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My Dark Places
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
8 posts | 13 read | 12 to read
"Astonishing . . . original, daring, brilliant." --Philadelphia Inquirer In 1958 Jean Ellroy was murdered, her body dumped on a roadway in a seedy L.A. suburb. Her killer was never found, and the police dismissed her as a casualty of a cheap Saturday night. James Ellroy was ten when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years running from her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, Ellroy quit running. He went back to L.A., to find out the truth about his mother--and himself. In My Dark Places, our most uncompromising crime writer tells what happened when he teamed up with a brilliant homicide cop to investigate a murder that everyone else had forgotten--and reclaim the mother he had despised, desired, but never dared to love. What ensues is a epic of loss, fixation, and redemption, a memoir that is also a history of the American way of violence. "Ellroy is more powerful than ever." --The Nation From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Chelsea.Poole
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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Pickpick

I took this photo when I started this book— now the trees are all bare, sun is gone, and it‘s too cold to read outside. Been reading for awhile! A true crime from mystery author James Ellroy, whose mother, Jean Ellroy was murdered in ‘58 in El Monte, near LA. James was only 10 at the time. This book begins as a timeline of her death and quickly goes off the rails into rambling-memoir-territory darkness. The case remains unsolved. Low pick.

EvieBee I listened to 15 mins of his podcast about this and, although I‘m not at all peevish or anything, it made me really uncomfortable! 1y
SamAnne I loved this memoir. Read it many years ago and prompted me to pick up some of his fiction, which certainly is a mixed bag. But oh this one. Such sparse sentences that cut to the core. 1y
kaysworld1 @EvieBee May I ask what the podcast is called I've been getting into them recently while studying xx 1y
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Chelsea.Poole @EvieBee I can see that…there‘s such darkness here. I was made uncomfortable reading this throughout. 1y
Chelsea.Poole @SamAnne this also made me curious about his fiction. Have you read this? 1y
EvieBee @kaysworld1 Audible has a free original series for members called James Ellroy‘s Hollywood Deathtrap. It has 8 episodes and he discusses 4 cases. His narration is stellar! This would be #truecrime (edited) 1y
EvieBee @Chelsea.Poole I really liked this one! The mystery kind of dribbled off at the end, but writing and sense of place was A+! (edited) 1y
71 likes1 stack add7 comments
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Chelsea.Poole
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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Soaking up every bit of warmth and sunlight I can before it‘s all gone. Porch reading before dinner tonight. 🌻

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Coffeymuse
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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So enjoying this read-wish I had a longer lunch!

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KadeLexical
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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“Stoner learned that men killed women because the world ignored and condoned it”

6 likes2 stack adds
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Reviewsbylola
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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Pickpick

This was a mixed bag for me. The things I loved about it, I really loved. The combination of true crime/memoir/investigative piece was spectacular. I also loved how Ellroy imbued the entire narrative with a true sense of 50s crime novels. What I didn't love was how Ellroy would revert to stream of thought style writing. It made a lot of the book become very repetitious. I also think this could have easily been 100 pages shorter.

[DELETED] 2232195534 I keep thinking I need to read one of his books and then I don't. I just go watch L A Confidential again. 😉 8y
61 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Reviewsbylola
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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Enjoying my last birthday cupcake with a hot latte and a good book. I just started part two and I found it really interesting that Ellroy focused on the crime of his mother in part one without injecting a personal element. It was very matter of fact. Now in part two, it has turned into a memoir wherein he relates his troubled relationship with his mother and the different emotions he dealt with when she was murdered.

Cinfhen Latte, cupcake, book...perfect after ~party!!! Enjoy 8y
Well-ReadNeck Happy Birthday! 🎉 8y
Carol Happy birthday!! 8y
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britt_brooke Happy Birthday! 🎈 8y
BookishTrish Happy Birthday! 🍰 8y
ScrappyMags Happy bday! 8y
katedensen Happy Birthday!! 8y
suvata 🎂 Happy birthday to you! 8y
Karen3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 🎉🎁🎂 8y
candc320 Happy Birthday!!! 8y
Varshitha Happy birthday 🎂 8y
LeahBergen Happy Birthday! (this book was freaky!) 8y
TheLondonBookworm Happy Birthday cute cupcake!! 8y
77 likes4 stack adds13 comments
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Reviewsbylola
My Dark Places | James Ellroy
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I'm struggling with the worst reading rut i have had in a long time. I have read so many amazing books recently in such a short amount of time that my brain just feels fried. I have read the first few pages of five or six books, at least, with no luck. So I am hoping this one does the trick. It is the longest standing book on my Goodreads TBR list (February 2008).

Suzze Mine is Thistle and Twigg, added May, 2007. 8y
rachel_mbc Good luck with your rut. 🍀 I love dipping in and out of lots of books, but I end up feeling so unproductive. 8y
Karen3 I was afraid to look, but it wasn't so bad January 2013 This Girl by CoHo. Hope the slump goes away soon cause I love following what you read. 8y
Notafraidofwords I'm so scared that will happen to me. 8y
BethFishReads Sounds like me in July. Just keep trying 😊 8y
66 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Reviewsbylola
My Dark Places | James Ellroy

I'm struggling with the worst reading rut i have had in a long time. I have read so many amazing books recently in such a short amount of time that my brain just feels fried. I have read the first few pages of five or six books, at least, with no luck. So I am hoping this one does the trick. It is the longest standing book on my Goodreads TBR list (February 2008).