Super Short Summary

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West follows Tod Hackett, an aspiring artist who moves to early 1930s Hollywood after graduating from Yale. He becomes disillusioned with the shallow aspirations of Hollywood's denizens while working on a painting depicting an apocalypse. Hackett befriends various characters, including an aspiring actress and a man with motor control dysfunction, witnessing the dark undercurrents of pursuit for fame. The book includes depictions of sexual violence and suicide.