Brown's Requiem

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but still a very good book
Review: This is a story of the low-lifes of LA, the white trash doing whatever they can to get a few dollars. The low-life character is not built upon their low finacial status or their academic unability, but rather on their non-existing ethics. This, I think, is one of the major contributions Ellroy has made for the crime novel in our times. Crime and crime-solving are not the works of good samaritans, but rather scrupulous anti-christs, wheter it's the early 1980's (as in Brown's requiem) or the post-war era (as in the LA Quartet). This is why Ellroy is, in my point of view, the master of his genre. If you consider the fact that Brown's Requiem was his first novel, and that the book didn't turn out exactly as he planned, then you have to admire him, since the book is very good. OK, it couldn't qualify into the LA Quartet, but still. If you've read every book from the Black Dahlia and forwards and are thinking about reading works from other authors, don't, because this novel is in its structure a lot like those marvellous books and therefor an excellent choice for Ellroy fans. If you haven't read an Ellroy-book before, I suggest that you'd start with this one (Brown's Requiem) and thus giving yourself a concrete foundation and a greater reading experiece when going on to read the LA Quartet.

Rating:
Summary: Ahhh, the old days...
Review: This is pre-LA Quartet for Ellroy. Back before he found his beat-poet 'style'. Brown's Requiem, Clandestine, and Killer on the Road are just great books by a fledgling author. If you like his characterization, scene stylings, or dialog from LA Confidential or American Tabloid, but aren't crazy about the prose, check this one out.

Rating:
Summary: Ahhh, the old days...
Review: This is pre-LA Quartet for Ellroy. Back before he found his beat-poet 'style'. Brown's Requiem, Clandestine, and Killer on the Road are just great books by a fledgling author. If you like his characterization, scene stylings, or dialog from LA Confidential or American Tabloid, but aren't crazy about the prose, check this one out.

Rating:
Summary: solid crime novel but not his best
Review: This was Ellroy's first published novel. It's a good, solid crime novel. It's mostly in the tradition of his predecessors like Chandler and Hammett, but some of his future trademarks are there, like the seedy anti-hero who eventually discovers and follows his own moral imperative. It's a bit bumpy in spots, and sometimes the plot falls into place a bit too neatly, but it's a good read. It's not nearly as amazing as the L.A. Quartet or American Tabloid, all brilliant books for which he has become justifiably famous. I read this after reading those (as well as My Dark Places and Crime Wave). Had I read this first, I would have been shocked by his later work. Maybe The Black Dahlia is a better place to start for the Ellroy novice.. This one seems almost quaint in comparison.

Rating:
Summary: I still like more the LA Quartet
Review: Well, I must say that though I adore Ellroy's books, specially the called LA Quartet,but this book has dissapointed me. It has some good moments, but it isn't enough to the boring plot. Anyway, if u like golf stories and crime combined, it will be a very good choice, it's just that golf ís not my sport.