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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Strap in, because I have THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS about this one.
The Audiobook
Let me tell you about the audiobook. Look, I’m an almost obsessive book-finisher. DNFing is hard for me to accept, and when it occurs it’s usually because some large life change (like moving countries) interrupted my reading. I was already a couple of hours into this book when the dodgy accents began, and I ended up feeling like I was trapped in the effing thing — and not just because it was over 28 FUCKING hours. The audiobook reader was called upon to deliver umpteen accents, many cringey, some borderline racist – the Japanese and Chinese accents put my teeth on edge. The scene where Dudley Smith interviews “The Werewolf” is a horrendous nightmare — back and forth, Irish accent, Japanese accent, Irish, Japanese, both cringey and awful.
Look, I get it. The book is long, and there are SO many characters that you need different vocal styles to distinguish them all or else the reader would lost. BUT, if you brought in a full cast to record the book, you’d have to fork out a lot more cash. So, you hire one reader who does a bunch of accents. And hey, some of the characters DO have accents. People have accents! That’s a thing! I happen to hate it when people do “accent humor,” so I was already biased against this audiobook but… man. The audiobook reader does some “Asian accents” to set one’s hair on end. This shit is Charlie Chan and a half. It becomes even more egregious when he does his “Japanese accent” for a Japanese-American character who clearly (from text) speaks English with an American accent. WHY
The Text
I’m beginning to come to terms with the fact that I’m more interested in James Ellroy than in his fiction. Apparently five years ago I gave The Black Dahlia five stars, but most of what I remember about it is that it’s long, and it’s gritty. I like the grit. I like that Ellroy’s vision of the LAPD, and America in general, is very Hammett-esque. It’s grim, it’s corrupt, it uses a thin mask of patriotism to hide murder and profiteering. It's gross and sad and Ellroy gets that. But truth be told, I’m more interested in the style and philosophy of Ellroy’s books than the intricate plotting. In fact, I don't care for the intricate plotting much at all. My favorite of Ellroy’s books is his first memoir, My Dark Places, about his mother’s murder (and his father’s general failure to father him) and the repercussions of that on his life. Ellroy doesn’t pull any punches; his a screw-up and he owns it. That made me love the guy.
It did not, however, drive me to read all of his fiction. So I enter Perfidia with very limited knowledge of the cast of characters, most of whom hardcore Ellroy fans are already acquainted with. Hideo Ashida is a new edition to Ellroy’s main cast of characters, but Kay Lake, the predictably evil Dudley Smith, and real-life (but dull as hell) figure Bill Parker are all familiar figures from previous books. Apparently. I either haven’t read those books or, in the case of characters taken from The Black Dahlia, barely remember them.
Perfidia’s strength is in its deep grasp of history. Ellroy’s done his research on WWII, he’s done his research on the internment of Japanese-Americans, on left-wing agitators of the ‘40s, on Hollywood stars, on LAPD. There are lots of nice historical touches that feel eerily relevant to the 21st Century. The way that many of the right-wing people in the book call FDR “Franklin Double-Cross Rosenfeld” (implying a Jewish conspiracy) recalled the right-wing tendency a few years ago to always interject and emphasize Obama’s middle name. Similarly, the war profiteering in the novel feels uncomfortably relevant right now. You know who didn’t give a shit about interment camps? People who can make money off of them, and off of any kind of xenophobic frenzy. The parallels to ICE prisons are… not imaginary. (Not saying they're intentional on Ellroy's part, more that they're the parallels between the 1940s and now are starkly obvious.) Ellroy sees racism as one of the pawns of capitalist gain. His characters are driven by their prejudices, but moreso by their greed.
Perfidia also has a great crowd scene that could be ripped from Day of the Locust, a chillingly accurate portrayal of coerced false confession, and a sordid and compelling (if not particularly believably delivered) ending. Bette Davis, although virtually irrelevant to the plot, plays an extended role. At its best, Perfidia recalls the bleakness of The Maltese Falcon and the dark critique of WWII hysteria in Muriel Spark’s The Girls of Slender Means. I only really like books about WWII that are about how bleak and traumatic the war was (none of this British rah-rah heroism garbage, thanks), and at times, Perfidia fits the bill.
However. Perfidia’s MASSIVE GLARING weakness is that it’s a book that clocks in at nearly 800 pages, but only half those pages are engaging. The reader has had to plow through a LOT of dreck to get to the good stuff named above. There are so many pointless events. So many returns to the Watanabe household. So many drinks pounded, or abstained from, so many visits with a Catholic bishop, and a young filthy JFK. So many characters I don’t even really remember (who is Elmer again? And the guy in the purple sweater… when do we even SEE him before the reveal? I literally can’t remember.). So many random nights out listening to Dot Rothstein go on and bloody on about how she “scraped” this or that Starlet.
And speaking of Dot. Look. Dot was a sort of fascinating addition to the book initially, until I realized that basically the only queer characters in the book are Dot — an unlicensed abortion doctor who “scrapes” starlets and apparently eats them out while they’re under anesthesia; Hideo Ashida, who despite appearing promising at the start of the novel, sadly remains sexless and tortured for the duration of the book, and gets to do very little beyond double-crosses and the obfuscation of evidence; and a random cast of background gay men and lesbians who do various illicit things (like all butches peeping on starlets getting… abortions? Because that’s definitely what Hollywood lesbians were into in the ‘40s?). Look, I get it, people in Ellroy novels are seedy and terrible no matter who they are, but this particular portrayal struck a sour note with me, so luridly and inaccurately as it was written. It’s weird to compare Ellroy to Sarah Waters, but I kept thinking about how different this portrayal of queer characters was to those in The Night Watch, a historical novel of WWII London. There is plenty of misery and horror in the Waters novel, but her queer characters aren’t just spectacle. That is all.
I started this book just as I was watching the Netflix series Hollywood. I thought they both got things wrong, but each did so in the opposite way. Hollywood pretends that the world was never as nasty as it was — everything is sunshine and rainbows and representation. Ellroy’s portrayal of LA is appropriately nasty, but so over-the-top in the other direction. It feels strange to write a sentence like, “The racial slurs begin to wear on the ear,” but it’s true. I feel like my father complaining about people in moves cursing, but honestly, for fuck’s sake, I get it, LAPD is corrupt and racist, but this is 28 hours worth of audiobook, please, spare my fucking ears, sir. (And there are more complaints about the audio below! Just wait!) Yet there are also a bunch of white characters in the book who hate the internment. Some of them make moves to take actionlike Kay and Claire’s move, which is shut down by the Feds , and many just stand around feeling mad about it and doing nothing, which, honestly, feels very realistic (and again, eerily accurate at predicting the present moment. But then there’s the weird scene at the end, when Bill Parker beats up a guy because Bill is upset about the internment, and I get it, life has been hard on old Billy and he’s just realized he’s going to protect a murderer in order to further his own career, but the beating take a strange tone of white virtue as Bill Parker yells, “no internment” while smashing a guy’s face into pulp . White virtue aesthetics (even accidental ones) were not something I expected from Ellroy.
Anyway, it’s a mixed bag. I feel like somewhere in this book is a really good novel of say, 300 pages (and minus “Whiskey” boring fuck Bill Parker), but I’m not sure Perfidia is worth the slog through the other 400 pages. Despite curiosity about the characters’ trajectories (like… will Hideo Ashida ever get to screw another man? Will the Dudster really spring him and his family from an internment camp? etc.), I can’t face reading This Storm (over 500 pages) or listening to it on audiobook (same reader! No thanks!). I do think this was a weird but not inappropriate segue into my next two reads: [b: When the Emperor Was Divine|764073|When the Emperor Was Divine|Julie Otsuka|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368314069l/764073._SY75_.jpg|2592921] and [b: How Fascism Works|38255329|How Fascism Works The Politics of Us and Them|Jason Stanley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587653031l/38255329._SY75_.jpg|59936391]. Perfidia is for Ellroy megafans, those who are closely familiar with his most beloved characters, I think this is a must-read. Everyone else can give it a miss.
The Audiobook
Let me tell you about the audiobook. Look, I’m an almost obsessive book-finisher. DNFing is hard for me to accept, and when it occurs it’s usually because some large life change (like moving countries) interrupted my reading. I was already a couple of hours into this book when the dodgy accents began, and I ended up feeling like I was trapped in the effing thing — and not just because it was over 28 FUCKING hours. The audiobook reader was called upon to deliver umpteen accents, many cringey, some borderline racist – the Japanese and Chinese accents put my teeth on edge. The scene where Dudley Smith interviews “The Werewolf” is a horrendous nightmare — back and forth, Irish accent, Japanese accent, Irish, Japanese, both cringey and awful.
Look, I get it. The book is long, and there are SO many characters that you need different vocal styles to distinguish them all or else the reader would lost. BUT, if you brought in a full cast to record the book, you’d have to fork out a lot more cash. So, you hire one reader who does a bunch of accents. And hey, some of the characters DO have accents. People have accents! That’s a thing! I happen to hate it when people do “accent humor,” so I was already biased against this audiobook but… man. The audiobook reader does some “Asian accents” to set one’s hair on end. This shit is Charlie Chan and a half. It becomes even more egregious when he does his “Japanese accent” for a Japanese-American character who clearly (from text) speaks English with an American accent. WHY
The Text
I’m beginning to come to terms with the fact that I’m more interested in James Ellroy than in his fiction. Apparently five years ago I gave The Black Dahlia five stars, but most of what I remember about it is that it’s long, and it’s gritty. I like the grit. I like that Ellroy’s vision of the LAPD, and America in general, is very Hammett-esque. It’s grim, it’s corrupt, it uses a thin mask of patriotism to hide murder and profiteering. It's gross and sad and Ellroy gets that. But truth be told, I’m more interested in the style and philosophy of Ellroy’s books than the intricate plotting. In fact, I don't care for the intricate plotting much at all. My favorite of Ellroy’s books is his first memoir, My Dark Places, about his mother’s murder (and his father’s general failure to father him) and the repercussions of that on his life. Ellroy doesn’t pull any punches; his a screw-up and he owns it. That made me love the guy.
