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Summary: Two novels in one, simply too good to put down!!!
Review: I only wish this book could be published under two different titles, but it seems that this is simply the ambitious generosity of Mr. Ellroy. Det. Danny Upshaw is the most persistent police detective ever created other than Det. Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly. Other characters such as Mal, Dudley and Buzz were also figures that could be developed into very interesting main characters of independent novels. Since I gradually got used to his writing style and enjoyed it greatly, I'm going to read all of Ellroy's books one by one to avoid any regret in my life.
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Summary: Another engrossing page turner from Ellroy
Review: Ellroy has done it again. I stayed up until 4 AM reading The Black Dahlia, and I just finished The Big Nowhere and looked over at the clock. It's 12:45 AM. He did it again!
The story twists and turns and keeps you turning pages; in fact, one of the things Ellroy does best is plant clues carefully throughout the book, so that you can flip back through the pages and trace the development of the mystery and then marvel at the way he ties it all neatly together. Ellroy's characters are all flawed deeply, and that's part of their fascination. You understand why they act they way they do, but you still wish you could warn them not to embark in the directions they choose. And Ellroy's writing! So noir it's pitch black, able to make you chuckle at the outrageous slang and then gasp in suspense.
The Black Dahlia was more compact and more tightly plotted, but The Big Nowhere was completely enjoyable in its greater scope and larger cast of characters. I highly recommend this book to mystery- and thriller-lovers. One final note - although it's not necessary at all, reading The Black Dahlia first will help keep a few references in perspective. Enjoy
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Summary: Not his best, but better than anybody else in the genre.
Review: This is the fourth James Ellroy book I've read (all of them out of sequence, so I already know what happens to some of the main characters). In this story, Ellroy, who seems to know about every bizarre and brutal murder there was, tries to shock, but it sort of wears thin after a while. The story is engaging but overly long. About three quarters of the way through, Ellroy springs a surprise that should bring the story to a screeching halt, but somehow it plausibly goes on to the end. Worth a look, if you've read "The Black Dahlia"
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Summary: A ripping yarn--lots of ripping in fact.
Review: I agree with the reader who felt that the violence was a bit numbing in the "TBN". If there had been just one horrible, wretched murder and a few less dark, twisted chapters from the characters' past then there might have been more (for lack of a better word) AIR for the reader. As it stands, TBN doesn't let anyone off the hook, including the audience; it's all so dense, so teeming with ugliness that the violence no longer "thrills" the reader but just overwhelms--which may in fact be part of Ellroy's art of drawing the reader into the heads of these people he's created. By creating a sensory and information overload in his book, he wills the reader into the book. It's unsettling and disturbing to read these horrible things and feel immune to the awfulness, but it works on some levels. Eventually you find yourself a little removed from the gore--and as he keeps reaching for more and more black dealings, things get further and further away from t! he reader somehow-- sometimes yes, sometimes no. Maybe a little less dirt/mayhem/blood would be fine, but Ellroy, I think, is a writer who believes less is less. So he gives more. Lots more. ("LA Confidential" brims with even more weirdness, believe it or not. I'd rate both that novel and TBN as equals, a step above "The Black Dahlia") The fact is that all the characters have their shady pasts and, on occasion, rise above their pasts and discover better selves--or at least discover the truth about themselves and the crimes in this book.
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Summary: The Big 'Somewhere' out of Ellroy's head
Review: I was debating whether to give this book four or five stars. The only reason being is that the story is pretty complex, a lot more so than The Black Dahlia, but if your the type of reader who can plow through a book in one or two sittings (which I am not) then I'm sure it'll be easier to keep all the charcters and the information fresh in your mind. Although I did have to do a lot of back tracking here and there to feel caught up with all the names and references, I gave it the 'five star benifit of the doubt' because 'what a story' it is! Plus, there is a fine summation of everything and everybody at the very end. I loved 'The Black Dahlia' and this book too and Ellroy certainly kicked it up a notch here. I enjoyed the movie L.A. Confidential and will read it next and I heard DePalma's doing a 'Black Dahlia' movie, but to put 'The Big Nowhere' to film would be very challenging: Communism, the mob, teamsters, the LAPD, the morgue, a pin-up, a pimp, prostitutes and a plastic surgeon, a shrink, crooked cops, taxidermists, nasty four legged creatures, heroin, a homicidal maniac and Howard Hughes. A word of advice, DO NOT read to far into the review pages here because someone gives away a major part of the story in their review. I wish someone idiot-proofed the reviews at Amazon to stop one like that from ruining the story for others. But even though I found out the fate of a certain character, I still was surprised and enjoyed this book entirely.
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Summary: spam reviewer
Review: J. Green "socio-economo-ethnomusicologist" has copied and pasted the same review verbatim for three Ellroy novels ("Scott Turow for the louche set"). While Green may have read one of Ellroy's novels and found it lacking, the review is so bad that it is simply not credible that he or she actually read the other two books reviewed. This amounts to spamming and is not helpful to anyone trying to decide if the books in question are worth reading.
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Summary: even better than Chandler
Review: Along with Black Dahlia, this is my favorite mystery/crime novel of all time. I like it even better than Chandler or Hammet. It has a sense of "truth" to it that other crime novels lack. It has an almost biblical feel to it that is hard to describe, but I think that anyone who reads it will kno what I am talking about.
Just read it! You may be disturbed but you won't be sorry.
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Summary: One of the high points of American crime fiction
Review: James Ellroy's so-called "L.A. Quartet" (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz) is one of the seminal bodies of work in American crime fiction. I have chosen to include a review under "The Big Nowhere" not because I feel it is the best book of the four (L.A. Confidential has a broader scope, takes greater risks, and is more compelling); simply, none of the other books moved me as much as this one did. Danny Upshaw, Mal Considine, and Buzz Meeks are among the most vividly-drawn and complex characters ever found in a crime novel. Despite the glaring character flaws in each one of them, some of which border on repugnance, I still managed to empathize with them completely. Ellroy is an absolute master when it comes to tying characters' actions to their various motivations and desires. This gives his works a depth that goes beyond the mere telling of a story. The ways in which Upshaw, Considine, and Meeks relate to the action--the ways in which they internalize it and bend it to their own specific set of needs--force the reader to take a personal interest in them. They are no longer merely the vehicle to draw the reader into the action, as most "detective" characters are in this genre; instead, each one provides a distinct point of view of the action, shaping it as much as they are shaped by it. Not since Philip Marlowe went to jail for Terry Lennox--and Marlowe's own ideals--has a crime novel so tightly woven plot with character. The story itself is too complicated to do justice in a brief review so I won't even try. The sheer number of subplots and ancillary characters could fill out the entire oeuvre of lesser writers, but Ellroy seamlessly integrates it all into a story that will have you playing the angles long after the book is finished. In fact, a second reading is almost necessary to catch all the nuance. If you're a fan of detective fiction, these books are required reading. Even if you're not, Ellroy is a fine writer on any level. If you're squeamish at all, you should take a pass.
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