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I found the L.A. Confidential book to be good, but I agree, the movie is a deft edit, and makes it stronger. A filmed version of the book, which would have to be a mini-series, would not be nearly as good. The material needs to be taut and it needs to be a story, not an epic, which was what the book aspired to be.
I found the L.A. Confidential book to be good, but I agree, the movie is a deft edit, and makes it stronger. A filmed version of the book, which would have to be a mini-series, would not be nearly as good. The material needs to be taut and it needs to be a story, not an epic, which was what the book aspired to be.
This is very astute but the trouble is, if it's not an epic I'm not nearly as interested. Therefore I prefer the book, which works perfectly well. Clandestine and The Big Nowhere are the two great Ellroy numbers nobody ever talks about. His staccato style sure did become annoying though.
The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's A Rover can be tough reads just because of how much he leans into the staccato style. It seems like he went back to a more "normal" writing style for Perfida and The Storm.
Elloy is an interesting cat. I always wonder how much of his problematic personality is actually him and how much is a schtick.