American Tabloid

Ellroy's style is not original, but paradoxically enough... it's unique. The prose here suggest Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kesey, Hemingway, Crane, and Henry James. It's tempting to dock off a couple of points for the sensationalistic approach to the theme, but that itch is counterbalanced by Ellroy's knack for creating goon-types (L.A. Confidential's Bud White comes to mind), such as Big Pete Bondurant. Bondurant is the axis upon which "American Tabloid" rotates, though Kemper Boyd might be the most attractive character of all. I caught myself hoping this would get to be made into a movie, just so I would see who would get cast, yet the cinematic medium would actually limit the story by depriving it of its biggest sensory weapon: Ellroy's staccato, battering-ram style.

There is more in this novel than ammunition for conspiracy theorists or cynics. Ellroy's fast-paced prose delivers a TKO to the heart of the Kennedy Camelot empire. The work takes on a simple theme -- the thurst for power and money --- but at the pen of Ellroy, it is transformed into the complex web of watch-your-back, whose-side-are-you-on politics. At times shady and tragic characters like Kemper, Pete and Ward provide an inside into a 1960s America few "mainstream" historians would prefer not dip their toes. Although I am not in a position to completely dissect factually the plot Ellroy lays out, the work is so convincing that it is seems implausible to simply brush it off as conspiracy garble. This is my first Ellroy novel, and I can't wait to read A Cold Six-Thousand.

Unbeliavable! Ellroy wrote a book where 99,9% of all characters are vile and mean, totally indecent and immoral, including the ones with real names!
Kemper Boyd and Pete Bondurant are pure killers and even when Ellroy talks about the background of these characters, we simply can not care about their welfare: we just despise them. Ward Littel begins with a little more possibility of being a good man, but soon is also lost to "evil"...
Totally original here is the courage to introduce real life characters as Hoover and the Kennedy brothers and insert dialogues in their mouths freely. Amazing technique, it works wonderfully!
This is a great book, but don't go for it expecting to find nice words or poetry..it's about a society nasty, cheap and corrupt.
By the way, even before reading this book, is there someone else out there that still thinks that Lee Oswald acted alone...?

James Ellroy writes "hard boiled" fiction. If you hard boil an egg for about a week,perhaps. Ellroy inhabits a world all his own in crime literature. Having somehow survived a childhood from dantes seventh circle, he grew up to write these angry books where the bad guys are powerful white men{thinking of inherent power structures, he's quite correct}.American tabloid tells the story ,in all its vainglorious insanity, of that sweet time in Americana called "Camelot". This riveting novel actually is a meditation on power, who has it, and what it does. Betrayal{Bay of Pigs, Kennedy blowing off a CIA agent, everybody BUT the Kennedy's racking Marilyn Monoroe, J edgar Hoover, Joe Kennedy, Howard Hughes} all amke appearances leading to Dealy Plaza. s always, Ellroys descriptive powers are unmatched in describing viloence{the Cuban cab front company has some interesting moments}, and no one, no one, comes off as good in this. A profoundly disturbing book, a meditation on power, America, and who really runs things.One of our better writers in any genre has written another would be classic. Very very well done . Highest recommendation.

This book is the best account of the JFK assassination. It puts J. Edgar Hoover at the center of the conspiracy, a brilliant insight that makes complete sense. It's a fact that Hoover called RFK immediately after JFK was pronounced dead that afternoon and said coldly, "Your brother's dead" and hung up. Another task checked off his to-do list, one supposes. Ellroy understands what kind of person could deliver that news that coldly and that such a person was equally capable of orchestrating the murder and "covering" up the trail back to him. It is impossible to think of him otherwise after reading this book. Ellroy is an exceptional writer and the tale is feverishly paced and lurid, aptly titled. An incredible reading experience.

Ellroy basically takes the worst opinions of the JFK era, along with its abundance of intrigue and thugs, and lays it out plainly for everyone to gawk. Every vicious rumor comes to life - funny and expertly done, but after a while I began to roll my eyes. Does every well-known political figure have to be such a stereotype? That said, I did enjoy this, in the sort of roll around in the mud sort of way. Certainly not one of Ellroy's best, but still well written.

Ellroy self-described as the Beethoven of noir litterature.
Read this and you'll probably agree.
This is epic, legendary, noirest of noir, dostoievskian, politic, rude, faaaaaaaaast and baaaaaaaad, violentissimo, redefines the genre, and on and on.
As novels go, if I had a top 10, this would be in it, it dissects (the dark side) of the 60s, the foundation of the world we're living in today and, past the conspiracy issues which can be debated, is a good way to start looking at our complex era with a different eye.

