1962, and L.A. is star-struck. 1962, and not every star likes L.A. life. Marilyn Monroe is the star, although she is always off stage, and Freddy “Camel Fucker” Otash is the stricken of Los Angeles. Freddy, a one-time Marine, former police officer, and disgraced private investigator, also known as the Man Hollywood Fears, was a blackmailer, sewer crawler, peeping tom, and general miscreant on the make. Both are real people; both are denizens of the City of Angels. And the legends and facts of both of these people are bent, twisted, and manipulated in the latest of James Ellroy’s novels.
The story springs from the death of Ms. Monroe, but truly starts sometime earlier, with Mr. Otash doing a job for Jimmy Hoffa, a job that entails the complete surveillance of Monroe, from tailing her movements to bugging her house. What is the reason for this? We aren’t sure at first, as Hoffa keeps his cards pretty close to his chest, and, typical of an Ellroy labyrinthine plot, you might not be too sure on the last page. Rest assured, all the T’s are dotted and I’s crossed. To paraphrase Mr. Ellroy, it is all in the book.
And that plot gets wider and weirder as the story progresses, involving more and more real-life people in Ellroy’s imagined world. Deputy Chief Darryl Gates to Bobby “Ratfuck” Kennedy, B-grade movie starlets you might remember to tough guy cops you saw in movies such as The Hat Squad, all make more than walk-on appearances. But none of them are real, everyone gets processed through the author’s imagination and childhood memories of riding his bike on a paper route in L.A. at the time of Marilyn’s death.
It is this blending of fact and fiction that gives the story such a compelling feel, for all of us know the story of Ms. Monroe, how she changed her name after a rough childhood, orphanages, and early marriages, so we are free to imagine her as someone, somebody, completely different than what the legend of her says. But, in all honesty, what do we really know about her? I, for one, cannot remember ever seeing one of her movies. Clips, sure. Photos, of course. She is more of a meme at this point, a fiction created to show how we view the world more than anything else. But we don’t know the name of the home she grew up in: Hollygrove. We don’t know how she rose to fame, nor how it affected her, other than the sad end of her life.
And here, she isn’t that woman on a pedestal, that icon of America’s Fictional Past, ‘50s edition. No, here she is an ex-call girl, petty thief, a habitue of “fuck pads” and other aspects of the early swinging sixties. And make no mistake, this is a book about all the sordid underbellies of those who swung. Creeps, cheats, whores, all make appearances, along with high school kids, psychologists, bug men, comedians, baseball players.
To say that this is Ellroy’s best book in a while is to state the obvious, as his last few outings have been in bad need of an editor. Filled with rhythm-breaking alliterations, they showed the later works of an author too big for his britches, so to speak. Ellroy has become such a force in literature that, like bestseller Stephen King, no one will seemingly tell him that what he has written isn’t very good, that someone else needs to go through it with a fine-tooth comb and weed out these issues. Someone has done that here, whether it was Ellroy himself who did it, or a new editor unafraid to call him out, I don’t know. But this is a positive. The flip side of that is that this work has lost a lot of what makes Ellroy so formidable as a crime writer, indeed as one of the best post-war-era writers period.
What made Ellroy that great of a writer was his refusal to let you stop and take cover in your late 21st-century apologetics, but, rather, forced you to rush headlong into his world, a world that takes every character as their own moral force. He gives you no major viewpoint to sympathize with but treats each person as true to the era they live in. They are racists, wife beaters, closeted homosexuals, blackmailers, dirty cops, and this all affects how they interact with each other. Combine this with Ellroy’s famed breakneck pacing, where he literally removes any words that don’t directly drive the story, chopping sentences into the shortest possible form, and creating the feeling of not quite being in control of what is going on around you, of being drowned in a world that doesn’t care about your point of view.
And this is the downside of The Enchanters. That feeling of events overtaking you has been replaced with a dreamy feeling, not quite nostalgia, but definitely of the rearview mirror, and how that is the best way to view this world. Nothing feels like a 20-ton weight being dropped on your neck, nothing feels worthy of killing or dying for. In his justly famed L.A. Quartet, even small issues, local issues, had a way of becoming worthy of deep obsession, spiraling out of control, and taking everything with them. In books such as American Tabloid, he expands on this idea, showing how these small things, minor racketeering, election cheating, etc., all lead up to world-shattering events.
