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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
If you have seen this movie, you have practically read the book. The Humphrey Bogart version is clearly from a time when movie producers knew a good thing when they read one. I couldn't read this story without hearing the signature Bogie voice, Peter Lorre as Cairo, Sydney Greenstreet as Gutman, and Mary Astor as the original femme fatale. If you like mystery, noir, heck good damn writing, and you have not read this book, do it now. It will not take long and you won't regret it. And see the movie too. Classic Bogie.
A quintessential noir.
I've never seen the movie, so I got to go in only knowing noir as a genre. I'm surprised by how much the story itself still holds up. Great pacing, fun characters, and every chapter feels like it does something worthwhile. Not a moment of boredom searching for that black bird!
I've never seen the movie, so I got to go in only knowing noir as a genre. I'm surprised by how much the story itself still holds up. Great pacing, fun characters, and every chapter feels like it does something worthwhile. Not a moment of boredom searching for that black bird!
I don't think I even have words to describe how far above my expectations this novel flew. Sam Spade, the "blonde Satan" we've all come to picture as Humphrey Bogart, is a devious son of a bitch, scheming, extorting, and sleuthing all at once. His utter disregard for authority, his offhandedly sexist treatment of women, his deliberate cutthroat actions once he's solved the mystery; all these things twist a little darker and a little meaner than Bogart ever even tried to play Sam.
The plot of the novel seems almost inconsequential to Hammett. He (and we as readers) are much more interested in Sam Spade and his affairs. The highlights of the book for me are not plot points but character beats, where Sam shows his true colors, doggedly determined and self-serving though they may be. The differences in his interactions with Effie, Brigid, and Iva; the way he treats women in general; his mercenary tendencies--or his tendency to appear quite mercenary; especially the way he seems to go through life with a sneer on his mouth and the surety that he can weasel his way out of anything life throws at him, all make for a character difficult to forget.
And the genius of Hammett is that we don't want to forget. We want to see Sam in more difficult situations, watch him worm his way out, manhandle women, and lie to police officers. He's the very definition of antihero, and Hammett manages to make us love him for that.
The plot of the novel seems almost inconsequential to Hammett. He (and we as readers) are much more interested in Sam Spade and his affairs. The highlights of the book for me are not plot points but character beats, where Sam shows his true colors, doggedly determined and self-serving though they may be. The differences in his interactions with Effie, Brigid, and Iva; the way he treats women in general; his mercenary tendencies--or his tendency to appear quite mercenary; especially the way he seems to go through life with a sneer on his mouth and the surety that he can weasel his way out of anything life throws at him, all make for a character difficult to forget.
And the genius of Hammett is that we don't want to forget. We want to see Sam in more difficult situations, watch him worm his way out, manhandle women, and lie to police officers. He's the very definition of antihero, and Hammett manages to make us love him for that.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Paper-thin characters including a gay Middle-Eastern villain with the last name Cairo and a protagonist who someone manages to seduce every woman, win every physical altercation, and crack every case without ever spending energy on investigating anything.
Dnf at part 3. I just couldnt get through it =( the audiobook was really difficult to follow. I like the idea of having multiple different actors read a novel as a play, but to hear it in action is really confusing.