The Choirboys

Rating:
Summary: An Indispensable Classic of American Literature
Review: "The Choirboys" is not only Joseph Wambaugh's best novel to date; it belongs up on the shelf of modern American classics along with David Mamet, Raymond Chandler, and Joseph Heller. It's just that good and unforgettable. Wambaugh puts everything he knows about being a cop into this novel along with slashing, satirical prose, Vonnegut-like black humor, and a sorrowful humanism to produce a masterpiece.

I mentioned Heller. It's pretty clear that Wambaugh based much of the style and technique of his novel on "Catch-22" but it's an inspired borrowing. There was a flowering of comic literature about the absurdity and cruelty of the world during the 1960's and '70's and Wambaugh was part of it. You can see it in the fragmented way he tells his tale, how piece by piece he leads us on suspensefully to the heart of the story. It's seems there's been a killing in MacArthur Park, but we don't know the details. We gradually meet the choirboys, those cops on the front lines of the new war in the urban free-fire zone. Wambaugh provides a terrifying story for each one of them, along with generous helpings of "Animal House" type humor, until it becomes impossible to distinguish between laughter and screams.

I wonder if this book, with its scorching language about race and sex, could be published in the same form today. "The Choirboys" is, if anything, a triumph of political incorrectness, a plea that candor about our humanity is a primary virtue. You walk away from "The Choirboys" with that indispensable feeling that comes only from great literature; you feel like you have entered the heart and soul, the world, of other human beings.

Rating:
Summary: One of his better books
Review: and better than most about True Crime, but still a collection of "stories cops tell each other." The plot is structured like a Medieval tragedy of revenge--you know what's going to happen at the beginning & have to wait to the end to see it. It isn't a novel; it's a docudrama, because many stories are drawn from headlines. Some have appeared on TV, in various cop shows. Characters are cops the author has known, but, as usual, Waumbaugh is incapable of portraying women, except as tramps or whores, so females are cardboard cutouts. Waumbaugh writes adventure stories for boys, like Hemmingway & Joseph Conrad, but a good adventure can be a good read; this one is. Interesting for its lore, Waumbaugh's confessional references to the Classics, and the experience of watching him learn his craft. And there's a moral: The true danger of police work is that "those who fight monsters must take care not to become monsters."

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best
Review: As a police officer in the Midwest, I was shocked...that a story written over 20 years ago about policemen half a continent away would sound like it was written about us yesterday. The colorful characters seem ripped right out of my squadroom, and incompetent supervisors taken right from our rolls and the calls from the public right off my log sheet!! I shook my head as I sympathized with the characters, their inner demons and outer perils. This book is a MUST read for any police officer in the nation, or anyone who wants a safe look at a policeman's world with the ever present danger they face.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest cop book I've ever read....
Review: Despite what other readers may say about this book being too crude, I am convinced this is by far the most gripping police story ever written. From stories of on the job chaos to the ways these officers "wind down" after work, this book keeps you interested all the way through. Even if you don't usually read police books, I highly recommend that you read this and other Wambaugh novels.

Rating:
Summary: The Choirboys-Best Police Book ever written
Review: From Roscoe Rules making everyone "do the chicken" to Francis Tanaguchi's vampire teeth to Spermwhale Whalen's "blue veiner" and/or "diamond cutter", I believe this is the best and most realistic book about police work I've ever read. I read it when I was a police officer in Southern Calif. in the 1970's, and am now reading it for the second time, about 25 years later. I'm considering using it as a text for a "Human Relations and Social Conflict" class I'm teaching at a Colorado Community College (Criminal Justice Program). I can't imagine a book that better depicts the reality of being a police officer, the crazy and depressing situations that continually arise, and the officer's means of dealing with the problems they encounter daily. Joseph Wambaugh became an icon with this book in my opinion, at least with the police culture in America. My only criticism of the book is that the style is a little narrative at times, but the points are made exceedingly well none-the-less. Every time Roscoe talks about making someone do the chicken, I can't help but laugh, since I used this phrase many times over the years, and only made one person "do the chicken" in 30 years in law enforcement. Great book and well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: choirboys
Review: I am a police officer,I can relate to the stress and problems the choirboys are having.Society has no idea what the inner workings of a police officer are like.This is a great book and I would recommend it for all rookie officers.

Rating:
Summary: acurate protrayal of urban police work
Review: I am a retired police officer who spent over (20) years with an urban PD. This book was right on the mark, relative to city police work in the 1970's. I read the book when it was first released and again recently. It was even better the second time. I highly recommend it as both informative and very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: The Choirboys
Review: I am not a police officer, but I have read most of the author's books. He is a dark writer. There are no heroes in his stories, only losers and whiners. Even the police dogs are not spared; in another of his novels, one gets run over. The Choirboys focuses on L.A. police officers with lots of personal problems and no hope to solve them; one commits suicide. They are portrayed as one-dimensional characters with no life outside of the patrol car or the party hang-out. One good thing, he discredits once and for all the notion of the "John Wayne" model of the policeman in the character of Roscoe Rules. His fictional novels do not promote a positive image of police officers, though, even if they are factual.

Rating:
Summary: The Choirboys
Review: I am not a police officer, but I have read most of the author's books. He is a dark writer. There are no heroes in his stories, only losers and whiners. Even the police dogs are not spared; in another of his novels, one gets run over. The Choirboys focuses on L.A. police officers with lots of personal problems and no hope to solve them; one commits suicide. They are portrayed as one-dimensional characters with no life outside of the patrol car or the party hang-out. One good thing, he discredits once and for all the notion of the "John Wayne" model of the policeman in the character of Roscoe Rules. His fictional novels do not promote a positive image of police officers, though, even if they are factual.

Rating:
Summary: The funniest book I have ever read. Ever!!!!
Review: I could not put down "The Choirboys". I remember reading the book and actually still laughing days later from the material. You learn to love all of Wambaugh's characters from "Roscoe" Rules to "Spermwhale" Whalen. Run, don't walk to the nearest bookstore, library, or you computer and get "The Choirboys". You won't regret it, I promise.