It did not, however, drive me to read all of his fiction. So I enter Perfidia with very limited knowledge of the cast of characters, most of whom hardcore Ellroy fans are already acquainted with. Hideo Ashida is a new edition to Ellroy’s main cast of characters, but Kay Lake, the predictably evil Dudley Smith, and real-life (but dull as hell) figure Bill Parker are all familiar figures from previous books. Apparently. I either haven’t read those books or, in the case of characters taken from The Black Dahlia, barely remember them.
Perfidia’s strength is in its deep grasp of history. Ellroy’s done his research on WWII, he’s done his research on the internment of Japanese-Americans, on left-wing agitators of the ‘40s, on Hollywood stars, on LAPD. There are lots of nice historical touches that feel eerily relevant to the 21st Century. The way that many of the right-wing people in the book call FDR “Franklin Double-Cross Rosenfeld” (implying a Jewish conspiracy) recalled the right-wing tendency a few years ago to always interject and emphasize Obama’s middle name. Similarly, the war profiteering in the novel feels uncomfortably relevant right now. You know who didn’t give a shit about interment camps? People who can make money off of them, and off of any kind of xenophobic frenzy. The parallels to ICE prisons are… not imaginary. (Not saying they're intentional on Ellroy's part, more that they're the parallels between the 1940s and now are starkly obvious.) Ellroy sees racism as one of the pawns of capitalist gain. His characters are driven by their prejudices, but moreso by their greed.
Perfidia also has a great crowd scene that could be ripped from Day of the Locust, a chillingly accurate portrayal of coerced false confession, and a sordid and compelling (if not particularly believably delivered) ending. Bette Davis, although virtually irrelevant to the plot, plays an extended role. At its best, Perfidia recalls the bleakness of The Maltese Falcon and the dark critique of WWII hysteria in Muriel Spark’s The Girls of Slender Means. I only really like books about WWII that are about how bleak and traumatic the war was (none of this British rah-rah heroism garbage, thanks), and at times, Perfidia fits the bill.
However. Perfidia’s MASSIVE GLARING weakness is that it’s a book that clocks in at nearly 800 pages, but only half those pages are engaging. The reader has had to plow through a LOT of dreck to get to the good stuff named above. There are so many pointless events. So many returns to the Watanabe household. So many drinks pounded, or abstained from, so many visits with a Catholic bishop, and a young filthy JFK. So many characters I don’t even really remember (who is Elmer again? And the guy in the purple sweater… when do we even SEE him before the reveal? I literally can’t remember.). So many random nights out listening to Dot Rothstein go on and bloody on about how she “scraped” this or that Starlet.
And speaking of Dot. Look. Dot was a sort of fascinating addition to the book initially, until I realized that basically the only queer characters in the book are Dot — an unlicensed abortion doctor who “scrapes” starlets and apparently eats them out while they’re under anesthesia; Hideo Ashida, who despite appearing promising at the start of the novel, sadly remains sexless and tortured for the duration of the book, and gets to do very little beyond double-crosses and the obfuscation of evidence; and a random cast of background gay men and lesbians who do various illicit things (like all butches peeping on starlets getting… abortions? Because that’s definitely what Hollywood lesbians were into in the ‘40s?). Look, I get it, people in Ellroy novels are seedy and terrible no matter who they are, but this particular portrayal struck a sour note with me, so luridly and inaccurately as it was written. It’s weird to compare Ellroy to Sarah Waters, but I kept thinking about how different this portrayal of queer characters was to those in The Night Watch, a historical novel of WWII London. There is plenty of misery and horror in the Waters novel, but her queer characters aren’t just spectacle. That is all.
I started this book just as I was watching the Netflix series Hollywood. I thought they both got things wrong, but each did so in the opposite way. Hollywood pretends that the world was never as nasty as it was — everything is sunshine and rainbows and representation. Ellroy’s portrayal of LA is appropriately nasty, but so over-the-top in the other direction. It feels strange to write a sentence like, “The racial slurs begin to wear on the ear,” but it’s true. I feel like my father complaining about people in moves cursing, but honestly, for fuck’s sake, I get it, LAPD is corrupt and racist, but this is 28 hours worth of audiobook, please, spare my fucking ears, sir. (And there are more complaints about the audio below! Just wait!) Yet there are also a bunch of white characters in the book who hate the internment. Some of them make moves to take action
Anyway, it’s a mixed bag. I feel like somewhere in this book is a really good novel of say, 300 pages (and minus “Whiskey” boring fuck Bill Parker), but I’m not sure Perfidia is worth the slog through the other 400 pages. Despite curiosity about the characters’ trajectories (like… will Hideo Ashida ever get to screw another man? Will the Dudster really spring him and his family from an internment camp? etc.), I can’t face reading This Storm (over 500 pages) or listening to it on audiobook (same reader! No thanks!). I do think this was a weird but not inappropriate segue into my next two reads: [b: When the Emperor Was Divine|764073|When the Emperor Was Divine|Julie Otsuka|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368314069l/764073._SY75_.jpg|2592921] and [b: How Fascism Works|38255329|How Fascism Works The Politics of Us and Them|Jason Stanley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587653031l/38255329._SY75_.jpg|59936391]. Perfidia is for Ellroy megafans, those who are closely familiar with his most beloved characters, I think this is a must-read. Everyone else can give it a miss.
