Re: RARA-AVIS: Ellroy's "Contino"

Upliftr (Upliftr@aol.com)
Tue, 5 May 1998 03:13:10 EDT Read "Dick Contino's Blues" four years ago in Granta's Winter '94 issue on
Crime. My first exposure to both Ellroy and Granta. Just blew my mind. Bill
Hagen's musical analogy is apt--a series of riffs; a jam session, drum rolls
and all.
Made me go out and buy "White Jazz", as well as zubscribe to Granta.
In "White Jazz" I was a little disappointed--the prose was too loud. It
overwhelmed the facts of the story. Maybe I was too distracted to give it the
time it needed. Anyway, it's definitely not something you can just pick up and
read for ten minutes while sitting on the throne.
Granta, on the other hand, was bliss. I've been reading ever since. It's not
always noir, but hey--there's more colors in the world than black.
Back to Ellroy, I think the purest way to 'get' him is to hear him read it.
Once heard him read the first chapter of "American Tabloid" and it rocked.
Made white hot sense.

Anthony Britto.

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