbirds had a lot more blood on their hands.
While I didn't like White Jazz quite as much as the previous two books in the LA Quartet, it did a great job wrapping things up. Hell, when the three previous books are of such high caliber, they're hard to follow. Four out of five stars.
James Ellroy's four volume treatise on family values and the integrity of the Los Angeles police department comes to a conclusion in White Jazz. White Jazz ties up some nagging lose ends leftover from the previous three volumes. Gone is the "trinity of sin" structure of [b:The Big Nowhere|36058|The Big Nowhere (L.A. Quartet, #2)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348561244s/36058.jpg|972626] and [b:L.A. Confidential|57727|L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet, #3)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348575361s/57727.jpg|2589940], replaced by a first person narrator, a throwback to [b:The Black Dahlia|21704|The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet, #1)|James Ellroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387048173s/21704.jpg|434].
Ellroy's machine gun style is ratcheted up to an insane degree in this one, the short choppy sentences hitting like the needle of a sewing machine. Honestly, it got a little hard to follow what was happening at times. However, the crazy style added something to the book, giving it a frantic, paranoid feel.
The story itself continued in the vein of the previous two; the corpse of the integrity of the LAPD was exhumed, violated in every orifice, and buried again. What starts as a burglary investigation tears the scab off of the gaping wound of the LAPD's narcotics division and exposes the infection beneath, namely their longtime relationship with the Kafesjian family. Dave Klein, a cop, lawyer, and mob enforcer, finds himself navigating a maze of filth to figure out just what the hell is going on, caught in a power struggle between two of the most powerful men on the force.
After finishing LA Confidential, I mentioned that I thought Dudley Smith was James Ellroy's Randall Flagg. After reading this book, I stand by that. The master manipulator was in fine form in White Jazz, doing his puppeteer act from the sidelines for most of the book. Once all the cards were on the table, the book got so frantic I thought I might have an anxiety attack.
As with the previous books, the dialogue and relationships between the characters threw a lot of gas on the fire. Klein's complicated relationships with his sister and Glenda, as well as Junior and the rest, made him another of Ellroy's shitbird characters that you couldn't help but root for, especially since all the other shitbirds had a lot more blood on their hands.
While I didn't like White Jazz quite as much as the previous two books in the LA Quartet, it did a great job wrapping things up. Hell, when the three previous books are of such high caliber, they're hard to follow. Four out of five stars.