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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I only read the Prologue. This type of intense historical fiction is not usually my type of read, and reading the Prologue furthered the notion that while I respect that this is clearly a strong concept (putting a story to all the unknown in the Black Dahlia case), it is not for me. The Prologue was a very intense start writing wise and didn’t exactly draw me in enough to make me interested enough to keep reading. I saw some reviews on here that say this book takes a long time to bet to the actual death, and again I respect the author’s creativity, but I am only reading a Black Dahlia book to read about her death and not the lengthy preambles of the fake investigator characters.
All that said about historical fiction, I would someday like to read Stephen King’s book on the Kennedy assassination.
All that said about historical fiction, I would someday like to read Stephen King’s book on the Kennedy assassination.
Fundamentally too romantically inclined to pull it's own cruelty off. The ending forces hope where it should be dead, and that makes the rest of the book feel less cruel than stupid. A fighter that flinches
I realize this is a classic, dealing with a historical time, but I found it was all over the place and didn’t come together organically. The ending seemed forced. I did like the author’s notes about his own life.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
What James Ellroy does well in "The Black Dahlia" is his creation of a gritty world full of dirty cops, hookers and other folks in compromising positions. The novel really sets the reader into a seedy world very effectively -- it was a world that I personally found difficult to take at times.
The novel is based on true events -- the murder of Elizbeth Short, whose body was found, severed in half on a California lawn in the 1940's. The murder, which became a big news story that shocked the nation, remains unsolved to this day. Ellroy's narrator, Bucky Bleichert, is a cop who becomes obsessed with solving the crime.
While Short's murder is central to the story, it takes Ellroy a long time to actually get there and even longer to fit together a solution. Ultimately, the book is well done, but not really suited to my taste.
The novel is based on true events -- the murder of Elizbeth Short, whose body was found, severed in half on a California lawn in the 1940's. The murder, which became a big news story that shocked the nation, remains unsolved to this day. Ellroy's narrator, Bucky Bleichert, is a cop who becomes obsessed with solving the crime.
While Short's murder is central to the story, it takes Ellroy a long time to actually get there and even longer to fit together a solution. Ultimately, the book is well done, but not really suited to my taste.
A good mystery. Many plot twists and turns. Bucky is a really good imperfect hero.
4.5 STARS
Lovely novel by Ellroy loosely based upon a true story, made all the more fascinating due to Ellroy's mother's murder around the same time, and that his mother lived only a matter of blocks from where the Black Dahlia's body was found. Who wouldn't be affected by this upbringing? And I think you sense the weight and passion of it all in his writing.
This is one of his earlier novels, and perhaps it shows. There's less of his staccato hard-boiled prose, and more of a standard flow in writing style.
But prose, plot, characters etc, everything you want in a novel, is all there in spades.
Lovely novel by Ellroy loosely based upon a true story, made all the more fascinating due to Ellroy's mother's murder around the same time, and that his mother lived only a matter of blocks from where the Black Dahlia's body was found. Who wouldn't be affected by this upbringing? And I think you sense the weight and passion of it all in his writing.
This is one of his earlier novels, and perhaps it shows. There's less of his staccato hard-boiled prose, and more of a standard flow in writing style.
But prose, plot, characters etc, everything you want in a novel, is all there in spades.
I didn't like this book. I didn't like the characters, the plot or the writing. In fact, I found it an unpleasant book to read and eventually just skimmed through to find out how it was resolved. Worst of all - the big surprise reveal was pretty obvious: a real case of 'well DUH.'
Cracking! Gripping, full of twists and turns and I felt invested in the characters. Would like to read the other LA confidential books now.