“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Saturday, August 14, 2010

The Digested Read: BLOOD’S A ROVER by James Ellroy

Following on from the runaway success of last week’s Digested Read chortle-fest, herewith be another. To wit:
The Digested Read: BLOOD’S A ROVER by James Ellroy

Dig it, hepcats: bad men on the rise. Tricky Dick, Edgar J Vamp.
  Check it now:
  RIP MLK. Sayonara Bobby the K. Kuba’s gone, KIA. Hey, is that Mickey Mobster looking south to the Dom Rep? Factor in some Papa Doc rebop. Voodoo dogz howl at the moon and the moon she swoooooooon.
  Kut to: kinky karnival for the good guyz. Ticker-tape for Wayne Tedrow, Dwight Holly. Feds ‘n’ foes both sides of the line.
  Tell it like it is.
  Dig that Mormon KKK vibe.
  Factor in Don Crutchfield. Peeper, doper, small-time lech. Hopped on the lewd nude and her foxy afro. Be he me?
  Cherchez la femme, mofo.
  Scarfing acid, riding the wave. Get wise, dogz: the wave, she ride you.
  Throwdown guns - check. Truck full of coke - check. Head hipped on jazz - check. Heart hopped on jizz - check.
  Check in, check out.
  Kut to: the Brothers rocking the Black Power hour. The revolution reverb. Spooks, mooks and soul-power crooks. Go Panthers! Infiltrate, annihil-hate.
  Hate is good. Hate is whole. See it, feel it, taste it, eat it, be it.
  Say, there’s Sal Mineo. Scuzzy Hollywood vibe. Rat Pack ratz and fat Vegas catz. Say a prayer for Mom’s apple pie.
  Tell it like it is.
  Be kool. Spritz some jive. Hustle the muscle. See America hex itself, re-hex, de-hex.
  Redz under the bedz. Redz in the bedz. Kick their Kommie keisters all the way back to Moskow.
  Green emeralds. Black ops. White cops. Blue-eyed boys and green-eyed girls. Read it and wipe.
  Shoot-’em, loot-’em, dilute-’em. Brute force is truth force. They got the guns but we got the honeys.
  Demokkkracy my lily-white ass.
  Tell it like it is.

  The Digested Read, Digested: Here be monsters. O, America!
  James Ellroy’s BLOOD’S A ROVER is published by Windmill Books.

9 comments:

adrian said...

I'm a fan of AU trilogy, esp The Cold 6000 which I feel is Ellroy's masterpiece. However, Blood's A Rover felt like a bit of a let down. I dont think the Dominican Republic stuff really worked and why he cut the book off before Watergate seems strange. More importantly by the final few pages although I kept being dazzled by Ellroy's wit, intelligence and prose I just wanted the bloody thing to be over.

seana graham said...

Declan, you're a master of this kind of stuff. And considering how long that book is, you digested a hell of a lot. I feel that I read enough of Blood's a Rover to be entitled to say this in this case.

I liked BaR, and I do love Ellroy's style, but didn't persist. I think I should have started back at the beginning of the trilogy.

Declan Burke said...

Ta, folks. I should probably say, I think Ellroy is in a class of his own, utterly brilliant. Of the AU trilogy, I probably like American Tabloid the best ... although it's the LA Quartet I love best of all.

Cheers, Dec

Sean Patrick Reardon said...

I must read Ellroy. Not knowing much about him other than what is discussed on blogs and some samples I have read, my impression is he's kind of a mix of Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, and Tom Wolfe, all of whom I really like. If he adds his own style to the above, I'm really excited!

Declan Burke said...

Sean - an Ellroy novel reads like how a really good Hemingway might read were it electrocuted. Prepare to be blown away.

Cheers, Dec

Peter Rozovsky said...

"why he cut the book off before Watergate seems strange."

Adrian, I asked Ellroy that when he read in Philadelphia.

"Watergate?" he replied. "The biggest SNORE! since Thomas Pynchon."

I figured he's avoiding Watergate until everyone involved is dead.

My v-word is perfect for this post if you say it out loud: conesise
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

seana graham said...

I'm starting to feel like the word verifier is a soul trapped in hell with only these brief forays out for communication.

Peter Rozovsky said...

Or else a bored techie trapped at his keyboard with-- hmm.

Kevin McCarthy said...

you got the gift Declan. Yet again, hilarious. American Tabloid was a work of genius. 6000 was painful, as if he had to get his money's worth out of his staff of researchers. Haven't read BaRover yet and now I don't have to!