Read about another novel on the list.The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West
The original journey into Hollywood’s dark side, West’s novel chronicles the desperate scrambling of a bunch of hapless losers desperate to make a name for themselves in the movie business. Fascinating despite a host of deeply unlikable characters, it was named by Time magazine as one of the best books of the last century, and adapted into a movie in 1975 to comparable acclaim. If you need another reason to read it, one of its protagonists is also the namesake for one Homer Simpson (which is, admittedly, a little distracting on first read).
The Day of the Locust is on Amy Sohn's six favorite books list, Megan Wasson's top 5 list of books about Los Angeles, Jerome Charyn's list of the five best tales of dislocation, Jane Ciabattari's list of the five best novels on Hollywood, Jonathan Kellerman's list of the top ten LA noir novels, and Peter Conn's list of the five best novels from the Great Depression; it also appears on Jonathan Evison's list of books about the Spirit of California and John Mullan's list of ten of the best riots in literature.
--Marshal Zeringue
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