Ellen Rogers

by James T. Farrell

Ellen Rogers, nineteen, pampered and playful, beautiful and bored, found tormenting boys more exciting than horse-back riding or piano lessons, She had already twisted Bill Northrup round her fingers and discarded him. Now she was looking for bigger game.

Ed ("Hellfire") Lanson, good-looking, powerful, self-educated, brutal, had an egotism which could crush Ellen's. His quotations from Swinburne and Nietzsche, his studied lovemaking, his calculated ruthlessness, reduced Ellen to a bewildered love-sick girl.

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

James Thomas Farrell was an American novelist. One of his most famous works was the Studs Lonigan trilogy, which was made into a film in 1960 and into a television miniseries in 1979. The trilogy was voted number 29 on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.

Reviews

[William Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than average tale of two narcissists falling for one another. Ed, the male, is charismatic cad and would be Nietzchean Superman, but too lazy to do anything with his life except seduce one woman after another, and borrow money from them. Ellen, is bored, lazy, and arrogant. She’s also beautiful and likes toying with young me. Ed and Ellen meet, fall in some version of love. Ellen falls harder, blind to what everyone else sees, that Ed is a bigger jerk than she is. One thing leads to another . The ending is not a happy one. It’s not as good a book as Studs Lonigan by a long shot, but entertaining enough.

[Christopher Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh look, a human read this book.
I read this always looking forward to my next chance to pick it up. Even with the ending spoiled (in part) by "My Days of Anger," it was a good read. I could pick out foreshadowing much easier.
There were parts that made me laugh out loud, and others made me flinch.
For me it's a great addition to anyone interested in the Chicago opus. Ellen was a character even more tangential to the O'Neil series than Gashouse McGinty. I might have to reread the bits that mention her.