Los Angeles: A Novel Review

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Los Angeles: A Novel Review"Los Angeles", Peter Moore Smith's follow-up to the superb "Raveling", starts interestingly enough with a romance between Angel Veronchek, son of a billionaire producer and mentally unstable albino, and his next door neighbor and part time stripper, Angela. Moreover, as Smith toys with the chronology and draws into question Angel's reliability as a narrator, "Los Angeles" sets up to be a subtle meditation on reality, and the reliability of our own memory.
And ultimately it does, unfortunately in between there is far too much rambling discourse and irrelevant information. At 338 pages, "Los Angeles" would have been far more successful at around 225, because when Smith finally hits his stride half way into the text, there are some genuinely fascinating twists and turns, but by then the reader is jaundiced by the slog that lead up to that point. Moreover, Smith never seems quite sure what he wants this book to be. With "Raveling", the reader knew from the start that something horrible had definitely happened, and it was left to the novel to reveal how and why. With "Los Angeles" it's not at all clear what, if anything has happened, and Smith even seems comfortable with not much of anything happening at all.
This wouldn't be a problem if Angel's personal growth represented the focal point of the story. However, Angel is a deeply disturbed individual and whatever progress he makes is as much the result of the pharmaceutical industry as his development as an adult, and as such is somewhat difficult to get excited about.
To be fair, when Smith finally gets to the heart of the issue, he deftly weaves together a reality that is utterly at odds with the reader's perception (as presented by Angel) and yet in no way contradictory to it. Even then though, Smith's seeming uncertainty about his message rears it's head as an entirely unnecessary layer of cause and effect is tacked on over the final chapters.
Smith is clearly a talented writer, and I'll read any future books based upon the strength of "Raveling" alone. Moreover, "Los Angeles" contains some genuinely original and interesting writing. The problem is, there's too much miscellany getting in the way, and the result is what should have been a brisk short novel or even novella is stretched out into what feels like a bloated three hundred plus pages. Not bad per se, but something of a disappointment, "Los Angeles" may be worth a read in paperback, but doesn't warrant a hardcover purchase. As an alternative, if you are looking for something that deals with fractured realities, try Steve Erickson's tremendous "Our Ecstatic Days".
Jake Mohlman
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