Is Widespread Panic just so terrible it doesn't merit mention? I will never agree about that trilogy, the language makes it unreadable, as bad as No Country for Old Men but not even screenplay-like, just tedious. But I liked Perfidia, mean to get around to This Storm, and intend to dig into Otash too. I will take second-rate Ellroy as better than a lot of first rate stuff, as I put off my reread of the LA Quartet because I know it is so good nothing - not Ellroy either -- can compare.
Yeah, I had a section about Widespread Panic but it didnt really advance anything. I didnt even realize it was 3 intertwined novellas, instead of a continuous novel, cuz I was just so conditioned to having no idea what the fuck was going on in his novels at that point.
You and I are definitely on different sides of the fence regarding his Trilogy, but I completely understand how it can just hit a reader as annoying. I liked Perfidia too, but This Storm felt less like a sequel than an effort to craft an equal-sized canvas from thinning/drying paints.
Any time I am beginning to get into a certain writer, I would like a pacy Sorondo rundown of the whole oeuvre. Always useful. Can they be commissioned or made to order? (Morrison next)
Thank you! And it's interesting you say that about Morrison -- kinda curious that we dont know very much about her. Maybe she just lived a pretty focused/sedentary life after middle age. Are you reading all the way through her books?
Great piece, Alexander. Thanks. I loved American Tabloid. I'm still about halfway through The Cold Six Thousand but I'm enjoying it. I have no issues with his clipped prose. I just see it as signature Ellroy and, for me, it zips along nicely. Very readable, very rhythmic. Even the use of forward slashes!
Oh I forgot about the forward slashes! He still uses them in the new book but not as often. I just thought Cold Six Thousand was so displacing, so strange, that I didn't fall in love with it until a second reading. I remember thinking, after the first one, "This is the first time I've ever read a genuinely 'Great' novel that was completely ruined by a stylistic decision." Did not know whereof I spoke.
Have you read any of the LA Quartet? Planning on going ahead into Blood's a Rover?
No, I haven't read any of the 1st or 2nd LA Quartet books or Blood's a Rover. I'd love to but—time. There's so many books I want to read, or finish reading but right now I need to plough through a bunch of non-fiction books as research for a novel so, unfortunately, Mr. Ellroy and others will have to take a back seat. He's definitely a fascinating subject for an article though. Good choice!
Is Widespread Panic just so terrible it doesn't merit mention? I will never agree about that trilogy, the language makes it unreadable, as bad as No Country for Old Men but not even screenplay-like, just tedious. But I liked Perfidia, mean to get around to This Storm, and intend to dig into Otash too. I will take second-rate Ellroy as better than a lot of first rate stuff, as I put off my reread of the LA Quartet because I know it is so good nothing - not Ellroy either -- can compare.
Yeah, I had a section about Widespread Panic but it didnt really advance anything. I didnt even realize it was 3 intertwined novellas, instead of a continuous novel, cuz I was just so conditioned to having no idea what the fuck was going on in his novels at that point.
You and I are definitely on different sides of the fence regarding his Trilogy, but I completely understand how it can just hit a reader as annoying. I liked Perfidia too, but This Storm felt less like a sequel than an effort to craft an equal-sized canvas from thinning/drying paints.
Any time I am beginning to get into a certain writer, I would like a pacy Sorondo rundown of the whole oeuvre. Always useful. Can they be commissioned or made to order? (Morrison next)
Thank you! And it's interesting you say that about Morrison -- kinda curious that we dont know very much about her. Maybe she just lived a pretty focused/sedentary life after middle age. Are you reading all the way through her books?
It's a summer plan of mine to start reading through Morrison's books, yes... not 1st to Last, probably more unsystematic...
Doing a Morrison Reading Club?? Tap in....!
Great piece, Alexander. Thanks. I loved American Tabloid. I'm still about halfway through The Cold Six Thousand but I'm enjoying it. I have no issues with his clipped prose. I just see it as signature Ellroy and, for me, it zips along nicely. Very readable, very rhythmic. Even the use of forward slashes!
Oh I forgot about the forward slashes! He still uses them in the new book but not as often. I just thought Cold Six Thousand was so displacing, so strange, that I didn't fall in love with it until a second reading. I remember thinking, after the first one, "This is the first time I've ever read a genuinely 'Great' novel that was completely ruined by a stylistic decision." Did not know whereof I spoke.
Have you read any of the LA Quartet? Planning on going ahead into Blood's a Rover?
No, I haven't read any of the 1st or 2nd LA Quartet books or Blood's a Rover. I'd love to but—time. There's so many books I want to read, or finish reading but right now I need to plough through a bunch of non-fiction books as research for a novel so, unfortunately, Mr. Ellroy and others will have to take a back seat. He's definitely a fascinating subject for an article though. Good choice!