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Joe's Word
In Echo Park, a neighborhood at the wrong end of Sunset Boulevard, Joe, a cool cynic, lives marginally. Ironically, he finds himself becoming more involved than he’d planned in the lives of his clients, linked to their dreams and to their despair, and in some cases to their dirty secrets. His financial reliance on a sleazy character who needs pornographic letters to send mail-order brides soon complicates his relationship with his girlfriend, the beautiful Clio. This noir-style novel vividly brings to life an embattled community of mostly have-nots who attempt to survive city corruption, police harassment, and the daily grind with humor and sheer grit.
Elizabeth Stromme has published two noir novels in Gallimard’s Serie Noir in France. She also writes for Le Monde and the L.A. Alternative Press.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
162 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Stromme
2 books2 followersGrew up in Edina, Minnesota and traveled the world with her husband for years. Together they moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Graduated from the Northrup Collegiate School (now Blake School) in Minneapolis. Graduated from the University of Minnesota in the late 1960s.
Stromme wrote the "Underground Gardener" column for the old L.A. Alternative Press.
Her novel Plunder in the Grass: A Botanical Garden at Work was optioned in 2006 by filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
Graduated from the Northrup Collegiate School (now Blake School) in Minneapolis. Graduated from the University of Minnesota in the late 1960s.
Stromme wrote the "Underground Gardener" column for the old L.A. Alternative Press.
Her novel Plunder in the Grass: A Botanical Garden at Work was optioned in 2006 by filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 14, 2007
The late and much missed Elizabeth Stromme wrote many books here in Los Angeles, and most of them were and translated in France. This is the only novel (at this time) that was published in English (her native language, she's just popular in France!) and it's a winner. First of all it's a noirish tale that takes place in Echo Park -which is a community very close to where I live. She uses the locals very well - and damn, she is going to be missed.
From the beginning of the (current) war she was on the interection between Hollywood Blvd where it meets Sunset Blvd and Hillhurst protesting that damn thing. She started by herself, and within weeks she got others to join her. Very Frank Capra if you think about it! She was a remarkable talent and a great spirit. I didn't know her that well, but she sure has my respect. And her novel is super cool! Six stars and counting!
From the beginning of the (current) war she was on the interection between Hollywood Blvd where it meets Sunset Blvd and Hillhurst protesting that damn thing. She started by herself, and within weeks she got others to join her. Very Frank Capra if you think about it! She was a remarkable talent and a great spirit. I didn't know her that well, but she sure has my respect. And her novel is super cool! Six stars and counting!
December 16, 2020
Book rating: 2.5 stars
The completion feeling at the end didn't redeem the book. I felt like stopping early on. Keep telling myself to trust those feelings, move onto something else.
The book was odd, the main character Joe is a "Public Writer" and many of his clients are not your average 'Joe'. This is a neighborhood type book. Joe walks from his dingy apartment to his work, where he rents space in a hair salon. We meet various neighborhood characters, including a homeless man who's rants are fairly factual. It sounds like it should be okay, but there was so much creep factor and misogyny, that I'm surprised a woman wrote the book. The book would've worked better without that emphasis.
The completion feeling at the end didn't redeem the book. I felt like stopping early on. Keep telling myself to trust those feelings, move onto something else.
The book was odd, the main character Joe is a "Public Writer" and many of his clients are not your average 'Joe'. This is a neighborhood type book. Joe walks from his dingy apartment to his work, where he rents space in a hair salon. We meet various neighborhood characters, including a homeless man who's rants are fairly factual. It sounds like it should be okay, but there was so much creep factor and misogyny, that I'm surprised a woman wrote the book. The book would've worked better without that emphasis.
November 22, 2025
I love to read books set in my hometown of Los Angeles that capture some of the spirit of the place. I found this on a list of classic Los Angeles novels that everyone must read, but it is out of print and not available for purchase. I finally found it at the LA public library.
It is very much a neighborhood story, set in the Echo Park neighborhood in the 1990s. Echo Park is at the foot of the hill below Dodger Stadium. There is a park there with a big lake and swan boats. The time when this book is set was the beginning of gentrification, but it was still pretty down at the heels. My daughter lived there for a year during COVID when gentrification had proceeded a bit further, but the general feel and description of the neighborhood in the book corresponds pretty well to the neighborhood that I know - ethnically diverse, a sense of community, semi-gentrified, a connection with the neighboring Dodgers, lots of poverty and homelessness and more than the usual measure of police harassment, with plenty of noisy, scary helicopters.