But this is Ellroy’s world, and, as a writer who is now in his mid-seventies, maybe he is looking back. Looking back at where he started from, and what drove him to be as good as he is. The mere fact that he has made a shift change this late in his career speaks wonders for his drive and skill. Both of these are on display in this latest book, only, not at that breakneck speed that seduced me the first time I picked up one of his books. And that might be the greatest insight from reading this; that I am a reader who is no longer in his twenties, but is now in his fifties, and needs to slow down.
So, is it now time for this reader to slow down, enjoy the fruits of a life-long love of the writing of James Ellroy, and allow Freddy “Camel Fucker” Otash to take the case? Is it time to watch a great writer reflect on his mistakes and course correct? The bait is right in front of me and has been all along.
Just here to say that the Kennedy’s killed Monroe.
Also, First.
I didn’t read the book but I did like the movie L.A. Confidential. I’ll have to look for his stuff next foray to my favorite used books store.
LA Confidential (the book) was great. My memory for names is not great, so I had to read it a second time and pay special attention to remember characters that are introduced early in the book but then don’t reappear until late in the book.
I started another Ellroy book, something set in Dallas around the time of the JFK assassination? Lost interest, couldn’t finish it.
Watching RLM’s review of Andor. I haven’t watched their shit in a while as I find them to be fence sitters at this point on the biggest issues the industry has. If they were silent on the issue, that’d be one thing, but they decided to act like they were breaking new ground with their Little Mermaid discussion when they talked about how they were casting people cynically based on race. This really happens they proclaimed. No shit, dudes. Then they call the channels that cover it grifters. Because anyone who bucks the narrative is a grifter. It’s the most moronic attack on the alternative media critics. Mind numbingly stupid.
The guy who knows jack shit about Marvel comics, but jumped on the bandwagon and launched a channel during the heyday of the MCU and who continues to shill for the shit even when the quality is obviously crap? That guy gets no comment. But the guy who collected comics his whole life and dares to call it woke? That guy…he’s the “grifter.
Anyway, tey talk about how Andor would be too much for kids (it may be too slow/dull, but violent?). These are guys who grew up watching shit like Robocop and god knows what else. As did I, and I turned into the greatest Firster in all of Firstory.
We live in a world where people fret over fictional violence being shown to kids, but you can let them pick their gender and inject life changing hormones into their bodies. I don’t even call it strange at this point.. It’s more of an outright conspiracy Kids can be propagandized with hysteria on climate change, spoonfed ridiculous nonsense about gender and race, but anything that might toughen them up or a little testosterone in their entertainment? It’s to be avoided like the plague.
Just a rant that has less to do with how RLM talked about this as much as it just struck a nerve.
Also, “suicide” being verboten somewhere (TikTok? Reddit? idk), so lots of creative uses of “unalive,” “self-delete.” Likewise, “killed” gets you “unalived” and “deleted.” No “gun” permitted; it’s a “pew pew.” “Rape” or “molestation” is “SA” (short for sexual assault). I follow an anti-woke account on Twitter and half the words she uses has ! and @ and $ to spell normal words lest she get nailed by the behavior bot.
No wonder the kids are so fucking delicate.
If you ban the words and discussion of them, kids will never do those things!.Why didn’t anyone think of not letting kids know about suicide before? They’ll never think of it on their own. No unintended consequences at all.
Oh! And now Pinterest, which claims to have a pedo problem (that’s actually believable, tho), is starting to delete pins and large accounts. Fortunately, I have all mine backed up.
There’s a guy on Youtube who covers cop shootings and raids. He has to replace gunfire sounds with pew pew to try and stay monetized.
The last episode of Friday Night Tights was removed from the platform because they had a meme with a dildo in it, among other things. Meanwhile, there’s gay Youtubers doing explicit shit with dildos that remain up and monetized. And not even age restricted. Some of that content is aimed explicitly at those underage.