James Ellroy is incapable of writing a standard whodunit mystery, but this comes closer than most of his work.
His amped up stripped down style is not as extreme as usual, but his eye and ear for grisly corrupt menace is tuned finely as usual.
Good news for Ellroy lovers: this is the beginning of a new series, which takes place earlier in the decaying-LA universe than his other work, and rounds up characters from his previous series as well as real-life people. (Jack Webb, of "Dragnet" fame, for example, is portrayed here as a pathetic cop wannabee - seems legit.)
Perfidia takes place between the Pearl Harbor attack and Christmas 1941 in LA. Roundups, land grabs, perversions, and blood all over the walls just like you'd expect.
I left off the fifth star because it is a bit lower-voltage than we all know Ellroy is capable of, but still, there's no one like him.
His amped up stripped down style is not as extreme as usual, but his eye and ear for grisly corrupt menace is tuned finely as usual.
Good news for Ellroy lovers: this is the beginning of a new series, which takes place earlier in the decaying-LA universe than his other work, and rounds up characters from his previous series as well as real-life people. (Jack Webb, of "Dragnet" fame, for example, is portrayed here as a pathetic cop wannabee - seems legit.)
Perfidia takes place between the Pearl Harbor attack and Christmas 1941 in LA. Roundups, land grabs, perversions, and blood all over the walls just like you'd expect.
I left off the fifth star because it is a bit lower-voltage than we all know Ellroy is capable of, but still, there's no one like him.
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
You can never replicate the breathtaking gutpunch of American Tabloid or The Black Dahlia which I read almost 20 years ago, but this is a fine start to Ellroy's latest (last?) quartet. Dudley Smith is front and centre banging Bette Davis, cracking heads and popping bennies. All backed up by the greatest wink in literature. So much fun, it'll be hard to go back to reading other books.
This is a nuclear bomb of a novel. I could go any one of a thousand different directions trying to describe the reading experience that is "Perfidia" but each start feels false because the second I start to describe, it's suddenly wrangled and pinned down. This is not a book that should be distilled and if it is, it has to be all the way down past any descriptors to the base, glaze-eyed "wow..." or "incredible..."
The staccato rhythm of the sentences initially (like for the first 5 pages maybe) feels like a gimmick or the prose of a lesser writer but as soon as even one strand of the plot gets going you see that it's no gimmick but instead a bennie-addled tour guide pinning your eyelids open and strapping you to the front of a ballistic missile and lighting the fuse. It's almost hard to believe that this book is the product of a single human mind so massively stuffed and complex is it. Opening "Perfidia" is like setting off an entire shelf of fireworks in your brain.
Finally, Dudley Smith is permanently elevated into the pantheon: Judge Holden, Hank Stamper, Cornelius Suttree, Mickey Sabbath, Dudley Smith
What a book
The staccato rhythm of the sentences initially (like for the first 5 pages maybe) feels like a gimmick or the prose of a lesser writer but as soon as even one strand of the plot gets going you see that it's no gimmick but instead a bennie-addled tour guide pinning your eyelids open and strapping you to the front of a ballistic missile and lighting the fuse. It's almost hard to believe that this book is the product of a single human mind so massively stuffed and complex is it. Opening "Perfidia" is like setting off an entire shelf of fireworks in your brain.
Finally, Dudley Smith is permanently elevated into the pantheon: Judge Holden, Hank Stamper, Cornelius Suttree, Mickey Sabbath, Dudley Smith
What a book
This is my first James Ellroy. It's Book #1 in his 2nd LA Quartet (the first quarter including The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential). The Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor and Los Angeles is reeling. The novel follows the stories of the Los Angeles police department, including drunk Captain William H. Parker, Japanese forensic scientist Hideo Ashida, and Irish assassin turned copper Dudley Smith. Kay Lake, local ingenue, also becomes embroiled in the dark world of policing. The novel is highly stylized and has taken me a long time to work through, but it is brilliant in its depiction of December 1941.
A terrific, but gritty crime noir novel, dealing with the labyrinthine cross-plotting of corrupt cops, movie stars, and business people in December, 1941. All of the characters have big flaws, and they all have an angle on the what everybody sees is coming: the internment of Japanese-Americans. Another theme is the so-called "Fifth Column"; fascist and USSR sympathizers living in the US. The book is like a stiff drink; very strong, very violent, but very satisfying as well.
Complex, violent, disturbing. A fascinating tale of murder and corruption in LA in the days following Pearl Harbor.