I "discovered" Ellroy through reading the L.A. quartet, and to be honest I wanted him to stay in that milieu because it was so dazzlingly entertaining to vicariously live there through his many characters (Dave Klein, Danny Upshaw, Ed Exley, Bud White, Buzz Meeks, Mal Considine, Bucky Bleikert, et al I miss ya!!!)
So with some reservation I ventured into the "political/historical" musings of Mr. Ellroy....and darn it if he doesn't have me hooked. NOW I really do admire the sheer talent of this brilliant, twisted, crazy spinner of yarns. Let's not even attempt to do a plot overview here (this is an Ellroy book after all) all you need to know are JFK, RFK, J. Edgar Hoover, Hoffa, The CIA, The OUTFIT, Cuba, Howard Hughes and a country definig moment for the late 20th Century... In the midst of it all is a brutal henchman Pete Bondurant and two of the most morally compromised G-Men ever put on paper, Ward Littell and Kemper Boyd. Pete Bondurant the monster who shields his heart with violence, Kemper Boyd Dr. Frankstein and Ward Littell his creation.
James Ellroy opens the book stating that America never really had an "innocence" to lose. How could you lose something you didn't have at inception, he states, and this book will make you whole-heartedly agree. James Ellroy is after bigger game with this book and is a less pretentious version of books like LIBRA, which this is being compared to.
The spare, slick, stylized prose remains. The complex threads of plot: still there. Unforgettable characters with shifting allegiances: check. What's new? Well he may have left L.A. as a setting, but his themes of barely redeemable evil, ethical compromise for survival, and the razor thin separation between the low-life and higher levels of society still resonate...all I can say is MORE JAMES ELLROY, MORE!!!!

James Ellroy is easily one of the most imaginative crime writers in contemporary fiction and his books never fail to deliver the goods. "American Tabloid" is a comprehensive guide to the late 60's, JFK, Castro, J.Edgar Hoover, Bay of Pigs and every other thug from Tiger-srtipped taxi drivers to destructive detectives bent on revenge. Ellroy writes like a cyclone, he pierces us with his bold pen and his razor sharp dialogue. He is a clear sign of everything good in crime fiction and here's hoping he continues for a long, long time.

I loved Elroy's LA Quartet (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, and White Jazz), so was looking forward to this book and really wanted to like it, so much so that I read it a second time to give it another chance after not liking it much the first time.

But American Tabloid doesn't work nearly as well for me as the Quartet, mainly because I bought into the noirish world of the first four books, but not into the interlocking conspiracies of American Tabloid. It was too over-the-top, and frequently seemed a parody of itself. How could Boyd, Littell, and Bondurant be in the middle of everything? American Tabloid also lacked the narrative drive and focus and the deeper characterizations of the Quartet. Elroy has written some of my favorite books, but this wasn't among them.

In the years leading to the Kennedy Assassination, Hoover hunts the Kennedys, the Kennedys hunt Sex and Power and a couple of tarnished operatives try to stay out of the gears of Mob money and Power Politics. Cross and doublecross in an America that never had any innocence to lose. Ellroy is the clear heir to the best in American "hard-boiled" fiction. He hits here with another tale of violent, compromised men looking for a single good day. He makes the rest of the current writers sound like they came down with the rain

First things first - Ellroy is not an easy read. His writing is so sharp and his plots are so tangled that a mere chapter or two can send your head reeling. And 'American Tabloid' is Ellroy at his most quintessential Ellroy-esque. Ultra-short sentences. Over-the-top violence. Hard-boiled that's diamond-hard and definitely hardcore...
(can't believe I just used the word 'hardcore'...)
But if you are willing to take the leap, you will be hooked. This book is so compelling and pulse-pounding, so rich with tiny details (the quirks of the reclusive Howard Hughes), teeming with interesting-yet-flawed characters, so *epic* that I have trouble remembering how history actually happened...
This is easily one of the best books I've read and while I don't read as much as I used to, I would still consider myself a semi-avid reader. Oh, sure, it might not be highbrow literature, but as pop-culture/pop-fiction goes, it doesn't get better than this...
(if you're new to Ellroy, you might want to start with 'Black Dahlia...' - like any true artist/auteur, he has such an unique sense of style/outlook that it takes some getting used to.)

Reading all the reviews about this book is quite repetitive : everyone seems to consider Ellroy as a cute story-teller with complicated but breathtaking plots. I have even read that American Tabloid was a good MTV thriller !!!
Well, one cannot understand Ellroy without having read some of his major books and especially my dark places, his most personnal work. Ellroy is a story-teller, that's a fact, but whereas America has a bunch of story tellers, it only has one Ellroy. His style is unique and exhilarating and American tabloid is probably the best example of his talented writing. Read it and be prepared to have no sleep for a while. This book, whose plot is inspired by FBI files recently made public, is hard to appreciate because it is mature, tenseful, nervous and also so very dark. That's the way Ellroy is and that's the way he is, as far as I'm concerned, one of America's greatest talents in writing.

Ever since I heard that James Ellroy wrote LA Confidential, I have been wanting to read some of his books. American Tabloid is my first and I loved this book.
The plot was very, very good as were the characters. I really got attached the the main three. They each have their own train of thought and are very well developed (sometimes a rarity in this type of book) I particularly a lot of the irony that took place.
Overall, I thought it was very, very good. I plan to read more of Ellroy's works.

Ellroy's scattered, machine gun prose and deeply flawed characters can alienate a casual reader, but his work remains a rewarding experience for those willing to dig in and wallow in the mire his creations exist in. American Tabloid takes that most sacred moment in history, Camelot, and cuts it open along the belly. From the point of view of three men in the know and behind the scenes of that times power brokers, Ellroy shows that the difference between crime and politics is razor thin and often fatal. Lacking the holy self-righteousness of Oliver Stone's JFK, American Tabloid is another fictional telling of the rise and fall of the Kennedy Administration, but not only does Ellroy have the canvas to widen his lens considerably (encompassing Cuba, Vegas, Washington and more), his film-noir filter paints a more believable, and much darker picture of that time in history. It's not idealism vs. power-mongering, it's simply power vs. power, with a healthy dose of vengeance, double-crosses, and outright hate coming down on all sides.
If you're already an Ellroy fan, it's beautiful leap from his L.A. novels, containing a more coherent story-line with less wandering than L.A. Confidential. If you're not already a fan, it's 600+ page length and slang heavy rapid-fire prose might be daunting at first, but determined readers will be sucked in completely.

A roaring ride of violence, corruption, lust, and betrayal during a time period when our parents worried about crew cuts, bobby socks, and high school dances. Normally, it would seem trite or laughable for a writer to play on the rumored steroetypes of famous personalities, but Ellroy not only plays each famous persona with outlandish audacity; he blows the roof off of all conspiracy theories with this one. Graphically violent, in language and action, this is not a book for your typical Kennedy junkie.

When I first started reading American Tabloid I thought I was in for a real treat. However, after reading a few hundred pages, I started to realize I didn't care about the characters due to the one-dimensionality Ellroy gives them. Further, the plot, while moving at a fast-pace, was not well-developed and I was really tiring of Ellroy's writing style. While I pushed myself to read further(largely because I had already bought Ellroy's sequel to American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand), I finally had to give up on it after getting to the half way point. Now I have to see if I can exchange The Cold Six Thousand. I know many of you reading this review will be skeptical given the many very favorable reviews previously written about American Tabloid. The only thing I can say to this is if you feel you must read this book, take it from the library. Please don't waste your money like I did.

This novel about secret governmental departments and their unexpected activities is superbly written and rivets the reader to each page. Packed with action and nostalgia over history long past, it strikes chord after chord, as familiar events are given a violent twist by this story telling genius.

Other reviews detail the characters and style; I can only add that I was astounded by the brilliance in which this novel was researched, written, and organized.

In terms of crime drama, its tops, and a must read!

Ellroy is certainly a master of his medium - that is never in dispute. However, this book is in daanger of losing the reader with all of the subplots and supporting characters. Also, the characterisation is a bit sketchy. Perhaps I'm rating more against what I would have expected as opposed to how good the book actually is. Again, as with all Ellroy novels - it's worth reading for the payoff and seeing each character trying to redeem themselves before it's too late. Not bad, certainly an interesting view of recent American history. Definately worth a read - but the LA Quartet was far superior

A fantastic book, detailing the events leading upto the death of JFK. Ellroys style is unique, aggressive and insightful. His characters ooze with charisma, as he portrays the inner workings of Americas aggencies that stink with corruption. Violence is not rare; neither his obvious gift for this genre. A great read. Highly recommended.

After Perfidia came out to such great reviews I decided that I needed to read Ellroy. I started with American Tabloid and I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, Ellroy suffers from the same problem as George R. R. Martin - way too many characters with little to no development of many of the characters. If Ellroy trimmed the number of characters by about 50% this could have been a really good book. Instead - meh.

