James Ellroy's American Tabloid
The lols of sending a friend a book only for it to arrive at my house
The original typed version of a note I hand wrote into the first few blank pages of American Tabloid.
Dear Moon,
Happy Birthday!
On first glance, you’re probably thinking why they hell have I bought you this book. And that would be a justified thought for you to have.
However, I think that if you read it in the spirit it is intended to be read you may actually enjoy it. A lot even.
First of all though, let’s just say what this book is not.
It’s definitely not some masterpiece artwork to be admired. No, sorry, this is no highfalutin, curly-haired, private-school-boy, fag-fiction.
It’s not for guys into philosophy and Czech new wave.
You’ll never hear a girl with blue hair and hairy armpits ever talk about this book. Hell, you’ll probably never hear any girl of any type ever even mention it.
This book and James Elroy simply exist in a different universe.
Why?
Well, because this book is entertaining.
It’s fun.
There’s drugs and guns and sex and violence and very, very naughty language.
It’s not some realist description of a refugee family or whatever.
There are still refugees. They just happen to be Cubans who traffic heroin, get drunk and murder each other while training to fight commies back in their homeland.
But I digress.
I guess the question now is, why might you enjoy reading it?
Well let me drop a few bullets that may seemingly contradict everything I’ve written above.
History: James Ellroy doesn’t even think that he writes crime fiction / noir . He thinks he writes historical fiction. American Tabloid starts in 1958 and ends in November 1963. It presents a credible “potential” lead up story to JFK getting whacked in Dallas. It’s full of real people you know like the Kennedys, Hoover, Hoffa, famous mafia guys, and a bunch of lesser known but very Bapian types. The three central fictional characters that hold the story together are also apparently composites of real operators from the time. Deep research. He blends fact and fiction in a way that is hard to tell exactly where the divider is.
Language: It might take a page or two to get into the style. But after that it may start to seep into your brain. You’ll be writing Slack messages à la Ellroy. It kind of makes you feel ‘in’ the story. There’s an interview with Ellroy where he explains how he came to his choppy, staccato vibe. An editor told him to lose a hundred pages from a book. Instead of cutting plot he just cut words.
Morality: There are no good guys in this book except for maybe Bobby Kennedy and he ends up looking like a huge fag. Everyone else is either bad or real bad. Even if someone is good for a while, they’re gonna go bad. It feels very deliberate. Like Ellroy was just giving a big fuck you to everyone while he wrote it. I think you’ll find this refreshing.
Literary: Shit, did I just drop the L word? American Tabloid came out in 1995 and it’s definitely po-mo. The narrative is always with one of the three fictional protagonists and told from their POV - in 3rd person. However, the book is littered with inserts that contribute to the movement of the plot. Hush Hush magazine articles, memos, private notes, transcriptions of bugged rooms or phone taps etc etc. Maybe a little like your mate DFW and his notes with notes inside the notes. It came out the year before Infinite Jest.
So, whaddaya reckon?
Hang on a sec...
Since I’ve talked it up a bit, I better pull it back down and remind you that it is still just entertainment.
Maybe even very good infotainment.
But it’s not perfect. Not without fault.
And this is the spirit in which to read it. A summer holiday novel that may send you down some tangential JFK rabbit holes when you’re done. Better read in the sun with your choice of accompaniments.
Your pal,
Aidan
P.S. I bought this off Momox, do you know it? I use the dot fr version but I think it’s a German site. Heaps of good quality second hand English books. Cheap shipping.
P.P.S. Speaking of shipping. I swear I put the shipping address in as your house but it ended up at mine. And that’s why you have ended up with this retarded note.