I have so few auto-buy authors these days. I used to have many, but one by one I drop them when the stories turn predictable and the writing stale. One actually died, but anyway...
Ellroy is heavy reading, and his dirty staccato style is what makes the scenery come alive. If you've glommed the rest of his catalog you know several players here - Perfidia is a prequel of sorts to his other series. It begins just before the attack on Pearl Harbor with the murder of a Japanese family in LA. Throughout the investigation the story peels away layers to reveal corruption within the police force, sympathies for opposing forces, and a lot of bad language. Ellroy doesn't write rainbows and unicorns.
The only problem I have with Ellroy's books is I have to go back and read the others again to jar my memory. One day I'll sit and have a good binge.
~
As much as I love books, I don't explode into rainbows often when I hear of a pending release, but but but new James Ellroy.
Ellroy is heavy reading, and his dirty staccato style is what makes the scenery come alive. If you've glommed the rest of his catalog you know several players here - Perfidia is a prequel of sorts to his other series. It begins just before the attack on Pearl Harbor with the murder of a Japanese family in LA. Throughout the investigation the story peels away layers to reveal corruption within the police force, sympathies for opposing forces, and a lot of bad language. Ellroy doesn't write rainbows and unicorns.
The only problem I have with Ellroy's books is I have to go back and read the others again to jar my memory. One day I'll sit and have a good binge.
~
As much as I love books, I don't explode into rainbows often when I hear of a pending release, but but but new James Ellroy.
right-o, kids - this will be less of a review and more of a list of thoughts on all of my notes I made while re-reading. I've started to really enjoy annotating and this is the first real experiment with it. Before I dive into the proper notes/spoilers, I will say that I don't expect myself to spot too many faults in one of my favorite books of all time. It sits nicely on the number 2 spot, behind Silence of the Lambs, so this will just be a very long rave, more for myself than anyone else deciding whether or not to pick up this book.
If you are one of those people, stop wondering. Do it. Start your journey into the abyss so that I'm not alone in my trauma. Now, let's go:
A lot of spoilers ahead. You've been warned.
- ‘I will not die as long as I live this story’ - probably not the last time I'm seeing this in a reminiscenza at the beginning of an Ellroy
- ‘This storm’ - in the Reminiscenza and very late in Perfidia; really nice thematic shout-out to the second book title. Makes me wonder if he’s done that kind of foreshadowing for the last two in the quartet too.
24 - ‘He seized a textbook opportunity. He had to determine the pathology of a prosaic heist and report his findings first. His findings might serve the greater cause of forensic criminology.’ It establishes Ashida as one with his craft. I remember this was when I started to wonder if I’d care hard about him in the book, and I did. My love for Hideo Ashida is only surpassed by my love of Bill Parker. heart eyes
31 -‘I pretended to be one of them in order to live within myself unobstructed.’ This first bit of her diary establishes her very well since the style is so distinct and she’s nothing like the police figures we’re used to with Ellroy, save for her level of corruption at the end. Cheers for that one, Bill
54 - first mention of 'perfidia'
I underlined the first Ward Littell mention on page 62 because I’m a stan ever since American Tabloid and I will not be swayed.
77 - ‘The looming apocalypse is not of our doing. We have been good citizens and did not know that it was coming.’ I made a note of it because it was as dramatic the second time I read it as it was the first time. The set-up is really nice, and it wouldn’t have had the same effect without the Kanji script before the English translation.
84 - ‘Apologize to Dr. Ashida, Leland.’ And so the epic love story between Ashida and Dudley begins.
101 - ‘Please take him some place secluded and kick the shit out of him.’ I full-on snort-laughed. Also fucking love the set-up for his omnipotence, in the first half of the book, there’s really nothing that catches up to him.
107 - Kay asking Elmer and Brenda if they honestly think they’re as smart as William H. Parker; I suddenly have feelings.
108 - Pearl Harbor happens. Ellroy chose POVs really well for the moment, I think.
116 - the Alien Squad shit starts. It’s as disturbing to read them talking about it so casually as it was the first time.
124 - ‘I’m sure that Captain Parker and I will form a nonaggression pact.’ lol I mean kind of true, except in the last 20 pages of the book mate.
128 - ‘What did Hideo ever do except work for this white man’s police force?’ Jack Webb asks. Very overt thematic question here, one of the few. They hit harder because there are so few of them.
136 - perfidia mention
143 - ‘I looked across the street. Captain William H. Parker stood by a ‘39 Ford.’ My exact reaction to this was OOOOOOH HI BILL
172 - ‘ We’re at war. The world is dark and flat. Cars are submarines.’ I always tell people I love Ellroy for how well he evokes emotion with very few words. I really don’t need much description of how Ashida’s feeling when I’ve got sentences that hit this hard.
192 - ‘Bette on the dancefloor and Perfidia.’ Dudley you legend with good musical taste.
238 - first session between Kay and Lesnick, really well done in terms of dialogue, I’ve read this scene about 5 times now.
267 - Dudley nails Ashida when he tries to hide more evidence and I’ve never seen Dudley more assertive; stunning show of power, i was v tense reading this back.
