What Are The Critical Reviews Of The La Confidential Novel?

A major feature of the novel ‘L.A. Confidential’, James Ellroy’s portrayal of 1950s Los Angeles is a searing expose of corruption, racism and decay. The complex and dynamic natures of the novel’s three main characters, Bud White, Ed Exley and Jack Vincennes are a major feature of the book. Each of the three Protagonists are each representatives of various arms of the Law and as the story unfolds the inter-linking of the three men provides a varied insight into human nature and the virtue of Justice.

Ellroy’s sparse, lyrical prose creates a clear and intense image of the other Los Angeles of the 1950s, full of vice, of racism. His use of long stretches of dialogue and hardboiled argot of the period creates a fully realized, albeit sometimes painful to read, Los Angeles. Complex characters in a layered and twisty plot that goes in many different and surprising directions, creates a gripping read that although somewhat distasteful at times is considered a masterpiece of the crime genre by those who are interested in such serious works of fiction. Add to this the powerful exploration of themes of redemption, of loyalty and the price of ambition, and ‘L.A. Confidential’ becomes more than a crime novel. It is a deep and complex exploration of human nature.

I choose ‘L.A. Confidential’ as the focus of my pre-reading, as I have always been a fan of this gritty realistic, vastly complex novel by James Ellroy. ‘L.A. Confidential’ is cited by many critical reviews for its tightly plotted structure and complex characters in a sweeping narrative that cannot fail to grasp its readers. My own impression of ‘L.A. Confidential’ is of a highly realistic portrayal of 1950s Los Angeles of kaleidoscopic corruption and of very ambiguous morals. It is not an easy novel to read due to Ellroy’s prose, but is well worth the effort for the complex and somewhat flawed characters of Bud White, Ed Exley and Jack Vincennes and their journeys in search of justice and in trying to find loyalty and redemption in a very corrupt era, the effects of which are still felt decades later in terms of the various themes explored in the novel.

Reading through the critical reviews for ‘L.A. Confidential’ by James Ellroy, it is quite clear to see how the novel combines the best elements of noir and historical fiction. Very often the reviews describe the novel in brutal terms, detailing the raw and unrelenting writing of Ellroy as he presents the reader with a darker side to 1950s Los Angeles than they may have previously imagined. In particular, the reviews praise the intricate and complex plot of the novel, which follows three very different detectives: hard-man Bud White,ambitious Ed Exley and tinsel-town expert Jack Vincennes.

Some of the reviewers, however, had found the novel complex and occasionally difficult to follow. Ellroy’s compact prose and lack of narrator intrusion to explain events, detail motivations or to fill in gaps that the reader could easily complete for themselves means that a close reading is demanded by the book. And the reward is significant. Although this is a long novel it is first-rate as a study of power and of human morality, and it contains a large number of effectively realized characters, each of whom is deeply and multiply-flawed, as well as brilliant and touching. Its ending is as satisfying as it is deeply and hauntingly unhappy. The result of the efforts of Ellroy and his team of researchers is a novel of modern crime writing of considerable class.