L.A. Confidential

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Summary: One word to describe L.A. Confidential is GREAT
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. James Ellroy is a genius

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Summary: The most intense book I've ever read
Review: read this..it's ok to listen to the wonderful mr.strathairn...it's a better read. James Ellroy has created the most riveting group of psycho-sexually motivated characters in the history of American crime fiction...long live Dream-a-Dream Land and Moochie Mouse!!

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Summary: A book every bit as vivid and surprising as the film.
Review: I don't usually need to compare a book and its filmed version; the media are so different, and the rules for one won't necessarily work in the other. So it is here, and if you come to this book having loved the movie, be prepared for a heady experience on the same level, but with dramatically different details -- especially in the second half. For one thing, there is a particularly nasty satire of Disney (man and empire), that is tied to a roadbuilder/politician scheme that begs comparison to both Chinatown and Roger Rabbit. (This was wisely excised from the screenplay.) For another, the criminal plot operates at an NC-17 level of brutality and sexual violence. Ellroy is obviously exercising freedoms that his predecessors in this genre couldn't have dreamed of, but unfortunately, it doesn't always serve him well. His machine-gun-fire prose style is less satisfying, as well. Thematically, and in his plotting and characterization, though, Ellroy is as good as anyone in the genre. By comparison, the screenplay is more brilliant as an adaptation, finding the best of this novel, than the book itself is, as an original work. But it is no less satisfying or enjoyable for that. I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Complex, brutal, and unrelenting--a modern crime classic!
Review: Whew! Ellroy is truly untouchable! For some reason I put off reading this book for years, and not until recently did I get around to it. I loved the movie--but the book, good God man! You have to be careful not to get papercuts and bleed all over the pages you turn 'em so fast (although I think that'd be appropriate for this one). I'm glad Vincennes' character was explored more in the book (note: the one instance where the film outdoes the novel is in the case of Vincennes' death--those who've seen the movie know what I mean). I couldn't believe that "Black Dahlia" or "White Jazz" could be topped, but "LA" does it. Ellroy explores nearly every filthy depraved activity a person can do--from drug addiction and alcoholism to extortion, racism, murder, snuff porn (blech), incest, and random beatings. This is all the stuff Chandler, Cain, et. al. could only hint at. All that stuff with Dieterling/Disney was so over the top it was genius! The movie couldn't even hint at the darkest crime that is the heart of the book, so it was dropped altogether-- it's more "horror" than anything Stephen King could ever come up with! A blistering, white-hot read of chilling intensity. Somebody tell Oprah!

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Summary: THE MOVIE IS ONLY OUTDONE BY THE BOOK!
Review: James Ellroy is THE master story-teller of our time. This book takes you on a journey throught the darkest of LA, circa 1950's, underworld. Police corruption, kiddy rapers, hop heads, mutilation, all a very important part of this novel, but the depth in which Ellroy brings you into his characters' psyche is outstanding and unparalled. The movie was excellent, as were the first two books in his LA Quartet, Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere, but LA Confidential is Ellroy's opus. Kudos to the man who adapted this work to a screenplay, I don't know how he did it, but it was excellent. Mr. Ellroy, well done!

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Summary: Longish but worth it......
Review: I have to confess, I read the book after seeing the movie. I wanted to read for myself the backbone of what I thought was the best movie of 1997. Although most of the text translated well to the film, I was a bit shocked at Ellroy's style. He is brash and violent, telling his grim story through the unpleasantness of his characters (of which there are many). I liked the realism of the main charcters, Bud White in particular because of his conviction and determinism. I felt the book dragged on at times, spending lots of pages detailing events over and over again. I was unfamiliar with James Ellroy's work before this but I look forward to reading more in the future. I think his gritty, brutal style takes noir to a new level.

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Summary: Right up there with The Black Dahlia
Review: As impossible as it sounds, L.A. Confidential is actually as good a book as Ellroy's previous Black Dahlia, which is unquestionably a masterwork. Confidential is a sprawling narrative that can only be compared in size and scope with Puzo's The Godfather. The characters are unforgettable, Ed Exley, Jack Vincennes, Bud White, and especially Dudley Smith plumb the depths of human behavior. Ellroy's writing is never less than crisp and clear and original; his "performance" is amazing. As for the movie, there's no higher compliment than to say it's as good as the source material (though considerably pared down). No doubt about it - Ellroy rules.

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Summary: The best crime novel since Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather'.
Review: This book blew my mind when I read it. I had never before read a book of such depth, with such characterisation and plot. The intertwining of the three central characters is mindblowing, as we watch them as their every action is illegal, or at the very least, immoral. This is a book of genius, proving that James Ellroy must go down in history as one of the best writers in modern history and beyond.

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Summary: A Ulysses for the crime genre
Review: How epic is this book? Both the plot and the character development are first-rate and Ellroy writes out of his skin. The fear and the passion simply pour from the first page to the last. There are more twists and turns here than the average rollercoaster. If anything watching the film first adds more twists as things you expect to happen don't. Sinister in the extreme this is more horrific than many of the pat horrors available at the minute. Absolutely compelling.

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Summary: the best after raymond chandler
Review: when I read this book, it was for making just a comparison with the movie that I had found quite involving. What I discovered, instead, was an author with an excellent skill of building fantastic narrative devices and describing the atmosphere of those years. What I've liked most, anyway, was the fact that in the novel there aren't good guys and bad guys, but there're good guys which seem bad and bad guys which seem good. I'll certainly read it again