Die a Little

The racy cover with it’s exaggerated tag line could easily lead one to believe that Die A Little by Megan Abbott actually is a 1950s pulp thriller, but this is actually a modern written noir story that has captured the flavor of the sleazy side of 1950s Hollywood.

Schoolteacher Lora is dismayed at the woman her brother has chosen to marry. Alice is a show-stopping, knowledgeable firecracker of a woman. Lora does not trust her and as she gets to know her and sees a bit of where she came from, her uneasiness grows. Yes, Lora comes across as slightly jealous and obsessed with her brother, but that only adds to the air of corruption that surrounds this story. Alice comes from the underbelly of Hollywood, having worked as a wardrobe show more assistant, but it is her shady past that she seems to be dragging Lora into.

Megan Abbott excels at writing noir and this book, her debut novel, has captured the darkness that gives this story it’s edge. A story of drugs, prostitutes and murder with tough guys and even tougher dames, Die A Little, was an enjoyable read that gives us more than a hint of what is to come from this author. show less

She wasn't just a B-girl, she was carrying the whole ugly world in her eyes.”
― Megan Abbott, Die a Little

review to follow.

Luscious is the word that comes to mind.

I read this because I found it on Goodreads. So glad I joined this site.

So I have read several of Abbott's books with "Dare Me" being my favorite, so far at least.

I happen to like my books dark. And I love Noir. I also love Noir movies. And then there is this: the cover.

The COVER ART on this..I did not wan t to even read one page at first..just stare at this exquisitec cover. Covers matter..ALOT!

But in terms of the book..maybe I have just read to much domestic Noir and seen to many Noir films. I mean..honestly..I did not love it. The first part of it was really draggy and show more yes I did skim. Alot.

But it picks up. I LOVE the gritty nature of Die a Little. The imagery the book creates is captivating.

But the story really isn't. I guess I expected something a bit more unpredictable and in places, honestly yes, I skipped over or skimmed because some parts were dull.

But here is something else: this book..it is a movie waiting to happen. Assuming it has not happened already.

You see the book ..the images..before you while reading it. It's all there..and I have a feeling I would LOVE the film version of this. Very much. Has it been made into a film yet? Because it would be a damn great one.

I do not say that to often but Abbott is a very visual writer. And this book strongly reminded me of a film called "House of Games", the ultimate Noir film. If you have not heard of it, watch it or read Roger Ebert's review of it. He captures it perfectly.

So that is what I imagine this material could look like on screen. It is viv id and as dark as an alley way at midnight. It just took an awful long time to get going.

I would give it 3.5 stars. I think this might be a book I need to read again. If you like Noir yes read it. This is one that is best read at night, with a glass of wine, listening to the night sounds outside your house or apartment or wherever you live.

And someone needs to turn this into a film. show less

A terrific debut noir novel (2005)! Set in the 1950's, Lora, a schoolteacher, lives with her brother Bill, a rising star in the DA's office. Orphaned years earlier, their relationship is especially close, and each would go to great lengths to protect one another.

Their orderly life is disrupted when Bill meets glamorous Alice and after a whirlwind romance, they marry. Alice busies herself becoming the perfect 1950s housewife with a flurry of cooking, decorating, and neighborhood parties, even going so far as to teach Home Ec at Lora's school. The descriptions of life in the 1950's were spot on.

Lora gradually gets glimpses of Alice which suggests there is more to her than meets the eye. Out of a desire to protect her brother (and perhaps show more out of jealousy too?) she begins to investigate Alice's past life and is soon drawn into a seamy underworld.

Abbott's writing is so good and atmospheric I could literally see it played out in my mind as a movie. The mystery and suspense build slowly and Lora's character especially was intriguing as she comes face to face with her own darker side.

This is my second noir novel by Abbott and I could gobble them down like potato chips - delicious! show less

A noir debut set in 1950’s Hollywood with a sister, Lora, having suspicions of her brother’s new wife, Alice, not being quite who she seemed. When suspicious characters start materialising into their life and inconsistencies in Alice’s story then maybe it’s time for Lora to find out what’s really going on.

This is an incredibly slow-paced story with about 90% of the book being setup until the final rushed ending. Although the writing was good and the setting quite atmospheric and evocative of the time period I just wanted something to actually happen. The character’s though are a little flat and I cared little about who would or wouldn’t make it to the end. All this being said, I did finish it as I still wanted to find out show more what happened in the end and won’t be giving up on the author as I know she is highly rated and this was just her debut effort. show less

A sumptuous, smoky cool debut from 2005 that set the blueprint for the rest of Abbott's noir melodramas. Abbott succeeds wildly in subverting the femme fatale trope, centering the narrative on a twisted, messy relationship between two women in 1950s Hollywood (where else?). Yet, I found myself wishing that the water would swirl down the drain a little faster.

Megan Abbott is my new favorite writer. I love this book even more than the excellent QUEENPIN, her latest. Simply put she is the finest author of contemporary noir I've come across, and her singular skill is plumbing the depths of complex, wounded, hungry women characters, all the way to the dark and silty bottom and beyond.

There is one big flaw in both this book and her last, though it took a friend to point it out to me, and that's why I didn't give it five stars: without giving the ending away, the heroine does not in my mind complete her arc. The heroine's journey is unfulfilled...the fundament does not shift....Oh, Christ, what I'm trying to say is that she doesn't kill the bad guy. Any of them. I think that's a serious omission. show more I don't understand MA's decision, and I have yet to read THE SONG IS YOU, but I'll be looking for a more satisfying denoument.

Okayyy, back to what I love: NO ONE describes longing as exquisitely as MA. No one makes the dark places of the soul look as familiar as she does - it is impossible to resist these characters, no matter how far off the rails they go. And it's *far*: in this case there are incestual passions, ravenous sexual hungers, the lure of and anaesthetizing powers of drugs, and the wholesale forsaking of honor and principle.

Most fascinating is the deliberate and unapologetic - in fact, practically gleeful - job of peeling back the narrators layers by her sister-in-law, until everything perfumed and pretty is gone, and a shocking core is revealed. You cannot read this without being convinced that there are surprises at the core of just about everyone.

MA also does a superb job of slowly lifting the curtains on what is *really* going on in the rather complex plot. Some readers probably get it immediately; I'm one of those who often end up going "Huh?" at the end. So I appreciated the measured, tension-sustaining pace at which bits of the story are revealed, so one's arrival at the end of the story coincides with the piecing together, finally, of what *really* happened.

Not sure about the book's physical format/cover. Same as Eddie Muller's noir books, and it looks like the same artist, too. It's wonderfully retro but I worry that it might turn some readers off (myself included; I only found Abbott and Muller through recommendations).

Some favorite lines from this book:
"His eyes, glossy dark like brine, fixed and waiting."
"She stared at him with eyes like bullet holes, stared at him like she'd never seen him before, and he felt his blood pulsing, the vein in his neck singing. She wasn't just a B-girl, she was carrying the whole ugly world in her eyes." show less

School teacher Lora and her cop brother, Bill, live in L.A. and only have each other. Then Bill meets Alice and they marry so quickly that Lora barely has time to get used to Alice before becoming suspicious of her low-rent friend who is always bruised, and the work credentials that never appear. Lora takes on the job of digging through Alice's past because her brother is too much in love to see that something isn't right.

L.A. noir set in the 50's and done so well. At first it seems like Lora is just an over-protective sister, or, a sister who is jealous of losing her brother to his new wife, but the story that unfolds gets quite juicy.