269 - ‘Yes, as you wish.’ Japanese culture in Ashida. The line pops up so many times later with Kay
270 - ‘I am in no way constrained by the law.’ Don’t I know, Dudley mate, don't I know
272 - Kay examining the Red cell/Claire’s dogs and proving she’s not all facade
285 - Jack Webb says, ‘I blame the Catholic Church for Bill Parker.’ Honestly so do I, I really didn’t need him in my life and now here we are.
288 - Dud says, ‘His Eminence is far too secularized for all that.’ Big lmao
294 - Ellwood attack
297, chapter 42 - stunning chapter between Kay and Parker; a wall breaks, Joan comes up and there’s a stunning monologue in here by La Belle Kay
303 - Helen to Bill Parker, aka the most overt Ellroy @ Ellroy monologue of all time
316 - poor Scotty Bennett kills for the first time, obviously at Dud’s say so
322 - Larkin lead and a stunning way to end a description: ‘End of description. That’s all of it.’
332 - ‘I vowed to pray for him, but I reneged it. I caused his death.’ Not to offend you Parker but you didn’t and that’s awfully religious/existential of you.
352 - a nice little moment between Claire and Bill
355 - the Reminiscenza is Kay's!! the blizzard gets mentioned: ‘It started in a 1920 snowstorm and stopped when a police captain knocked on my door.’
366 - perfidia mention
369 - ‘Ashida said,”I’ll be in prison. Unless the right white man owes me.’ Cogent analysis, not to mention the whole arc of the book, with Ashida oscillating between Parker and Dudley. Speaking of, some of the best antithesis there comes from his interactions with the two.
377 - Bette says, ‘Aren’t you glad you’re not like the rest of the world?’ It was really moving, going through it again, given what kind of a brutal cop she’s saying it to, not really knowing what it means about his character. Bette’s naive about him until the very end.
390 - Parker really fucks it for himself for the rest of the book with his stunt with Ace Kwan, and Ashida compares Dudley and Parker
405 - ‘Please kill a Jap for me.’ Again, a stunning show of naivety from Bette + Goro’s murder.
429, chapter 62 - one of my favorite Parker/Kay moments from Perfidia, with her outburst and him leaving on her, which he doesn’t do the next time. Stunning prose.
430 - Perfidia mention
476 - ‘Sycophants and sinners. What world conflict? The brave and the wrong.’
487 - ‘What will you do when the world decides that you’re not worth the trouble and throws in with some other man less furious and more presentable than you?’ Again, cogent analysis and probably what’s gonna happen to Parker at some point in this Quartet. I remember nothing about him in the other Quartet, so don’t spoil my ass. (Is he even in there? I don't remember don't tell me LALALALLAAL)
488 - 'Only William H. Parker knows my heart.' Swear to God I might get that quote as a tramp stamp.
491 - ‘Her lovely dress. He should buy her a new one just like it.’ Heart eyes
519 ish - Shudo gets arrested and the Big Frame starts
531 - Perfidia mention
531 - ‘Please don’t hit me.’ we don't get too many moments when Dudley's vulnerable in any Ellroy book ever, so the few we do get hit pretty hard
551 - stunning portrait of Hoover in relation to local police
555 - first Meeks point of view
561 - first Werewolf comparison - Shudo/The Dudster
562 - ‘The door was open. He cast no shadow. He’s the Real Werewolf.’ Not even doing subtlety at this point.
562 - Ashida gets really busted with that affidavit
565 - ‘They’re both insane. They’re in love with each other, but they’re so crazy that they don’t even know it.’ I know right????? Ashida mate you know what's up
566 - Pearl Harbor as a central axis - ‘Did the world exist before it?’
570 - monologue about how it wasn’t supposed to end this way, and these two amazing thoughts by the one and only Bill: ‘They were supposed to build evidence and drink Russian vodka to toast the impaneled grand jury.’ & ‘They were supposed to exchange letters and call each other Katherine and William in due time.’ FUCKIN’ WINK WINK
572 - Bill breaks Kay out of the cell - ‘Her eyes said Lift me. You can do it. I’ll be light for you. MY GOD
583 - ‘Ashida screamed. He thought he heard a wolf howl, somewhere close.’ as he reads the letter Dud left him, STUNNING
592, chapter 83 - best chapter in the book, hands down. The conversation/truce between Dudley and Parker + ‘I cannot lose what I have fought so hard for and can only grasp and compromise when others seek to take it from me. [...] Dear God, let this be my final compliance with evil. I must never do this again.'
652 - ‘I’ll be on the other side of the peek. Keep it to words, please. I don’t want him to touch you.’ ALRIGHT PROTECTIVE PARKER TO THE RESCUE
690 - ‘The war. This storm. This storm that now indicts me.’ When I tell you I gasped and got weird as shit looks on the beach….
691 - ‘America will win the war, and I’m alone with William H. Parker.’
710 - ‘The world is dark and flat. Cars are submarines.’ It’s back lads, what a line
722 - man Dudley must’ve gone through some shit. ‘I’m sorry. Don’t hit me. I’m sorry. Don’t hit me. [...] Don’t hit me. Don’t hit me. Put your mouth here, son.’ Low-key mental breakdown for Dud here.
751 - really nicely structured confession here, written as a whole chapter in italics rather than dialogue, it flows better like that.
763 - ‘Ashida thought, I’M AN AMERICAN.’ YEAH YOU ARE LAD
779 - ‘Twenty-three days, this storm, reminiscenza.’ who can spell full-circle
787 - ‘She said, “William,” and went back to sleep. [...] He touched her face and said, “Katherine, love.”’ I MEAN COME ON. Not only does the book end with them calling each other by their first names, finally, but the last word oF THE BOOK IS LOVE COME OOOOON
if you've made it this far, i have a lot of respect for your patience; that's it. 10 out of 5 stars.
bye I'm off to keep reading This Storm.
If you are one of those people, stop wondering. Do it. Start your journey into the abyss so that I'm not alone in my trauma. Now, let's go:
A lot of spoilers ahead. You've been warned.
- ‘I will not die as long as I live this story’ - probably not the last time I'm seeing this in a reminiscenza at the beginning of an Ellroy
- ‘This storm’ - in the Reminiscenza and very late in Perfidia; really nice thematic shout-out to the second book title. Makes me wonder if he’s done that kind of foreshadowing for the last two in the quartet too.
24 - ‘He seized a textbook opportunity. He had to determine the pathology of a prosaic heist and report his findings first. His findings might serve the greater cause of forensic criminology.’ It establishes Ashida as one with his craft. I remember this was when I started to wonder if I’d care hard about him in the book, and I did. My love for Hideo Ashida is only surpassed by my love of Bill Parker. heart eyes
31 -‘I pretended to be one of them in order to live within myself unobstructed.’ This first bit of her diary establishes her very well since the style is so distinct and she’s nothing like the police figures we’re used to with Ellroy, save for her level of corruption at the end. Cheers for that one, Bill
54 - first mention of 'perfidia'
I underlined the first Ward Littell mention on page 62 because I’m a stan ever since American Tabloid and I will not be swayed.
77 - ‘The looming apocalypse is not of our doing. We have been good citizens and did not know that it was coming.’ I made a note of it because it was as dramatic the second time I read it as it was the first time. The set-up is really nice, and it wouldn’t have had the same effect without the Kanji script before the English translation.
84 - ‘Apologize to Dr. Ashida, Leland.’ And so the epic love story between Ashida and Dudley begins.
101 - ‘Please take him some place secluded and kick the shit out of him.’ I full-on snort-laughed. Also fucking love the set-up for his omnipotence, in the first half of the book, there’s really nothing that catches up to him.
107 - Kay asking Elmer and Brenda if they honestly think they’re as smart as William H. Parker; I suddenly have feelings.
108 - Pearl Harbor happens. Ellroy chose POVs really well for the moment, I think.
116 - the Alien Squad shit starts. It’s as disturbing to read them talking about it so casually as it was the first time.
124 - ‘I’m sure that Captain Parker and I will form a nonaggression pact.’ lol I mean kind of true, except in the last 20 pages of the book mate.
128 - ‘What did Hideo ever do except work for this white man’s police force?’ Jack Webb asks. Very overt thematic question here, one of the few. They hit harder because there are so few of them.
136 - perfidia mention
143 - ‘I looked across the street. Captain William H. Parker stood by a ‘39 Ford.’ My exact reaction to this was OOOOOOH HI BILL
172 - ‘ We’re at war. The world is dark and flat. Cars are submarines.’ I always tell people I love Ellroy for how well he evokes emotion with very few words. I really don’t need much description of how Ashida’s feeling when I’ve got sentences that hit this hard.
192 - ‘Bette on the dancefloor and Perfidia.’ Dudley you legend with good musical taste.
238 - first session between Kay and Lesnick, really well done in terms of dialogue, I’ve read this scene about 5 times now.
267 - Dudley nails Ashida when he tries to hide more evidence and I’ve never seen Dudley more assertive; stunning show of power, i was v tense reading this back.
269 - ‘Yes, as you wish.’ Japanese culture in Ashida. The line pops up so many times later with Kay
270 - ‘I am in no way constrained by the law.’ Don’t I know, Dudley mate, don't I know
272 - Kay examining the Red cell/Claire’s dogs and proving she’s not all facade
285 - Jack Webb says, ‘I blame the Catholic Church for Bill Parker.’ Honestly so do I, I really didn’t need him in my life and now here we are.
288 - Dud says, ‘His Eminence is far too secularized for all that.’ Big lmao
294 - Ellwood attack
297, chapter 42 - stunning chapter between Kay and Parker; a wall breaks, Joan comes up and there’s a stunning monologue in here by La Belle Kay
303 - Helen to Bill Parker, aka the most overt Ellroy @ Ellroy monologue of all time
316 - poor Scotty Bennett kills for the first time, obviously at Dud’s say so
322 - Larkin lead and a stunning way to end a description: ‘End of description. That’s all of it.’
