Speaking of Ellroy's style, did anyone else have a hard time
with the Winchell/telegraph style of the The Cold Six
Thousand? I gave up after about 20 pages, it annoyed me so
much.
JAA
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no
more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier
than a sober one ." GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jordan McPeek" <
jordan_mcpeek@yahoo.com> To: <
rara-avis@icomm.ca> Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002
3:56 PM Subject: RARA-AVIS: BECAUSE THE NIGHT
> My son was born just over a year ago, Feb. 15/01. I
just caught up on my
> Rara-Avis this morning. I cut off my other lists and
haven't kept up with
some
> favourite magazines and websites, but, dammit, I've
read all my Rara-Avis
for
> the past three or four years. I figured I'd join the
hordes of lurkers
jumping
> on to the list lately and contribute a few
thoughts.
>
> Recent reads
>
> BECAUSE THE NIGHT by James ELLROY - My, what big
words you have, Grandpa
> Ellroy! The vocabulary, the complex sentences were
impressive, but a
little
> distracting at times, taking me out of the story.
Does Ellroy stand alone
with
> this kind of wordplay overkill? I can't think of
anyone who does it quite
to
> this degree.
> Another minor annoyance: I found the switching POV
between the cop and
his
> quarry jarring. Everytime it switched, I'd be
annoyed for the first few
> paragraphs cause I wanted to keep going with the
previous character. But
then
> I'd get absorbed in the new POV, and carry on until
the next switch.
Minor
> annoyance #3: I knew what the bad guy was up to
because of the POV
switch, but
> had to rehash it all as the cop figured it out. I
suppose this is the
intended
> fun part of a POV switch, but it was just redundant.
Overall, I liked the
> book. At first I figured the bad guy was another
super psycho baddie who
was
> just evil through and through and always was and
will be, but I should've
known
> better (this was my 6th or 7th Ellroy, although 1st
one in a couple
years); the
> baddie's background is explored later in the book,
and all the characters
are
> shown to be severely flawed. All grey; no black and
white. That's what I
> like. I think this really stood out for me because I
went from Robert
Crais'
> Voodoo River straight into this one, and good/evil
is much more clearly
defined
> in that book. Voodoo River is a simpler enjoyable
read with more of a
> by-the-numbers approach. I enjoy _and_ appreciate an
Ellroy much more.
>
> Jordan in Winnipeg
> (not to be confused with Kent from Winnipeg or
Funkmaster Jordan)
>
> Who says it's cold in Canada? I haven't worn my
longjohns in over a week.
> BTW, I really don't like hockey.
>
>
>
__________________________________________________
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> Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic
Games
> http://sports.yahoo.com
> --
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Feb 2002 EST