Re: RARA-AVIS: My Top 5


Mark Blumenthal (blumenidiot@21stcentury.net)
Thu, 30 Dec 1999 20:31:02 -0600


From: Paul J. Giguere wrote,

> A lot of people have mentioned James Ellroy. I have never read Ellroy but
> the reason is that a well-read friend told me that the books were
difficult
> to get into because of Ellroy's quirky narration, descriptions of scenes
> are cryptic and hard to follow, and that Ellroy seems more interested in
> style rather than the story.

I've only read his American Tabloid and found more things to dislike than like. If I want a revisionist view of the Kennedy years I would read an account by an unbiased historian not by an avowedly very conservative hb author. It's very hard for me to like a a book whose protagonists and most major characters are morally bereft.

He is an engrossing author. I read the 600+ page book very quickly. He has cute spins such as claiming that that there was nothing between Marilyn Monroe and JFK. It was a rumor spread to keep J Edgar Hoover and the FBI concentrating on that rather than paying attention from what was going on with the Cuban emigres.

I really liked the movie La Confidential so perhaps I should start The Black Dahlia. Mark

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu 30 Dec 1999 - 21:28:16 EST