Customer Reviews

Joe's Word: An Echo Park Novel (City Lights Noir)

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Joe's Word is a mostly enjoyable but sometimes too self-consciously quirky novel about the residents of Echo Park, an unhip section of L.A., "on the wrong side of Sunset Boulevard" as Joe, the narrator, puts it. Joe is a "writer for hire," a quaintly unlikely profession in today's digital world (though the novel is set in 1995, when the Internet was in its infancy). Joe's work consists mainly in writing resumes, but he also has some offbeat clients, such as Willie, a middle-aged man who collects Asian penpals and Beanie, an eccentric sidewalk proselytizer. Joe's Word doesn't have much action; the novel centers on the everyday conversations and events in this neighborhood. Joe's office is next to a beauty salon called Hair Today, whose proprietress Teresa also acts as Joe's assistant (as improbable as it is that someone like Joe would be in a position to hire a staff). Joe drifts into a relationship with one of Teresa's clients, a younger woman (though Joe's age is never specified, he seems to be in his mid-forties or thereabouts) named Clio.

The story is meandering, the pace slow and leisurely. This book was first published in France. The author, Elizabeth Stromme, has previously published books in that country, and I can see why. The pace and the focus on eccentric provincial characters has a European flavor with which many Americans (including, I'm a little ashamed to admit, this one) may get impatient. The book's jacket calls it a "noir style" novel, and this is sort of true, only it's noir sans many of the qualities that noir usually contains, such as murder and suspense. The tale flirts with crime and shady dealings, but they remain in the background. My least favorite parts of the book were Joe's long letters to would-be Asian brides (and the replies) for his client Willie. These letters are, I suppose, meant to be funny, but to me they just dragged on. This is a book I wanted to like more than I did; I like novels set in L.A. as well as noirish atmosphere and Elizabeth Stromme is a fine writer. While I enjoyed it, I just found the pace too slow and some of the characters a little too cutesy. On the other hand, this is the sort of book that has an ambiance and characters that some people will adore, and I hope it finds its audience.

What I especially like about this quirky short novel is the tone which is evocative of LA's darkest secrets and most peculiar characters. From start to finish, it is this tone that permeates the writing and draws one in to a very strage world. Can LA really be like this? I suspect so. City Lights' choice to include Stromme's novel in its new "noir series" is indicative of just how unique this work is. Don't expect a compelling plot line and it won't change your life but be prepared for a dreamlike excursion to places you may not want to visit in reality. It's a refreshing take on the noir sensibility with a dreamy overlay of a well understood and slightly disturbing place.

I heard Stromme do a reading from the novel at City Lights a couple of months ago and can attest to the probabilty that she may well be as eccentric as her characters!

I admire anyone who can write a novel. The organization of one is a difficult endeavor; however, I feel compelled to warn potential readers that they may not be getting the kind of book they had envisioned based on the commercial reviews.

In some sense I feel terrible about having to direct people away from purchasing this novel as I did. Perhaps it would be better to borrow it from your local library.

The author has gone in the right direction by setting the novel in Echo Park and the idea of a "public writer" opens up worlds of possibility. Unfortunately, the author is not able to pull it off, though. The characters surrounding, Joe, the title character are uninteresting, living lives that I really didn't care to read about. In fiction, I generally am not interested in reading about people who lead more boring lives that I do. (And I lead a pretty boring life.) My idea about fiction is that situations and characters should be distilled or heightened in very particular ways.

Unfortunately, "Joe's Word" does not achieve this and I cannot in all good faith suggest that it be purchased.

Distinctive and very good for those who've only seen LA on TV or film, that its's also a 'familiar' urban life. Liked it especially for not being cranked up into "DRAMA" and for the way in which the letters are this make-believe, and then the varied consequences that the make-believe has; and the way it is NOT predictable the way those consequences do work out.