Joseph Wambaugh on L.A.
I know he’s not a literary fiction stylist but, even so, I’m not going to apologize for my fondness of Joseph Wambaugh’s novels. Most of them are pure police procedural potboilers, mass market fiction at its best. Of course, being a former LAPD cop, Wambaugh knows his terrain with dead-eyed certainty and writes about the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department with empathy, compassion, and harsh criticism when necessary.
I’m currently reading “Hollywood Station”, Wambaugh’s first novel in a decade (he’s penned a lot of non-fiction in between). Imagine my surprise last night when I came across this wonderful moment of prose from Wambaugh:
It was the kind of early summer evening when the layer of smog burnished the glow from the setting sun and threw a golden light over the Los Angeles basin, and somehow over Hollywood in particular. That light said to people: There are wondrous possibilites here.
January 10, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Sorry, I really wanted to like it but I found it utterly unreadable, and I think some of his earlier stuff–particularly Lines and Shadows–was damn good.
January 10, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Try “Fire Lover” (non-fiction). It’s really quite good. But I am enjoying “Hollywood Station”, John. Sorry.
January 10, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Different strokes for…. I’m with John on the early stuff being better. Rodger, I think your stuff is better than “Hollywood Station” & I found “Fire Lover” a real bore! Diane
January 10, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Gee, thanks, Diane. I think I liked “Fire Lover” because of its Glendale setting. And, yes, I will concede that Wambaugh in his prime was killer: The New Centurions, The Choirboys, The Onion Field … marvelous books.
January 11, 2008 at 10:36 am
I bought The Onion Field for $1.00 at a library in Holmes Beach, FL. I guess I need to read it…
January 11, 2008 at 12:15 pm
“The Onion Field” is a riveting, complex, and tragic tale, Joe; a second cousin to Capote’s “In Cold Blood”, really, and in some regards a far superior book. There was a fairly good — albeit very dark — movie adapted from the book in, I believe, the early 80’s starring James Woods and John Savage.
January 12, 2008 at 1:41 pm
As I recall, one of our very first “conversations” on CL was about “In Cold Blood.” How fitting.
Well, I’ll definitely have to give it a read. I know I’ve seen parts of the movie but I’ll add it to my flix queue and give it another run. After I read the book, that is.
January 12, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Do you still go to the CL Lit Forum, Joe?
January 13, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Not really, no. I guess I didn’t really have much to say anymore and found the whole place…sort of dull.
February 11, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Everyones taste is different, but I thought this was Wambaugh’s best novel in years. At least as good as some of his earlier work. I read somewhere that he might be penning a sequel, which is something he’s never done. I’d look forward to that, but regardless, I hope we haven’t seen the last novel from him.
February 11, 2008 at 8:24 pm
That book is called “Hollywood Crows” and comes out on March 25, Steven. It stars those two oddball partners who are also surfers. I can’t recall the characters’ names.