A lot of it depends on who you are and what your politics are perceived as. I’d wager it’s the same on Pinterest.
I don’t know. It’s hard to know when people are just collecting pretty pictures.
That said, Pinterest is also popular with prepper/camping dudes.
So you finally watched the obvious crap quality stuff? or are you still whinging about stuff you haven’t even watched.
I’ll make a deal with you. When you attend a Trump rally and hear the man out in person, I’ll waste my time watching Indian Jones and the Dial of Dysentery.
So it’s the latter?
I’ve never seen someone so eager to revisit a pissing match in which they were embarrassed so badly.
It’s some sort of fetish, I suspect.
Indian Jones and the Dial of Dysentery
Sounds like a real shitty movie.
Hyperbole says you aren’t allowed to say that unless you sat through all 2.5 hours of it.
“Sounds like a real shitty movie” is perfectly acceptable, that’s simply a judgment call, proclaiming something to be one thing or the other without firsthand knowledge of it is where I find fault.
It’s worse than yo can possibly imagine, IMO.
The writing is execrable.
I’ve suspected for a while that the RLM guys know about a lot of the sewage that is Hollywood culture. They are friends with Mac Caulkin, and he at least has probably told them some stuff about how he was treated as a child actor.
Gotta admit I haven’t read as much Elroy as I should, but what I’ve read I like, Thanks for the reminder Zwak.
Nice. Thanks, Zwak.
I keep confusing him with Elmore Leonard, I know. I’m dumb. Thanks for the reminder they are different people.
I’ll stick with Elmer T Lee.
As long as it’s not Elmer Fudd.
Happy national bookmobile day!
🌄😎
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0NM6reiRE
🎶🎶
I’m currently in the Hilton next to my sleeping giant (who arrived in the wee hours of Sunday morning). He is snoozing away happily.
Monday night we watched “Ike: Countdown to D Day” which is a surprisingly excellent flick. Surprising because it was made for TV. But if you rent/buy it from Amazon, you’d.never know. Tom Selleck was great.
Tonight all we are doing is basking in bed. Works for me!
Morning, Glibs.
Dreading another day at work… I need a raise.
Sounds like a common condition.
depressingly, I am eligable for a number of non-pensionable payments this year, which get paid in April.
Used to be longevity payments were only made to people who were stuck at top of grade for five or more years (meaning they’d been stuck in that job for twelve). I’d decided that would be the indicator that my career had stalled if I could not get promoted before being eligable for longevity pay. Well, this contract they’ve changed it to not being stuck in your title for twelve years, but having been with the state for twelve. So, I have failed, since I am now eligable for longevity pay.
I think this change in the rule for longevity pay calls for a change in your definition of “failure.”
I haven’t had a real job in nearly seventeen years. Not since I got laid off from the Xerox helpdesk.
Your job is real. It’s your employer that sucks.
Yesterday I did three things – Put in a request to be able to update documentation in our ticketting system, scheduled the monthly DB patches (a task I normally delegate), and argue with someone so dumb I wouldn’t trust them with root on an etch-a-sketch.
I had to complete a spreadsheet for my underlings justifying their bonuses today.
Lowest guy got 8%. Highest was 14%.
I have a good crew.
It’s nice when you have people you can count on. I especially like when I can point them at a problem and say “can you take a look at that” and they come back with a solution. It makes my job as a manager easy.
I have never had a job where I was eligable for a merit bonus. I don’t fully understand how they work – same with salary negotiation. I honestly have no idea what my skillset is actually worth on the labor market.
I got “just under 2%”. Whee!
I’m sorry your job makes you feel that way. Time for another sort of change?
Need me to call your supervisor and speak with them?
You know, Lack, getting a raise won’t do anything to make you happier at work.
Morning Everyone!
Seems like I have a great night of sleep, followed the next night by an early wake up. On average I’m getting about the same sleep. Today was the early one, there’s no reason to stay in bed, for me at least, when I can’t sleep. Got my coffee, fire started in the furnace, all is right with the world.
