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Summary: Dig It. A Razor-Sharp Thriller. America Loses Its Innocence
Review: James Ellroy's taut, clipped phrases and lightning fast, head-spinning style is an acquired taste. When I first picked up L.A. Confidential, I hated it. His style just totally turned me off. After a few chapters, I was totally hooked. American Tabloid is more of the same... The book follows three men, Pete Bondurant, Ward Littell, and Kemper Boyd, through a maze of corruption, murder, and narcotics, eventually leading to the order to execute the President of the United States. I've always been interested in the conspiracy theories that surround the assassination of J.F.K., but I've never seen the Cuban/C.I.A./Mafia theory spelled out so thoroughly. The best way to describe reading this book is that it's like looking in a dirty toilet that's being flushed....All this filth is floating at the surface, and as it inexorably gets sucked down, it all mingles together before going down the pipes. The various fictional characters mingle with real-life figures such as J. Edgar Hoover, Jimmy Hoffa, L.B.J., John, Robert, and Joe Kennedy, and Fidel Castro, among others. Everyone in this book is crooked, and it's VERY entertaining watching Ellroy juggle dozens of different subplots and characters, heading them all in totally unexpected directions. A must-read for fans of hard-boiled crime epics. My only beef is the same one I had with L.A. Confidential: L.A. Confidential was the third book in a four book series, and American Tabloid is the follow-up to those books. I still haven't read the other L.A. books, so there were times in Tabloid that I felt that I had missed someting. There is no mention anywhere about the connection to the other books, which makes it hard for a new reader to just jump in.
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Summary: NOT AN UGLY AMERICAN
Review: I "discovered" Ellroy through reading the L.A. quartet, and to be honest I wanted him to stay in that milieu because it was so dazzlingly entertaining to vicariously live there through his many characters (Dave Klein, Danny Upshaw, Ed Exley, Bud White, Buzz Meeks, Mal Considine, Bucky Bleikert, et al I miss ya!!!)
So with some reservation I ventured into the "political/historical" musings of Mr. Ellroy....and darn it if he doesn't have me hooked. NOW I really do admire the sheer talent of this brilliant, twisted, crazy spinner of yarns. Let's not even attempt to do a plot overview here (this is an Ellroy book after all) all you need to know are JFK, RFK, J. Edgar Hoover, Hoffa, The CIA, The OUTFIT, Cuba, Howard Hughes and a country definig moment for the late 20th Century... In the midst of it all is a brutal henchman Pete Bondurant and two of the most morally compromised G-Men ever put on paper, Ward Littell and Kemper Boyd. Pete Bondurant the monster who shields his heart with violence, Kemper Boyd Dr. Frankstein and Ward Littell his creation.
James Ellroy opens the book stating that America never really had an "innocence" to lose. How could you lose something you didn't have at inception, he states, and this book will make you whole-heartedly agree. James Ellroy is after bigger game with this book and is a less pretentious version of books like LIBRA, which this is being compared to.
The spare, slick, stylized prose remains. The complex threads of plot: still there. Unforgettable characters with shifting allegiances: check. What's new? Well he may have left L.A. as a setting, but his themes of barely redeemable evil, ethical compromise for survival, and the razor thin separation between the low-life and higher levels of society still resonate...all I can say is MORE JAMES ELLROY, MORE!!!!
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Summary: Ellroy has grown up...
Review: Reading all the reviews about this book is quite repetitive : everyone seems to consider Ellroy as a cute story-teller with complicated but breathtaking plots. I have even read that American Tabloid was a good MTV thriller !!!
Well, one cannot understand Ellroy without having read some of his major books and especially my dark places, his most personnal work. Ellroy is a story-teller, that's a fact, but whereas America has a bunch of story tellers, it only has one Ellroy. His style is unique and exhilarating and American tabloid is probably the best example of his talented writing. Read it and be prepared to have no sleep for a while. This book, whose plot is inspired by FBI files recently made public, is hard to appreciate because it is mature, tenseful, nervous and also so very dark. That's the way Ellroy is and that's the way he is, as far as I'm concerned, one of America's greatest talents in writing.
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Summary: genius. sheer genius.
Review: First things first - Ellroy is not an easy read. His writing is so sharp and his plots are so tangled that a mere chapter or two can send your head reeling. And 'American Tabloid' is Ellroy at his most quintessential Ellroy-esque. Ultra-short sentences. Over-the-top violence. Hard-boiled that's diamond-hard and definitely hardcore... (can't believe I just used the word 'hardcore'...) But if you are willing to take the leap, you will be hooked. This book is so compelling and pulse-pounding, so rich with tiny details (the quirks of the reclusive Howard Hughes), teeming with interesting-yet-flawed characters, so *epic* that I have trouble remembering how history actually happened... This is easily one of the best books I've read and while I don't read as much as I used to, I would still consider myself a semi-avid reader. Oh, sure, it might not be highbrow literature, but as pop-culture/pop-fiction goes, it doesn't get better than this... (if you're new to Ellroy, you might want to start with 'Black Dahlia...' - like any true artist/auteur, he has such an unique sense of style/outlook that it takes some getting used to.)
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Summary: Possibly Ellroy's masterpiece
Review: Where, oh where, is James Ellroy's Pulitzer Prize? His novels are consistently among the most complex, imaginative, literate and lyical works of today's North American authors. They are also among the most violent and profane, which I suppose is the main reason for his exclusion. Despite being the equal, if not the superior to past winers such as Carol Shields, Michael Chabon, E. Annie Proulx et al., Ellroy never makes the cut. Could it be because 'crime novels' are not the stuff of serious literature? Perhaps, but Ellroy is not deserving of such criticism. His writings are, like the best authors, an entirely new form of novel, and AMERICAN TABLOID is no different. TABLOID takes Ellroy's fondness for mixing historical figures and events with fictional ones to delirious new heights. Departing, but only slightly, from his usual criminal turf, TABLOID is centred in the political arena, or rather, behind it. His stable of characters circle around three main protagonists (a similar concoction in many of his books); Kemper Boyd, slick FBI agent who covers all the angles; Ward Littell, a lesser FBI agent with hidden reserves of strength and duplicity; and Pete Bondurant, an enforcer of monstrous proportions and talents. Ellroy crafts these three men as integral backstage elements in major American political events, including the rise of the Kennedys, the Bay of Pigs debacle, and the constant interplay between the Teamsters and the Mafia. Ellroy doesn't shy away from including historical figures as key players, interweaving JFK, Jimmy Hoffa, J. Edgar Hoover and Howard Hughes into the scheme, none of them in a flattering light. As in his L.A. QUARTET of crime novels, Ellroy bases almost every decision and action of his characters on variations on the constant human themes of greed and lust. Hoover's lust for power, Hughes lust for money and drugs, and JFK's lust; all are present, and presented without sentimentality or apology. Ellroy may have faced criticism for his taking liberties with events and motivations, but there's no denying he writes like gangbusters. This may not be historicaly true (but then, who can say?), but it reads true: Ellroy understands his characters, because they are his. This may not be the iconic John F. Kennedy, but it cannot be denied that Ellroy's reimagining of Kennedy is brilliant. And his J. Edgar Hoover proves to be one of the true villains of American history, an Iago to Kennedy's Othello. It is in Ellroy's three 'heroes' (if there is such a thing in an Ellroy novel) that he truly shines. Boyd is a marvel, playing all sides against each other for his own selfish motivations of power. His slickness is matched only by his growing love for the Kennedys themselves. Littell is perhaps the strongest character, growing from a rather spineless agent into a continually surprising force of power. But it is Bondurant that Ellroy ultimately sympathizes with. Ellroy has always been attracted to the bruiser with brains (see Bud White in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL), and while Boyd and Littell each provide moments of empathy and passion, Bondurant provides Ellroy with TABLOID's battered heart. This is all the more surprising when the reader realizes that Bondurant is one of Ellroy's most frightening creations, a massive French-Canadian killer with more connections and resources than most police forces. Like the best novelists, Ellroy reshapes the genre into his own image. The sharp syncopation of the prose is hard-boiled fiction to the nth degree, and the effect of reading it is like a slap to the face. Yet, in its explosive violence and rampant profanity, it is as poetic and memorable as, say, E. Annie Proulx's wondrously lush recreation of the Newfoundland coast in THE SHIPPING NEWS. His Minotaur's maze of a plot, and multifaceted characters, are an equal match for Larry McMurtry's LONESOME DOVE. (Ellroy's plots are sometimes so convoluted that even he gets confused, using large maps of every character and their connections to each other to keep things straight.) But Ellroy's Pulitzer remains out of reach. He must remain content with criminal and mystery awards, which allow for recognition of his work, but deny him the true acceptance he so richly deserves. Ellroy is one of the best novelists working today; no other hyperbole is necessary. And AMERICAN TABLOID could be his masterpiece.
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Summary: James Ellroy and the Secret History of America
Review: There are no Heros. There are no Good Guys. All motives are ulterior. All men are Hard Boiled or Weak Sisters. The closest thing to honor is knowing who not to cross. This through the unique literary voice of James Ellroy is our America. In "American Tabloid" Ellroy tells the "real" story of the Bay of Pigs, Organized Crime, Howard Hughes, and how they intertwine. His mixture of historical fact, fiction, and Conspiracy theory, delivered in short machine gun bursts of prose, make for compulsive reading. The book is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended (think incredibly politically incorrect).
But I highly reccomend American Tabloid for the brave reader looking for mix of Hemmingway and Jim Thompson.
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Summary: Worth the time
Review: There is more in this novel than ammunition for conspiracy theorists or cynics. Ellroy's fast-paced prose delivers a TKO to the heart of the Kennedy Camelot empire. The work takes on a simple theme -- the thurst for power and money --- but at the pen of Ellroy, it is transformed into the complex web of watch-your-back, whose-side-are-you-on politics. At times shady and tragic characters like Kemper, Pete and Ward provide an inside into a 1960s America few "mainstream" historians would prefer not dip their toes. Although I am not in a position to completely dissect factually the plot Ellroy lays out, the work is so convincing that it is seems implausible to simply brush it off as conspiracy garble. This is my first Ellroy novel, and I can't wait to read A Cold Six-Thousand.
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Summary: history book substitute
Review: The book is not bad even though it's boring sometimes. I prefer to learn the history from the fiction books than from non-fiction and then look up additional facts in the encyclopedia.
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Summary: Best novel i've read in years
Review: I'll keep my review simple. This book was one of the best novels i've ever read, definitely in my Top 5. I'm also a big modern american history buff, so that might be one reason why. If you are into recent american history you HAVE to read this book; it is a very interesting theory on what happend w/JFK. I read this sucker in one day, that's how engrossed i was by it. When i finished it, i was yearning for more. Can't wait to read the Cold six thousand.
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Summary: Dig it: One little slip
Review: Here's the thing. I tried to read the book years ago and couldn't get through it. I picked it up again last month and now all I want is more, more, more. However, Mr. Ellroy and his editors should consult a dictionary about the use of the word "insure" because they're incorrectly using that word throughout the book. He should be using the word "ensure." Insure means to buy insurance for something or someone; ensure means to make certain of something. Since there are no insurance salesmen in this book, ensure ought to have been used but wasn't. Someone this bright shouldn't be tripped up by a small thing but there you go. Happens to the best of us.
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