A review by brandonpytel
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

5.0

Hollywood's quintessential novel, and arguably, America's novel. West captures the loony calamity of the movie industry, while drawing parallels to the entire country. Tod Hackett is a painter working on his final project, "The Burning of L.A.," when he falls in love with the fake, selfish, Daisy Buchanon-like star-to-be, Faye Greener. The diversity of characters gives this book its shape: the self-depravity of Homer, the drunkenness and poverty of Earle, the temper of Abe---all of whom are star-struck by the beautiful and hollow Faye. From cockfights to funerals to violent mobs, The Day of the Locust slowly devolves into the madness and hysteria of a culture that has lost the promised American Dream.