Good morning, 4(20),
Lack…ummm…TAFKAL, U, hayek (if you’re still around,) and Sean!Morning GT, UCS, Lack, Hayek and the lurkers! Time to get up and get ’em.
As a friend admitted, he was a go-getter. He took his wife to work and later would go get her.
I lived with a drummer for a rock band that was like that.
That wasn’t enough for her to dump his ass, but when he started to put on weight, she kicked him out and shacked up with someone leaner (who did have a job).
Mornin’ all!
Good morning, Beau!
suh’ fam
whats goody
TALL (216) CANS!
Good morning, homey! How are things on the wrong side of the state?
Ive always liked our little “mistake on the lake”. Luckily Im doing admin stuff all week, so Im not out in the shitty weather.
Jugsy is already house hunting (we paid ours off last month- 3 years early).
Good morning friends.
Could it be any more obvious?
***
As Raytheon Technologies contributed its money to lawmakers throughout April, legislators were discussing more than 10 Ukraine-related bills.
The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a $40 billion Ukraine military and humanitarian support package, which President Joe Biden is poised to sign. Raytheon manufactures Stinger missiles, which Ukraine is using to shoot down Russian aircraft, as well as co-manufactures Javelin anti-tank missile systems with fellow defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Of the more than 30 members of Congress to which Raytheon’s PAC donated, eight members currently sit on the House Armed Services Committee: Democratic Reps. Veronica Escobar from Texas and Elaine Luria of Virginia, and Republican Reps. Michael Waltz from Florida, Jerry Carl of Alabama, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Mike Turner from Ohio, Jim Banks from Indiana, and Mike Rogers of Alabama.
The weapons supplier also in April donated $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $2,500 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California.
***
https://www.businessinsider.com/raytheon-stinger-javelin-congress-ukraine-pac-spending-2022-5
The influence of the MIC in politics that Eisenhower warned about us has led me to reconsider my position on campaign contribution limits. I just don’t know any other way to address it. Of course, there is no politician or lease very very few that are ever going to support any limits on this, so I’m really not sure what’s going to happen other than we just print enough money to destroy the economy.
I forget who posted it here, but it was a thought-provoking article from substack. The money quote for me was “the purpose of a system is what it does”. That is, if a system does the same thing over and over for years with no attempts to change it, then it is functioning as intended.
Thus, if the US government continues year after year to funnel huge sums of public money into the military-industrial complex, then that must be one of the intended purposes of the US government.
And if the corporations which make up the military-industrial complex routinely donate to politicians, that can only be because it helps their bottom line.
I’m seeing a story that RFK, Jr. is going to try to be the LP nominee.
Not sure if anybody cares, but last night I approved the preliminary sketches for the cover of Prince of the North Tower and paid the artist’s invoice, so he’s now working on making that. That’s the last step shy of getting the ISBN, finalizing the copyright page and uploading the files (all of which I can do in a relatively short time frame)
😃👍
Good luck. We’re all counting on you.
Great!
As some Glibs know, my only body of published works other than emissions test reports consists of fake CL personals.
To create is to give medicine which heals the souls of strangers.
Shine on, you crazy diamond!
Sheila Jackson Lee…even dumber than I thought, and somehow also a graduate of Yale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8lNwJGTzM
***
WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) stunned attendees at a high school solar eclipse event Monday by claiming the rock-solid moon is a “planet” that is “made up mostly of gases” — before adding she still wants to be “first in line” to learn how to live there.
The former top Democrat on the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee badly botched elementary lunar facts while speaking during the gathering at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.
“You’ve heard the word ‘full moon.’ Sometimes you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that complete rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gases,” Jackson Lee, 74, told teenage pupils who gathered on a sports field ahead of the rare celestial event.
***
***
Jackson Lee graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens. She earned a BA in political science from Yale University in 1972 and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.[5]
***
“Earned” LOL
More of the quote should be included.
I know it’s a dedthead but this was an excellent review, Zwak!
I don’t think I’ve read any Elroy (like Chafed, I think I confuse him with Leonard) but I’ll add this to the list – I assume reading his earlier stuff isn’t a prerequisite.
Thanks again!