To say The Big Nowhere is not as good as American Tabloid is like saying Donnie Brasco isn’t as good as The Godfather. Nowhere is far from bad, it’s just difficult to be anywhere near as good as one of the greatest novels ever written.
Coming off as a sub-par L.A. Confidential, The Big Nowhere was the first book in Ellroy’s world that utilised the three-pronged approach of merging three separate characters and story threads and funnel them into one labyrinth narrative. Events that seem innocuous to start become significant and as the revelations begin, the bigger picture, in true Ellroy fashion, is shocking.
However, in being his first foray into the triple narrative he has become known for, at times the juggling of the separate threads seems messy, and in cramming so much into such a short page count (in comes in at about 450), it is easy to get lost in the wealth of plot, which I did, frequently.
But Ellroy really knows how so tell a complex and compelling yarn and despite my problems with The Big Nowhere, it still remains compelling and shows Ellroy’s flair for street vernacular and a pessimistic, albeit, moral world view (the first truly decent character I’ve experienced in his works ends up dead in a rather gruesome manner). If something of this quality turns out to be his worst book, I cannot wait to delve further into his world.
4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment