Play Audiobook Sample
The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.01) - 380 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
The legendary crime writer gives us a raw, brutally candid memoir—as high intensity and as riveting as any of his novels—about his obsessive search for “atonement in women.” The year was 1958. Jean Hilliker had divorced her fast-buck hustler husband and resurrected her maiden name. Her son, James, was ten years old. He hated and lusted after his mother and “summoned her dead.” She was murdered three months later. The Hilliker Curse is a predator’s confession, a treatise on guilt and on the power of malediction, and above all, a cri de cœur. James Ellroy unsparingly describes his shattered childhood, his delinquent teens, his writing life, his love affairs and marriages, his nervous breakdown, and the beginning of a relationship with an extraordinary woman who may just be the long-sought Her. A layered narrative of time and place, emotion and insight, sexuality and spiritual quest, The Hilliker Curse is a brilliant, soul-baring revelation of self. It is unlike any memoir you have ever read.
Download and start listening now!
"It would be a disservice to yourself to not listen to Ellroy's reading of this book. Read like a confession it's probably the closest you'll get to comprehending the man. In fact, in some parts of the book Ellroy the reader seems to mock Ellroy the writer. He should narrate more of his books. "
— Jeremy (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
“Forceful and unsparing in its revelations…Marvelous fury, passion, and energy.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“A remarkable memoir…Once again…Ellroy [has] come up with the goods.”
— Economist -
“The words bounce around in a world where tense is fluid, where hard-consonants rule the day, where conventional definitions are tossed on their heads. He pushes his readers’ limits by demanding that they enter a world created solely for the purpose of brutally truthful revelation.”
— Chicago Sun-Times -
“As fascinating as it is at times utterly disturbing.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“Ellroy is expert and relentless at dramatizing the effects [of his obsession].”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Ellroy’s acrobatic pizzazz is beyond doubt…This is literary knife-throwing at its most exhilarating and dangerous.”
— Observer (London) -
“Perhaps the most confessional memoir I’ve ever read.”
— Dallas Morning News -
“Terrible, exhilarating, exhauting, entertaining, and downright tragic. It’s also brutally honest.”
— Las Vegas Review Journal -
“There’s no doubt about it: James Ellroy is a fascinating character…He’s as hard to ignore as a burning fire truck…The revelations are compelling, as the author indicts the tough-guy persona he has so meticulously constructed.”
— Booklist -
“A fervent portrait of the artist as a young screw-up—an old one, too, who writes like an avenging angel…It’s vintage Ellroy.”
— Kirkus Reviews
The Hilliker Curse Listener Reviews
-
" I'm willing to accept a great deal of psychotic egotism in an author and James Ellroy doesn't disappoint in his second memoir The Hilliker Curse. Though he offers plenty of wince-worthy self-aggrandizement in this book, he also offers a startlingly frank confession of both his perversions and his affections. Neither one is easy for a man to admit, let alone detail as Ellroy does here. However, I think this book's real value is as a journal of a great writer during a period of time that was both emotionally and creatively significant. As much as I enjoyed reading Ellroy dish on his own private dramas, I was much more keen to read about his rejection of his own style in The Cold Six Thousand, what led to his very different voice in Blood's a Rover, and his conceptualization of a second LA Quartet (the first of which, Perfidia, is rumored to be out later this year). This was interesting, but only that - it's no My Dark Places but still worth reading for the hardcore Ellroy fans. "
— Kenneth, 2/16/2014 -
" It's just a brilliant staccato-written book. It also mirrors so many of my own thoughts and feelings about broads. "
— Brian, 2/11/2014 -
" Absolutely hated this book. Two hundred plus pages of Ellroy talking about past relationships. Fuck off old man. We don't give a shit. "
— Les, 2/8/2014 -
" As compelling, blunt, noir, intelligent and creepy as his fiction. If you like that, don't miss this confessional autobiography about the women in his life, starting with his mother, murdered when he was a kid. This book explains a lot about Ellroy's fiction, especially its dark corners, although he's so dismissive of his last memoir (My Dark Places) that I'm left thinking that he left a lot untold here in an attempt to win over his audience in spite of his self-abasing egomania. "
— Chris, 2/3/2014 -
" That James Ellroy is one crazy motherf*cker. "
— Melissa, 1/31/2014 -
" That was exquisitely frustrating. "
— Beckydham, 1/25/2014 -
" The first quarter or so is dull, repetitive and not new information, but once the writing career kicks in this memoir really takes off, albeit you'll need to be able to endure a lot of self loathing to get through it! "
— Craig, 1/22/2014 -
" There are plenty of things to love about James Ellroy's mysteries--from intriguing yet morally questionable characters to the particular staccato character of his prose. Both are present in The Hilliker Curse, but critics were much less impressed with this memoir than with his fiction. Most felt his prose style confusing, particularly in cases where clarity would seem required. They also had trouble sympathizing with Ellroy's predations, even when he presented a reasonable explanation for his behavior. While many found in his story something to pity, that didn't mean they liked the book. However, Ellroy's most devoted fans may appreciate this added insight into the author's psyche. The rest can move on. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine. "
— Bookmarks, 1/18/2014 -
" Weeping-Jesus-on-the-cross, what sort of wayward trip was that? I suppose blazing through such in one sitting is the ideal route, but I am left here shaking my head and searching for ashes in my mouth. "
— Jonfaith, 1/10/2014 -
" James Ellroy's previous memoir ("My Dark Places") was so much better! "
— Ellen, 1/5/2014 -
" interesting how to built a writer "
— Valérianne, 12/26/2013 -
" Ellroy is out there. "
— David, 11/17/2013 -
" Ellroy at his most memoirishly vulnerable. "
— Mark, 11/2/2013 -
" The story of his life with women, beginning with his murdered mother. Interesting how he uses his own wives/girlfriends in his novels. "
— Richard, 10/26/2013 -
" It would be a disservice to yourself to not listen to Ellroy's reading of this book. Read like a confession it's probably the closest you'll get to comprehending the man. In fact, in some parts of the book Ellroy the reader seems to mock Ellroy the writer. He should narrate more of his books. "
— Jeremy, 1/9/2013 -
" A very enlightening look into the mind of author James Ellroy, the history behind his mother's murder, and his own misogonistic ways. A good read for any Ellroy reader. "
— Mike, 12/10/2012 -
" couldn't force myself to finish this. I can't believe it. "
— Boozy, 10/11/2012 -
" Not my favorite. Borderline annoying. "
— Colette, 9/24/2012 -
" Ellroy bares his soul here. He's a weirdo and aint afraid to share. Anyone who has him pegged as a Misogynist is way off. His love of woman is all consuming. They need to read this. "
— Lorraine, 9/6/2012 -
" Ellroy looks farther into himself than maybe he ever has. His razor-sharp staccato stylings cut deep. Naked soul-baring. A read like no other. "
— Ward, 6/30/2012 -
" This is a must read for any Ellroy fan! A personal, poignant memoir from one of America's crime novelists. I couldn't put it down. Man, this guy ha done some stuff. I live in downtown San Francisco and I always keep an eye out hoping I spot Ellroy haunting some of his old digs. "
— Stephen, 1/2/2012 -
" It's just a brilliant staccato-written book. It also mirrors so many of my own thoughts and feelings about broads. "
— Brian, 12/8/2010 -
" That James Ellroy is one crazy motherf*cker. "
— Melissa, 11/17/2010 -
" James Ellroy's previous memoir ("My Dark Places") was so much better! "
— Ellen, 11/8/2010 -
" Ellroy at his most memoirishly vulnerable. "
— Mark, 10/22/2010
About James Ellroy
James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His LA Quartet novels—The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—were international bestsellers. American Tabloid was Time’s Novel of the Year for 1995, and his memoir My Dark Places was a Time Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book for 1996. He lives on the California coast.