Nathaniel West is often compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald and I must admit my reasoning behind my own enthusiasms for reading this book was initially rooted in a historic admiration for his close friend, who explored the murky darkness and cracked diamonds of the American Dream in New York. Now it seemed it was time for me to explore Hollywood instead and boy, did I like it. West's dark humour and realistic characters really captured the harsh realism and deception of humanity when faced with boundless promise, and turned The Day of the Locust into something really memorable.
The Day of the Locust is about Tod Hackett, a young aspiring artist working for Hollywood's movie studios in the hope of achieving his great ambitions. But (unfortunately not dissimilar to other books about this time period) reality soon sets in and Los Angeles' facade drifts coolly into the background of this movie set, whilst Todd encounters various profound personalities and lonely despair along the way, including captivating and sultry Faye Greener, a cacophony of cowboys, crooks and hopefuls and oddball accountant Homer Simpson (if you're wondering, it's supposedly not a coincidence that a certain yellow TV character goes by the same name).
Yes, it's unfortunate that the storyline is so predictable and so generic. Of course Tod was deceived by the glimmering lights and sizzling vivacity of America. So was Nick Carraway. We all know how it spirals on from there. Despite the inevitable comparison of West and Fitzgerald, The Day of the Locust still succeeds in producing a unique and tantalising experience and is filled with a profound and infinite brutality which protrudes from every page.
I feel that it is Nathaniel West's flawless ability to deliver a character in such a short text as this which makes The Day of the Locust so outstanding. Never before have I ever felt so similarly bonded yet mystified by a protagonist and the sheer variety and colourfulness in the selection of personalities within this story slightly messed with my mind. The spirit of Hollywood was perfectly captured in the vivaciousness of these people and their thrumming souls completely made up for the lack of plot. I feel that the bold quote which protrudes from the blurb of my edition is particularly poignant and significant in displaying the utter ardency and desperation rooted through this story:
I'm going to be a star some day… If I'm not, I'll commit suicide.
Despite its depressing and superficial exterior, I feel that these words shouldn't be taken as a quite literal advert for death as an alternative to success but as a display of the emotion and effectiveness which Nathaniel West manages to pack into this eerily compact book.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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