My Dark Places

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Summary: James Ellroy reveals real courage in this true life work!!!
Review: I waited until I read all of Ellroy's excellent noir novels, before I read My Dark Places. An autobiographical book detailing Ellroy's troubled life after learning of his mother's murder. This event begining Ellroy's decent into a very troubled life which he shares for his readers in all of its dark, painful, obsessions. I give Ellroy much credit for opening up his life to strangers. It is a rough painful life, but worth reading about. And equally important told to his readers without any apologies or excuses. In this age of looking for someone to blame, Ellroy's book is in many ways refreshing. Ellroy has opened the door of his life to the public in a way few people ever do. All I would say to his sharp critics is, Do you have the courage to reveal you own horrors and obsessions the way Ellroy has? Ellroy has his "dark places". I have mine. Don't you?

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Summary: An emotional, gut-wrenching book - it's NOT for everyone.
Review: I can't say this is a book that I "enjoyed," but I am infinitely glad I read it. I don't think it's a book you can really get pure "enjoyment" out of. It is much darker than any of his other works and left me feeling unfulfilled at the end, simply because of the hopelessness of the invesigation. I cried at one point because of the futility of his search. It's emotionally trying - Ellroy challenges readers to try to understand his obsessions and his personal demons. I think this book is only for the true Ellroy fan. For others, his self-revelations might be repulsive.

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Summary: Distasteful and wholly uninspiring
Review: Somebody bring me some water. I have just finished My Dark Places and need to gargle. Ellroy could not have portrayed himself any more convincingly as the author I would LEAST like to meet. From his choice of words and awkwardly- placed profanities, to his tacky pride and conceited name change, he doesn't seem to have evolved much in character since as a 10-year old he lapped up his father's propaganda about his mother. Poor dear Geneva - your son has disgraced you in the interests of his own 'success'. Poor Aunt Leoda - little Leroy never learned respect. In future books, I hope Leroy, I mean James, strives for better content, nobler content, white orchids. Let all the redheads rest in peace.

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Summary: Disgusting, foul and obscene
Review: The most depressing,horrible book I have ever read. I would not have continued it after the first 50 pages if it had not been the selection for the local book club. If you ever have the chance DON'T READ IT! It is a true crime/detective story about the murder of his mother and contains many disgusting, foul and obscene parts. It is truly amazing that with the many evil, black (not just dark) thoughts James Ellroy has/had about his mother and other murdered women in the L.A. area that he did not turn into a serial murderer himself. The only enlightening thing about the book is the question of how many other boys reading "true crime" books will accept his dark thoughts and evil suggestions as normal and be pushed into a private life as perverted as the one James Ellroy describes as his own. I do NOT recommend this book to anyone!

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Summary: An upsetting Read
Review: My Dark Places is one of the most compelling books I have ever read. It is also very upsetting, as would be witnessing an act of gruesome violence or a terrible crash. I do recommend it, not least for the light it casts on other Ellroy books, but you should keep it for a time in your life when you can afford a sleepless night or two. I lent it to my business partner and he almost fired some of our workers so upset was he while reading it.Buried within the book is also a fascinating exposé of the settling of some outer L.A. suburbs.

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Summary: Herman Melville would have loved Ellroy's "My Dark Places".
Review: This is not a book about Ellroy's attempt to find his mother's killer. No more so than MOBY DICK is about one man's futile attempt to catch a white whale. This book is about a search which will never end, even if the murderer is some day discovered. This is a book about self discovery. It is an incredible introduction to the tedious, relentless and passionate process of discovering who this woman was, and who James Ellroy is. MY DARK PLACES is the MOBY DICK of the nineties. The LAPD is our Ahab. Ellroy is our Ishamel.

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Summary: Brutally Honest Hardboiled Look at Author's Dark Places
Review: My Dark Places is James Ellroy's fascinating and dark look at his relationship with his mother who was murdered when the author was 10. Leaving nothing to the imagination and writing in the same style he has used in his previous fiction works, Ellroy treats us to a fascinating if sometimes macabre look at his personal life following the death of his mother. Ellroy's mother was strangled and left near his home in El Monte when the author was 10. Ellroy uses this book to talk about the feelings he had as a child, his behavior after, and his search as an adult for the killer of his mother. Through his search, he gets in touch with all the forbidden feelings he's had locked up inside for many years. Few authors would dare to write what Ellroy has here, revealing a combination of feelings which few of us would ever even admit to having for our parents. This remarkable book also shows the redemptive nature of getting in touch with those feelings leaving his soul to bare for the world to see. Compelling.

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Summary: Time to stop the search.
Review: "My Dark Places" is about James Ellroy's search for the person who murdered his mother in 1958. The first half of the book is interesting and as well-written as any of Ellroy's novels. It deals with the circumstances of his mother's murder, his troubled adolescence, and background on his search partner, former cop Bill Stoner. The second half, which details Ellroy and Stoner's investigation, is tedious and gets nowhere. I think it's time for Ellroy to stop the search, forget about Mom, and get on with something else (like the cold war machinations of "American Tabloid")

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Summary: Ellroy's Downward Spiral Worth the Descent
Review: James Ellroy's "My Dark Places" is unlike anything I have ever read before. This true life account of Ellroy's investigation into his mother's murder nearly 30 years ago is as raw a confessional as one is likely to encounter. His depiction of the impact of his mother's slaying on his own life and the resultant inferno-like descent makes for riveting reading, though not for those who are easily offended. This is noir as bottomless pit. You don't just scrape your knuckles going down, but the understanding you're likely to garner is well worth the bruises

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Summary: Very Very PRIVATE Piece Of Obsession
Review: James Ellroy,an extremely original noir writer,has been obsessed by dead women.And in "My Dark Places",he finally drew ultimate "dead woman" to him--Geneva Ellroy,murdered 1958,his mother. You must be electrified and stupefied when you finished reading this. The style is less crazed than "White Jazz",though,it is totally dead-pan,even in describing his own mother's death scene. But it is not mere dry prose,there pulsing under the cold narrative,a repressed emotion that can be expressed only through such a thingistic style. In Part 4,Ellroy and a ex-detective investigate the murder of Geveva. Ellroy's pen gets really paranoiac.He reports EVERYTHING. Every store he went,every suspect they found not guilty,every telephone reporting fake information. Do they have any significance? Nothing. No evidence can be found in them. But this meaningless enumeration perfectly expresses Ellroy's craazed love toward his mother. This work must be very very private one. Never a mere memoir. This is a report on Ellroy's psychotherapy on himself,a private letter to his mother wrote in burning curse and extreme love.Reconstructing the trail of mother's life,Ellroy desparately struggles to get mother's real image. Somwhat rough piece,but a dark vibration would hit you,an indescribable force clearly dominates on every single page