332 - ‘I vowed to pray for him, but I reneged it. I caused his death.’ Not to offend you Parker but you didn’t and that’s awfully religious/existential of you.
352 - a nice little moment between Claire and Bill
355 - the Reminiscenza is Kay's!! the blizzard gets mentioned: ‘It started in a 1920 snowstorm and stopped when a police captain knocked on my door.’
366 - perfidia mention
369 - ‘Ashida said,”I’ll be in prison. Unless the right white man owes me.’ Cogent analysis, not to mention the whole arc of the book, with Ashida oscillating between Parker and Dudley. Speaking of, some of the best antithesis there comes from his interactions with the two.
377 - Bette says, ‘Aren’t you glad you’re not like the rest of the world?’ It was really moving, going through it again, given what kind of a brutal cop she’s saying it to, not really knowing what it means about his character. Bette’s naive about him until the very end.
390 - Parker really fucks it for himself for the rest of the book with his stunt with Ace Kwan, and Ashida compares Dudley and Parker
405 - ‘Please kill a Jap for me.’ Again, a stunning show of naivety from Bette + Goro’s murder.
429, chapter 62 - one of my favorite Parker/Kay moments from Perfidia, with her outburst and him leaving on her, which he doesn’t do the next time. Stunning prose.
430 - Perfidia mention
476 - ‘Sycophants and sinners. What world conflict? The brave and the wrong.’
487 - ‘What will you do when the world decides that you’re not worth the trouble and throws in with some other man less furious and more presentable than you?’ Again, cogent analysis and probably what’s gonna happen to Parker at some point in this Quartet. I remember nothing about him in the other Quartet, so don’t spoil my ass. (Is he even in there? I don't remember don't tell me LALALALLAAL)
488 - 'Only William H. Parker knows my heart.' Swear to God I might get that quote as a tramp stamp.
491 - ‘Her lovely dress. He should buy her a new one just like it.’ Heart eyes
519 ish - Shudo gets arrested and the Big Frame starts
531 - Perfidia mention
531 - ‘Please don’t hit me.’ we don't get too many moments when Dudley's vulnerable in any Ellroy book ever, so the few we do get hit pretty hard
551 - stunning portrait of Hoover in relation to local police
555 - first Meeks point of view
561 - first Werewolf comparison - Shudo/The Dudster
562 - ‘The door was open. He cast no shadow. He’s the Real Werewolf.’ Not even doing subtlety at this point.
562 - Ashida gets really busted with that affidavit
565 - ‘They’re both insane. They’re in love with each other, but they’re so crazy that they don’t even know it.’ I know right????? Ashida mate you know what's up
566 - Pearl Harbor as a central axis - ‘Did the world exist before it?’
570 - monologue about how it wasn’t supposed to end this way, and these two amazing thoughts by the one and only Bill: ‘They were supposed to build evidence and drink Russian vodka to toast the impaneled grand jury.’ & ‘They were supposed to exchange letters and call each other Katherine and William in due time.’ FUCKIN’ WINK WINK
572 - Bill breaks Kay out of the cell - ‘Her eyes said Lift me. You can do it. I’ll be light for you. MY GOD
583 - ‘Ashida screamed. He thought he heard a wolf howl, somewhere close.’ as he reads the letter Dud left him, STUNNING
592, chapter 83 - best chapter in the book, hands down. The conversation/truce between Dudley and Parker + ‘I cannot lose what I have fought so hard for and can only grasp and compromise when others seek to take it from me. [...] Dear God, let this be my final compliance with evil. I must never do this again.'
652 - ‘I’ll be on the other side of the peek. Keep it to words, please. I don’t want him to touch you.’ ALRIGHT PROTECTIVE PARKER TO THE RESCUE
690 - ‘The war. This storm. This storm that now indicts me.’ When I tell you I gasped and got weird as shit looks on the beach….
691 - ‘America will win the war, and I’m alone with William H. Parker.’
710 - ‘The world is dark and flat. Cars are submarines.’ It’s back lads, what a line
722 - man Dudley must’ve gone through some shit. ‘I’m sorry. Don’t hit me. I’m sorry. Don’t hit me. [...] Don’t hit me. Don’t hit me. Put your mouth here, son.’ Low-key mental breakdown for Dud here.
751 - really nicely structured confession here, written as a whole chapter in italics rather than dialogue, it flows better like that.
763 - ‘Ashida thought, I’M AN AMERICAN.’ YEAH YOU ARE LAD
779 - ‘Twenty-three days, this storm, reminiscenza.’ who can spell full-circle
787 - ‘She said, “William,” and went back to sleep. [...] He touched her face and said, “Katherine, love.”’ I MEAN COME ON. Not only does the book end with them calling each other by their first names, finally, but the last word oF THE BOOK IS LOVE COME OOOOON
if you've made it this far, i have a lot of respect for your patience; that's it. 10 out of 5 stars.
bye I'm off to keep reading This Storm.