White Jazz

A challenging read, but a good read nonetheless. His short staccato prose obfuscates at times, but occasionally, like the final group of chapters, it feels like it couldnt have been written any other way.As always, the plot is denser than a bagmans fist and this book bruises like one. The first draft was 600+ pages, but the editor thought it too long. Instead of shaving off plot, he shaved off connecting words and other stuff. This stylist approach left out descriptions and often the innerlife of the character. Those are two mild problems that partially forgivable.My biggest qualm in this novel is the lack of complex characterization of the female characters. The two signjfcant female characters are so minor,and really have no motivations of there and only get swept up in the klein's problems. This wasnt a problem in previous novels, but it is a huge criticism.Overall, the book was a thrilling ride. The deeds are dastardly, and every event was horrendous. The kinda book that makes being bad look so good. Neo noir at its finest.

This is the 4th, and last book in the LA Quartet. Unlike the 2 previous ones it covers one character, Dave Klein's, POV and man is it a ride! Besides him we see Ed Exley and Dudley Smith play major parts, which makes it equally good. Overall a great way to end the quartet, BUT dear readers if you like Pete Bondurant here head to the Underworld Trilogy for more.

The good news--this time Elroy managed to pull off a first person crime novel that remains suspenseful. Too often in books like these, the important clues are waved right in front of the hero, who ignores them even as the reader is screaming at him "You idiot! The author just told you the answer!" First person holds a novel together, so this one seems unified, like "The Black Dalhia". The main problem is that the anti-hero cop is too much anti and not enough hero. He is also a bit of a cold fish, even though he has several love interests. If I were writing it, I would have considered third person, with Ed and Dudley as the other two. Ed and Dudley are much more interesting than the narrator who seems to have been created mainly as a vehicle through which to tell their story. This book wins the "Best description of the sights, sounds and smells of LA c. 1958."I gave this one four stars instead of five, because of the weakness of the characterizations. On the other hand, Ellroy has gotten better at weaving the threads of "Big" novel. If the stories are true and this one really was much longer in its first draft, I think they ought to do a "director's cut" re-release. I would be willing to bet cold hard cash that the cut scenes (if they exist) filled in some of that missing character development, the way that the director's cut of "Stranger in a Strange Land" included more character development. Why do publishers hate character development so much? It is what readers want.

An indescribably awesome work, culminating the quartet that began with The Black Dahlia. Elroy's writing style is distilled and refined to a fine minimalism, like the music of Anton Webern. You must read the preceding books or the density of writing will overwhelm you. Pure cop talk, sentence structure often abandoned.Many characters from The Big Nowhere and LA Confidential, but the central character is Lieutenant Dave Klein, the sole narrator and in first person , a sharp break from the first three of the quartet.I love this book.

After finishing "White Jazz," which is excellent, you can see why Ellroy moved on to a larger canvas. "White Jazz" takes the revenge tragedy about as far as it can go, the telegraphic style is starting to mature, you get a little bit of wrap-up on the main figures of the LA Quartet and we're off to the sublime USA Underworld Trilogy. Love Ellroy, "White Jazz" is a little branch on a great tree.

White Jazz is, like the other three novels in Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet" quite an excellent read. The only snag for some readers will be that White Jazz was either written in a very different, stripped-down style than the three novels that precede it, or at least represents the most extreme form of a style that began to emerge in L.A. Confidential.From what I read, Mr. Ellroy was asked by his publisher to severely shorten L.A. Confidential and, rather than cut out any of the existing plots or subplots, Mr. Ellroy chose instead to eliminate any words that were not absolutely necessary. While the prose in L.A. Confidential did not actually strike me as minimalist, it was immediately evident that the prose in White Jazz was flayed right down to the bone. As an example, instead of seeing dialogue such as "'Police! Stop or we'll shoot!' yelled Stemmons." or prose describing what is going on in any great detail, you get things like "Stemmons: 'Police! Stop or we'll shoot!", "Rap sheet checks: nine outstanding warrants between them," and even "Chaos: blood spray, bet slip/cash confetti."At first it was a bit hard to get the hang of this style, and with character descriptions kept to a minimum (or sometimes not included at all) I found it harder to keep straight who was who in the story. However, it is a testament to Mr. Ellroy's skill in storytelling that once you get used to the style you become so engrossed in the storyline that you no longer notice the missing prose. Needless to say, the style itself also keeps the novel moving at a breakneck pace.This book's style has made me very curious to move into Ellroy's later works if even just to see how it develops as he practices it more.

Typical Ellroy, so entertaining, but story lacked the same tension of the previous books. Just dragged at points, but maybe I'm ellroyed out...