The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
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Book Reviews of The Big Nowhere
Book Review: One of the high points of American crime fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
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 moves me as much as this one does.
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 manage 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.
Book Review: The Big 'Somewhere' out of Ellroy's head
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Book Review: Diogenes: don't bother with LA
Summary: 5 Stars
There are no heroes. Men may do good, but they aren't "good-guys". Riveting in its style, The Big Nowhere will leave you breathless, running at full steam until the last page. I find this difficult to recommend to anyone under the age of 30 whose native language is not American English. Ellroy writes as if he were in the 1950s: this is not any story which could be put in 1950 as easily as 2050. This story is the 1950s. The style and the content are beautifully anachronistic.
The plot is intricate and convoluted. You tell yourself: this must all be connected... musn't it?
Murder and mayhem clutch again at the heart of the City of Angels: labor unions, Communists and Hollywood.
Young aspiring LA County detective Upshaw, who thrives on the newly emerging science of forensics, is the only person interested in investigating a bizzare murder. DA Elis Lowe, is capitalizing on persecuting Communism in order to win greater political power. LAPD Lt Considine signs on to the quest for Commies to win public acclaim to try to gain custody of his son. LAPD Lt. Smith is out for number one.
Omnipresent in the background is the union dissent, movie making, mob violence, drug trafficking, and violence.
James Ellroy's writing is so potently real, it will leave you realizing why such cotton-candy fluff as "Leave It to Beaver" was so popular 50 years ago, as a necessary escape from the reality surrounding LA and Hollywood.
Book Review: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Summary: 5 Stars
'The Big Nowhere' is my personal favorite Ellroy novel. As in the epic 'L.A. Confidential', the book's tortuous plotlines follow three cops tortured by their obsessions, converging in a dark night of the soul like no other in American literature.
The miracle of this book is that it is an intensely moral drama. Danny Upshaw is one of the most tragic and driven characters in modern literature. But not even Danny is as ironically fascinating as Buzz Meeks. Buzz is as corrupt as they come, but there is a glimmer of goodness in him that brightens to a terrible fire. His fate lies just around the corner in the prologue to 'L.A. Confidential.' Mal Considine's obsessions were born in the liberation of the death camps after the war, and he is indelibly marked by the horror. His one grasp at goodness is something (someone) that is always just beyond his reach.
I won't give anything up. The action is a series of plots centered around each of these three men. The plots converge into an unspeakable horror. But the horror of wanton crime is only a reflection of the horror within the darkest reaches of the soul. in 'The Big Nowhere', Ellroy does what Auden prescribed in his great poem "September 1, 1939:" in the depths of the darkness, and without sentimentality or pity, he nonetheless "shows an affirming flame."
Book Review: Excellent Crime Story
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Big Nowhere" is a gripping novel about crime and human frailty. The characterizations are very well done. James Ellroy is an excellent writer, he captures people so well it's like these characters were actually alive. Also, it is interesting when he mixes fictional and non fiction characters together, at times it tough to tell who was real. The year is 1950 and location is Los Angeles California. Ellroy's world is full of hop-heads, Jazz musicians, cops on the take, fixers, bag-men, nickel and dime crooks. The plot is too complicated to sum up in a simple paragraph. So suffice it to say that it is about detective trying to solve a "queer" murder, while having to contend with an unbelievable amount of baggage. It's also about the Los Angeles D. A.'s department trying to indict the local communist party. Additionally, it's about a hundred different things all going on at once. The three main characters struggle with communism, homosexuality, infidelity, substance abuse, greed and love. Ellroy creates characters that are believable and seem real.
Ellroy's California is the back-drop of "The Big Nowhere" but the story is so well written that this book could have taken place in a space colony on Mars and it would have worked. I recommend this for crime buffs, nostalgia enthusiasts, or mystery readers.