I completed the Cold Six Thousand, and, after re-reading
Tabloid am now in the throes of re-reading the 6,000 again
(and already getting sick of the, I suppose neccessary,
previously in Underworld USA)... I'll report back when
(and if) I've finished, but I do remember enjoying it less
than Tabloid the first time around, although I charged
through it - another
I like the Ellroy prose style - the gimmick if you
like - of stacatto riffing and repetition, although I think
it demands a completely compelling plot
(which I think was delivered more succesfully in Tabloid than
6,000) and I think
he was working towards it but hadn't perfected it by
the time of White Jazz. I don't think it would be unfair
either to remark that Brit crime writer David Peace (well
worth a look) took a close to uncomforably big leaf from the
Ellroy Style Guide for his Red Riding Quartet - I would have
reccommended his The Damned United here (it's certainly noir)
but sadly it's all about football/soccer (and my team, Leeds
United!) so doesn't really fit on this list, but it's getting
very high praise in this country in a way which I've found
typical of the literary establishment's disdain for crime
fiction - I don't think it has the pace and verve of his
crime writing at all.
To those who say he has a great book in him, to my mind he's
already got it out of him with Tabloid and I very much doubt
he'll top it, I'm already starting to wonder if he might not
have been reigned in a little more editorially for 6,000,
which runs quite long and already seems to move a little
slower in plot terms than Tabloid.
I am waiting for the final part of the trilogy, and
look forward to see what he does next - I half expect the
first Joycean hard boiler. (Please correct me if there's
already been one)
I don't want a pony, but can I have six thousand quid in used
nelsons?
All the best Avians.
Colin.
Join my Church:
www.myspace.com/thereverendspadgedooley
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 12 Dec 2007 EST