The Choirboys

Synopsis
The adventures and exploits of individual LAPD squads culminate in tragedy.

My thoughts
I hated this book on so many levels that I found myself doing all sorts of tedious and detested things—scrubbing the bathroom, managing my 401(k), watching entire soccer matches on ESPN2—just to avoid reading it. Eventually, I had to admit defeat, and The Choirboys earned my first (and hopefully only) did-not-finish of the year.

It's a satire; interestingly, my 2011 DNF book, Super Sad True Love Story, was also billed as a satire. Here's my thing: satire has to have a sharp, biting sense of humor. I adore The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. I thought 1984 was brilliant. And although I didn't particularly enjoy Catch–22, I appreciated the absurdity of it. The Choirboys tries to recreate Catch–22 in Los Angeles, but it only succeeds in being a not-very-entertaining rip-off.

But that's not the main reason I couldn't bring myself to finish it. The book is populated by a boatload of loutish, deeply unlikable LAPD malcontents. I knew their stories were building to some sort of climax, but each individual chapter was a morass of not-funny stories featuring pathetic men that didn't advance the story. I didn't get any sort of value or entertainment from them, and after about two-thirds of the book I couldn't take any more.

Bottom line
No.

Fine print
The Choirboys, by Joseph Wambaugh
Genre: crime, fiction, satire
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from the library