Ellroy = Cold Six Thousand

I'd say: Dunno. Not read. Look quizzical. Thoughts Stu?

Bored already. Might be a good story. Style seems forced. Can't see the point. Example (guy describing his dad): Wayne laid out Wayne Senior. He ran a kitchen-help union. He rigged low pay. He had coin. He had pull. He pushed right-wing tracts. He hobnobbed with fats cats. He knew J. Edgar Hoover. This continues for 670-odd pages. Think I need a drink.

See point. Whittling fun. Though whittling isn't fun. If you run out of stick. See what I mean?

I've read it. It helps if you've read American Tabloid, a much better book I think. Cold 6000 is the sequel. It will help with the story, but it will not help with the style. It takes getting used to, and I'm not sure I ever did get used to it. It's like being on a bumpy train ride. On the other hand, some people really love it. I think 2-3 pages is not enough.. keep going for a while. And if you want, read my review of American Tabloid. http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=9831 which also mentions Cold 6000 in passing. I met Ellroy once. He's about what you would expect, though he's much more subdued in person than on TV (these things are relative).

i agree with justin, american tabloid is a good thing to read pre cold 6000 but the ultimate ellroy imho would be black dahlia, a brilliant book... and i was reading today that someone claimed to have solved the original black dahlia murder, it was the son of the alleged killer, who found certain incriminating documents after his father's death... haven't got a link, i think it was in today's independent...

I think it's in a book just published this month: Black Dahlia Avenger.

cheers justyn, ellroy's book "my dark places", is similar, but a more personal journey for him, the mysterious slaying of his own mother... also worth a look at...

Yes, I've read "my dark places." In fact, when I met Ellroy, it was at a book signing in Amsterdam. No one was paying attention to him, except the girlies from the publisher, so I walked up. I was still a good 15 feet away when he plunged forward, hand extended, obviously desperate to talk to someone, and he almost jumped when he realized I'm an American. So...after chatting a while, and figuring out that we lived about 1 mile from each other at one point in the late 80s and early 90s, I asked him: So, which one is your favorite? Immediately, no hesitation whatsoever, he began tapping furiously on My Dark Places, saying: "THIS one! It's about MY LIFE!!" Whoa, I thought, no ego there, eh? He surely noticed the look of despair on my face, and then tapped furiously on American Tabloid, saying: "And of the novels, THIS ONE!!" TAPTAPTAP So I bought them both and got them autographed. No doubt this will forever remain my sole moment of fame in the literary world. At least I had my day in the sun.

You either like it or you don't. I do. Love all of Ellroy's stuff - and especially loved Cold 6000. I find it easy to read. Maybe I think in short little bursts. I agree. Read some others first and then come to it. Have you tried Bukowski? He's even more minimalist.

Yeah, the Buk is also a good introduction to Ellroy in a way. Good point!

Black Dahlia is a crime classic. So well written - I love that seething underbelly of LA thing he has going on. I love stories about boxers too, a big part of the novel. I've bigged up Buk on this site before. Of course, Buk is genreless (unless novels about pissed-up womanising screw-ups is a genre in its own right) and Ellroy is the detective-crime-genre novellist it's okay to like (probably because he's so damn good).

Have dumped Cold K6. Will nip down to the Barbican library @ lunch and grab me a Bukowski.

you should really try black dahlia, it kicks serious butt... i remember buying at an english book shop in paris, when i was on holiday and had ran out of books, i had never heard of ellroy but the book looked interesting...boy it was such a good read.....

choose, Bukowski wrote several autobiographical novels... Ham on Rye, Factotum, Post Office, Women, etc. You could start with Ham on Rye if they have it. He also published short stories, Tales of Ordinary Madness and some articles he wrote for the LA underground press called something like Notebook of a Dirty Old Man. There are many books collecting his poetry.

I can't imagine trying to read Cold 6000 without having read American Tabloid. The style is really intended to be like a jazz-riff, or maybe even a "dick and jane" children's story, but still getting into dark dark places. I have to say that I think Tabloid is better written, but when you realise that the style of Cold 6000 is all about rhythm and driving the story on at exactly the authors pace, it makes more sense.

ANDREW! I wondered how long it would take for you to surface on this topic! Welcome back to the forums. I agree about reading American Tabloid first. And, yes, it is better. It will be interesting to see what his next book is like. I'm not so sure he can keep up that stacotto style indefinitely.

OK, so in person Ellroy is deeply annoying and self-obsessed. But he's simply the best crime writer alive. He couldn't write so brilliantly about sex and death if he were just a nice, regular guy. You either love him or hate him I suppose. I love Bukowski and he was also an awkward bastard. As for the Cold 6000? I haven't read it.

Just a thought - Ellroy's not for you but have you tried Elmore Leonard? He's subtle, quirky and very funny.

or george pelecanos....he rocks as a crime writer...again crying out to be made into movies...

Did he write LA Confidential

Yes, Ellroy wrote LA Confidential. Tara, I don't think I said he was annoying in person. Self-obssessed, ok, but so am I and just about everyone I know, including most of the people on this web site. He was actually a great guy and we had a nice chat. He deliberately hams it up on TV, though, by his own admission. I told him I enjoyed his TV appearances, and his response was: Yeah, I give'm a good show, don't I? All that aside, though, his writing is the important thing, and he's definitely at the top of the game in that department.

Tara.... yes. Am a BIG Elmore Leonard fan and have read just about everything he's written. He's a master at dialogue and Tarantino would be nothing without his influence. I still think Ellroy isn't a patch on Raymond Chandler.

Go for that Pelecanos too - if you like Leonard, you'll love him. Now what does anyone think of Tami Hoag or Sara Paretsky. Women crime novelists, whatever next? Hoag is dark and bleak and I think she is splendid. Paretsky is cheap in comparison. Her heroine, VI Warshinsky, annoys me but the plots are good and I enjoy them on long train journeys or beaches. A time and a place for everything.

Reading Elroy remindes me of somebody who constantly punps the brake when approaching a read light. Make sense? However, "My Dark Places," was one of my all time favorites.

Make that "red," light.

Of course he doesn't touch Chandler, but that's pretty harsh criticism - just because the genre has one writer who absolutely soars, doesn't mean nobody else should attempt the same genre. I love Pelecanos, though I'm still waiting for the fourth Washington quartet - not so keen on his other stuff.