C
Picking up where the L.A. Quartet left off, the brutal and unapologetically true-to-the-times (read: very racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc.) world of James Ellroy's "unofficial history" expands from 1950s Los Angeles to the entire USA during the early 60s and even crosses the border into Central America in his biggest book up to this point in his career. The three POV structure makes a return, but this time with even more of the staccato prose that ramped up in White Jazz. Large sections of the book are dedicated to fictional news articles, headlines, wiretap recordings, and memos as we follow the protagonists' Forrest Gump-esque journey through JFK's rise to presidency right up to the moment the killing shots rang out in Dallas. Major historical figures play a much bigger role in the story this time around, and none of them come out clean. Frankly, I'm surprised the estates of the figures in this book allowed it to be published.
The three "heroes" of this story are probably the most sociopathic POVs we've gotten in the Ellroy-verse, and none of them are on the path of redemption. Pete Bondurant is a brutal fixer for a hopped up Howard Hughes, Kemper Boyd is a conniving triple agent always looking to climb the ladder of power between his FBI and CIA connections, and weak-willed Ward Littell is the only one of them with a conscience that is quickly eroded as he continually fails to bring the real criminals to justice. Despite being the most despicable POV characters yet, it was hard not to get heavily invested in their schemes. As they unravel, so do their reputations, mental state, and morals. This is probably my favorite trio to follow since The Big Nowhere.
Much like his previous works, this is a very dense plot. Every page, every sentence, every word is advancing it at light speed. It's quite an impressive feat considering that this is longer than the longest Quartet book by ~100 pages. The biggest shift in American Tabloid's story structure compared to the previous series is that there isn't a singular crime or mystery tying these characters together. Instead it's a series of crimes, mostly committed by said characters, that lead them to being involved in Kennedy's election, Bobby's crusade against Jimmy Hoffa and The Chicago Outfit, The Bay of Pigs, the CIA sanctioned mafia hit on Castro (yes that is "allegedly" a real thing), and ultimately the JFK assassination. Knowing the history of the era certainly makes things easier to follow, but somehow it's all just coherent enough on its own.
Picking up where the L.A. Quartet left off, the brutal and unapologetically true-to-the-times (read: very racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc.) world of James Ellroy's "unofficial history" expands from 1950s Los Angeles to the entire USA during the early 60s and even crosses the border into Central America in his biggest book up to this point in his career. The three POV structure makes a return, but this time with even more of the staccato prose that ramped up in White Jazz. Large sections of the book are dedicated to fictional news articles, headlines, wiretap recordings, and memos as we follow the protagonists' Forrest Gump-esque journey through JFK's rise to presidency right up to the moment the killing shots rang out in Dallas. Major historical figures play a much bigger role in the story this time around, and none of them come out clean. Frankly, I'm surprised the estates of the figures in this book allowed it to be published.
The three "heroes" of this story are probably the most sociopathic POVs we've gotten in the Ellroy-verse, and none of them are on the path of redemption. Pete Bondurant is a brutal fixer for a hopped up Howard Hughes, Kemper Boyd is a conniving triple agent always looking to climb the ladder of power between his FBI and CIA connections, and weak-willed Ward Littell is the only one of them with a conscience that is quickly eroded as he continually fails to bring the real criminals to justice. Despite being the most despicable POV characters yet, it was hard not to get heavily invested in their schemes. As they unravel, so do their reputations, mental state, and morals. This is probably my favorite trio to follow since The Big Nowhere.
Much like his previous works, this is a very dense plot. Every page, every sentence, every word is advancing it at light speed. It's quite an impressive feat considering that this is longer than the longest Quartet book by ~100 pages. The biggest shift in American Tabloid's story structure compared to the previous series is that there isn't a singular crime or mystery tying these characters together. Instead it's a series of crimes, mostly committed by said characters, that lead them to being involved in Kennedy's election, Bobby's crusade against Jimmy Hoffa and The Chicago Outfit, The Bay of Pigs, the CIA sanctioned mafia hit on Castro (yes that is "allegedly" a real thing), and ultimately the JFK assassination. Knowing the history of the era certainly makes things easier to follow, but somehow it's all just coherent enough on its own.