The protagonist, Joe, is a bit of a mystery and a lost soul. There are only hints of why he is there and what makes him tick. You want to like him, but there is always a question mark. He has a girlfriend, Clio, who is the best character in the book. Joe doesn't appreciate her enough. And then there is the long cast of neighborhood characters - Teresa the hairdresser and her daughter, Willie the man who pays Joe to conduct fantasy correspondence with mail order brides, and the rest of the gang. The best of the minor characters is Beanie, a homeless man who harangues the neighborhood from his soapbox. Beanie lives on the street, but is saner than he seems and secretly has a lot of money that allows him to regularly donate substantial amounts to charity. He reminded me of Kenny who would stand at the foot of Market St. and harangue people all day in the early 2000s when I was working in San Francisco. Then when I would take the ferry home in the evening to upscale Marin County, Kenny was there with the other commuters, going home to a presumably soft bed after a long day of haranguing.
The book has been described as noir. I guess so in the sense that is a story about people on the margins told in simple declarative sentences. It wasn't really fully noir in its style or atmosphere. That's OK with me because it gives a nod to noir, but manages to be its own thing. Other people who read this book looking for noir may be disappointed.
It is very much a neighborhood story, set in the Echo Park neighborhood in the 1990s. Echo Park is at the foot of the hill below Dodger Stadium. There is a park there with a big lake and swan boats. The time when this book is set was the beginning of gentrification, but it was still pretty down at the heels. My daughter lived there for a year during COVID when gentrification had proceeded a bit further, but the general feel and description of the neighborhood in the book corresponds pretty well to the neighborhood that I know - ethnically diverse, a sense of community, semi-gentrified, a connection with the neighboring Dodgers, lots of poverty and homelessness and more than the usual measure of police harassment, with plenty of noisy, scary helicopters.
The protagonist, Joe, is a bit of a mystery and a lost soul. There are only hints of why he is there and what makes him tick. You want to like him, but there is always a question mark. He has a girlfriend, Clio, who is the best character in the book. Joe doesn't appreciate her enough. And then there is the long cast of neighborhood characters - Teresa the hairdresser and her daughter, Willie the man who pays Joe to conduct fantasy correspondence with mail order brides, and the rest of the gang. The best of the minor characters is Beanie, a homeless man who harangues the neighborhood from his soapbox. Beanie lives on the street, but is saner than he seems and secretly has a lot of money that allows him to regularly donate substantial amounts to charity. He reminded me of Kenny who would stand at the foot of Market St. and harangue people all day in the early 2000s when I was working in San Francisco. Then when I would take the ferry home in the evening to upscale Marin County, Kenny was there with the other commuters, going home to a presumably soft bed after a long day of haranguing.
The book has been described as noir. I guess so in the sense that is a story about people on the margins told in simple declarative sentences. It wasn't really fully noir in its style or atmosphere. That's OK with me because it gives a nod to noir, but manages to be its own thing. Other people who read this book looking for noir may be disappointed.
October 8, 2014
Here are the questions we discussed at the Reading the Western Landscape Book Club at the Arboretum Library of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden on October 1, 2014.
• Did the book seem “noir” to you? How? Or how not?
• Did the author successfully convey a male voice? How? How not?
o Is that what all the writing about sex was all about? How did that focus contribute to or take away from the book?
• What was Beanie’s role?
• There seemed to be unresolved loose ends? What was the purpose of that?
• What has lingered in your mind since you finished the book?
• Tell us your take on the neighborhood? The helicopters?
• Were there any parts that you just couldn’t believe within the context of the story?
• Was there authenticity to the intermingling/stratification of the various economic strata within L.A.?
• Has anyone read Simenon? How does that fit into this story? Do you want to read him now? What did you think about the mapping of the places in his stories?
• Why did everyone just assume that the lotus smelled terrible instead of the body?
• Tell whether there were there any misconceptions about L.A. that this book helps to perpetuate and what they were.
• Why did all the gardens die?
• Did the book seem “noir” to you? How? Or how not?
• Did the author successfully convey a male voice? How? How not?
o Is that what all the writing about sex was all about? How did that focus contribute to or take away from the book?
• What was Beanie’s role?
• There seemed to be unresolved loose ends? What was the purpose of that?
• What has lingered in your mind since you finished the book?
• Tell us your take on the neighborhood? The helicopters?
• Were there any parts that you just couldn’t believe within the context of the story?
• Was there authenticity to the intermingling/stratification of the various economic strata within L.A.?
• Has anyone read Simenon? How does that fit into this story? Do you want to read him now? What did you think about the mapping of the places in his stories?
• Why did everyone just assume that the lotus smelled terrible instead of the body?
• Tell whether there were there any misconceptions about L.A. that this book helps to perpetuate and what they were.
• Why did all the gardens die?
August 7, 2008
I gave this the requisite 50 pages before conceding that it was highly unreadable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews