I used to be a huge Ellroy fan, picked up his original
paperbacks and have read him in order. I prefer the Lloyd
Hopkins books, but I can see why fans rave about the LA
Quartet. I like those a lot, too. I particularly like that
none of his characters are purely good or purely evil (with
the possible exception of Dudley), that they are all morally
complex. I even liked it when he began his scat-writing with
White Jazz. So my growing problem with Ellroy doesn't seem to
fall along the lines of most of his other detractors.
Basically, I have become bored with him and his schtick. Of
course, this is most apparent in his public persona, but it
increasingly saturates the books. I made it through American
Tabloid, just barely, on the wave of his writing style,
definitely not the content; it begs comparison with DeLillo's
Libra, but doesn't come close. In addition, I am wary of
Ellroy's revisionist history. Plus I am increasingly
convinced he sets his books in the past so he can explain
away obnoxious racial and sexual views by glibly stating, It
was the times. Well, who chose to repeatedly set his books in
those times? Finally, that writing style that was so
refreshing in White Jazz has gotten stale, is now mere style,
no longer so tied to content.
And then there's My Dark Places. Don't get me wrong, I found
the book fascinating, but mostly for its attempt to
reconstruct an old crime. I certainly feel for Ellroy's
losing his mother that way, but I'm getting tired of hearing
about it if he's not going to add anything new. There is no
reason at all why he should be expected to confront his
private feelings in public, except that's what he's promised.
The book offers no more incite than the GQ article on the
subject or half of his interviews.
I'm really not sure if I'm going to bother with his next
book.
As for Vicki Henderson, loved Miami Purity, but I haven't
read Iguana Love.
Mark
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