American Tabloid is thoroughly entertaining, with a hypnotic storyline and richly delineated characters - nothing new for James Ellroy, after triumphs such as The Big Nowhere and L.A. Confidential. As in L.A. Confidential, Ellroy's characters undergo subtle yet unevitable metamorphoses. This book, like Oliver Stone's brilliant film JFK, employs a blend of characterizations of historical figures and fictional characters (though Stone's "fictional" characters, such as "X" and "Willie O'Keefe," were based, in part, on real people). One of the strengths of the book is that the characters are never secondary to the storyline; their motivations always seem genuine, which adds to the authenticity of the story entire.

LA CONFIDENTIAL (the book and the movie) got a lot of hype and deservedly so. But Ellroy shows he can work nimbly OUTSIDE of his Los Angeles milieu, covering the gamut of American History upside down and inside out. They didn't teach you THIS STUFF in school. Thick with plot, heavy with atmosphere, and light in style, this is a CRIME SAGA worth a few sleepless nights.

American Tabloid will leave you reeling with the enormity of the author's achievement. Taking the Kennedy administration and the Cuban crisis as its backdrop -Ellroy infiltrates the dark side of American powerbroking in the early 60s. All the big players/themes are thrown into the melting pot - FBI, Mafia, Howard Hughes, anti-communism, CIA, personal ambition. Written in relentless Ellroy speak AT is simply unputdownable. The novel races you through from criminal subterfuge to ruthless realpolitik and despite the complexity of the tale - Ellroy keeps the reader on board. Many talk of Ellroy as the 'greatest crime/noir writer ever' etc. - I don't know about that, being new to the genre but what a book to pop my noir cherry on.

Listen, let's cut through the long, lenthy review process. This book is violent, bitter, corrupt, and brillant. I have never read a book like it, and along with the follow up volume 'The Cold Six Thousand' it represents a blurred and chaotic glimpse into a utterly fascinating time period. Ellroy mixes real characters (Sinatra, Howard Hughs, J. E. Hoover, various mafia figures) and his fictional players seamlessly. He distorts time and the reader's perception of what is transpiring before them. The 'Bay of Pigs' landing is a highlight, and the last line leaves you wanting more. Luckily there is a sequel, which almost tops this book. Not recommended as bedtime reading for the youngsters, but well worth the ride.

Ellroy takes on the JFK mythology in a cataclysmic conflict of communists, mobsters, American royalty and a variety of henchmen. An irreverent, lurid, and thrilling spectacle. Not for those who take themselves (or anything) too seriously.

American Tabloid is a close second to James Ellroy's Black Dahlia. All the major late `50's early `60's players are here, the Kennedy's, Hoover, Hoffa, Sam G. Ellroy portrays American crime and politics like it is, and always will be, rotten to the core! Great book. Pick it up!

From Lenny Sands' "Hush-Hush" dirt-digging memo:

"Bing Crosby's drying out at a Catholic Church retreat for alcoholic priests and nuns outside 29 Palms. Cardinal Spellman visited him there. They went on a bender and drove to L.A. blotto. Spellman sideswiped a car filled with wetbacks and sent 3 of them to the hospital. Bing bought them off with autographed pictures and a few hundred dollars. Spellman flew back to New York with the DT's. Bing stayed in L.A. long enough to beat up his wife and then went back to the dry-out farm."

Ellroy has an incredible gift. He can make history come alive for people who, like myself were not born for over 20 years after the events in this book took place. Granted that this is a work of fiction, it brings the feel of the times to the forfront with amazing style and grace.

The subjets covered in this book are both sensitive and explosive: the mafia, the teamsters, the FBI, the CIA and the Kennedy's. James Ellroy leads us through a maze of plans, counter plans, murder and mayhem. The three leading characters, all with very few redeeming traits, mixed together conspire and execute one of the crimes of the century.
When i finished reading this book i felt as if i had gone 15 rounds in the boxing ring. Exhausted, emptied by the speed and emotion of the narrative employed, the words leapt at me, it was impossible to put the book down , everything else i had read paled into nothing and dissapeared into the haze without trace.
READ IT AND SEE WHAT I MEAN!!!!!

It has been interesting to see Ellroy's writing evlolve into being perhaps the finest example of modern noir. While more conventional than White Jazz, American Tabloid brings together all of the elements that have made the JFK legend what it is today. A remarkable achievement.

