> It's after Mayday and is anyone doing _Hollywood
Nocturnes_? Wife
snagged
> the book first and wouldn't let me at it till she
finished, so I've only
> read through the long, long "Dick Contino's
Blues."
>
> My first reaction was whatthehell?
>
> Second, reaction: ok, a series of riffs, a jam of
different instrumental
> styles. But too long for what he's doing! Going
through a black humor
> phase, maybe: reading Ishmael Reed (_Mumbo Jumbo_ ),
trying to write like
> Thomas Pynchon. Some of it ok, but much of it very
thin stream of
> consciousness stuff. Goes through your system fast.
Written fast, I'd
> guess. And this is 1/3rd of the book!
>
> A little negativity to kick things off.
I haven't read any of Ellroy's novels yet, so maybe some of
you who have
can answer this question. Is his style in "Dick Contino's
Blues" the same
as he uses in _White Jazz_? I've heard a lot of comments
about the
stripped-down style in that book.
I've read all the stories in _Hollywood Nocturnes_ and liked
the older ones
better, although I enjoyed "Dick Contino's Blues", too. I
thought the
ending was awfully rushed, as was also the case in "High
Darktown" (I'm
still not sure exactly what happened in the end of that
story) and "Dial
Axminster 6-400". "Since I Don't Have You" was my favorite
story in the
book. I liked Buzz Meeks (isn't he in one of the novels?),
and this story
has one of the finest final lines I've ever read. I have
*got* to read
those LA Quartet novels. I have the first three, still
looking for _White
Jazz_.
James Reasoner
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