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RARA-AVIS: Re: Izzi, Spenser,



> but it does seem to me that even the worst of
> Ellroy's characters generally have some redeeming characteristics,
> something to balance out their bad qualities.

I guess this depends on what you consider redeeming characteristics. I
can't see anything even remotely redeeming about Dudley Smith, for
example. Even Ellroy's protagonists don't strike me as "good", they're
simply "less bad".

>  Even so, I must admit
> to being hard-pressed to explain the appeal of an Ellroy book.  I
> just know that nothing else I've ever read has affected me on such a
> basic, even "visceral" level.  When I'm reading Ellroy, I'm caught
> up in a swirling, pulse-pounding, nail-biting experience, probably
> not too dissimilar to the hazy world his characters move through.

For me this is *exactly* the appeal of Ellroy. It's the same 
attraction I have to Paul Cain and Jim Thompson. The best you can hope
for in their worlds is the lightest shade of gray.
Bill "Not the comedian" Murray
bmurray@voicenet.com
Visit "Hard Boiled" at http://www.voicenet.com/~bmurray/index.html

Guinness is good for you! It give you strength!
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