This is a cruel, strange, and brilliant book. To some degree, it doesn't matter how truthful it is -- the point is to massacre the myth structure of America, which the vicious Ellroy does with gusto. His characters are such scum as to be completely appaling but amazingly compelling. And yet there's this extremely vague sense of the writer's moral disgust that seems to make it enjoyable for me. People might think Ellroy is celebrating the characters in his rogues gallery, but I think he's tearing them down as much as building them up. Fabulous. --Thomas S. Roche is the editor of the Noirotica series.

A non-fiction novel mixing history with the characters that, I take it, Ellroy is practiced at evoking. Publisher's Weekly piously calls the history "revisionist," reassuring us that nothing really happened that we need to worry about. In this environment, Ellroy's is about the best history we're liable to get.

Ellroy's spartan prose runs contrary to the polished and impersonal history of text books and screenplays. His 'history-as-tabloid headlines' is a visceral view of America rife with corruption at every level, struggling with itself at a time of chaos and change.
'Tabloid' drives you through a violent landscape with characters like: JFK, RFK, Howard Hughes and J. Edger Hoover as signposts headed toward an uncertain future.

This book reads like the hard edge formica tables its characters might sit at. Ellroy shows no mercy to either its fictional characters or real life citizens and its equal opportunity viciousness is mesmerizing. He has no fear and it shows. Intricately plotted so you'd better pay attention. This ain't a book you can read while the TV is on.

I agree totally with this comment: I enjoyed this book immensely for around 200 pages. Many of the characterizations, particularly Hoover and JFK, were dead-on, and Ellroy's perspective was compelling. About halfway through, however, the book starts to unravel. The plot becomes baroque and ultimately incoherent and the violence is so routine and excessive that it is ultimately cartoonish. In fact, I think it's fair to say that this book is essentially a cartoon version of Libra.

Not as brutal as his earlier books; Black Dahlia or White Jazz, but also more intricate in detail, American Tabloid is the perfect introduction to the twisted fiction of James Ellroy. Here he concentrates on three disctinctivly different main characters, Pete Bondurant, Ward Littel and Kemper Boyd. Bondurant previously appears in Ellroy's LA Cycle of books, but is center stage here. This book is the perfect companion to the recently produced HBO movie The Rat Pack, and also Don DeLillo's Libra. Buy it.

American Tabloid is the most grusome book I have ever read. This is not a bad thing as the story takes the reader on an adventure of being inside the inner circle of Howard Hughes. The book is spellbinding in its violence. The political intrigue is solid as a brick wall. Also the nasty details of Jimmy Hoffa make the charactor more realistic. Big Pete Boudurant is the most entertaining of all the charactors as he rubs elbows and wisecracks with the elite of hollywood and washington.

Started off rather interesting, but degenerated into absurd non-stop cussing and comic book-style violence. It seems that every paragraph or two people were getting their teeth knocked out and getting casually executed by the "heroes". I finally discarded the stupid thing when Super-Pete knocked out this guy's teeth, and then kicked him in the balls, just to "test" him, to see if he was OK. What a crock! This guy should be writing comic book story lines, or wrestling scripts for the WWF.
I also strongly object to his falsification of history, taking real people and putting them into his fictitious "docudrama" to get their teeth knocked out...
I was overly generous and rated it a 2.

Who was behind JFK's assassination? How was Howard Hughes involved? Did the mafia care about the Bay of Pigs? In this Ellroy masterpiece, he stitches together a compellingly readable bizarro world "that might have happened" from about 1957 to 1963. You can't stop reading 'cause Ellroy's style sucks you in and propels you forward with each jaw-dropping development. Only weakness : the last 30 pages. But you still oughtta read it!

American Tabloid is one of the finest crime fiction novels in my library. Ellroy is a master of blending actual events with plausible and frightening characters. "Big Pete" Bondurant is a fierce animal that no sane man would want to face in a confrontation. Walt Borchard shines as an idealistic failure. I liked American Tabloid so much I bought the hardback and intend to read it again. This book isn't for the faint of heart - don't leave it laying around unsupervised children.

How could Ellroy imagine such a complex story ? I still can't understand how it is possible to mix, that successfuly, reality and "supposed" fiction. Also, it's hard not getting confused by all the facts based on history and those he made up! Beside, if real politics could be that interesting...
The characters are raw, mean and still...so human!
Definitely a must read.

A stylistic, linguistic, and historic eruption without peer -- almost hard to believe Ellroy had this in him (that ANYONE could have). I was shattered and spent at the end of this huge, devastating book. I can't recommend many modern books higher than this one. Buy, read and be prepared to breathlessly recommend to everyone you encounter.