Reviews with content warning for Racism - Farewell, My Lovely

horrible racism. couldn’t get over it. stupid book, and all the slurs are SO not needed to create the ‘hardboiled detective’ vibe chandler tries to achieve. blegh

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iteechesinglish's review against another edition

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mysterious

4.0

Continuing my read through of the Philip Marlowe series. I originally read this is college. I had forgotten how much racist language there was in this book, that was an unfortunate rediscovery. The use of racist stereotypes is also problematic. If you can get past that, it's an entertaining read with plenty of adventure.

The plot starts with Marlowe following a suspicious man into a bar. The man claims to be looking for a woman named Velma. He's not in the mood to take no for an answer and kills someone when they don't have the information he's looking for. The man turns out to be "Moose" Mallow, an ex-con just released from prison. Marlowe decides the best way to find Moose is to look for Velma, but before he can get far he gets tangled up in another murder. Wealthy playboy Lindsay Marriott calls Marlowe asking for protection while paying ransom for some stolen jewels. The night goes badly and, Marlowe is taken from behind and when he comes to he finds Marriott has been killed. Fortunately the spunky and resourceful Anne Riordan stops to help. And so Marlowe begins to untangle two seemingly unrelated deaths and a fair amount of police corruption besides.

The mystery was okay, but not a jaw-dropping surprise. The portrayal of an honest private eye trying to make a living in a corrupt city is the main draw of these novels, and Philip Marlowe is definitely a fun character to read about.

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geekface's review against another edition

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This book is notably dated - racist and sexist - and I felt increasingly uncomfortable as I was reading it until I had to put it down.

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noonjinx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Another great Philip Marlowe novel. Full of pathos and tragedy, but buoyed up by some of the most entertaining writing ever. I love how there are two different mysteries here that seem to be connected by coincidence until you get to the end and have that “aha, it all makes sense” moment. The characters are all great but I love Moose Malloy the most.

There is *a lot* of racism in this book which makes parts of it uncomfortable to read. The murder of a black character is not considered as important as the killing of a white one, and the main character spends a chapter mocking a Native American.

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lizsmartie13's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Besides the glaring period-typical racism, this was an intriguing little noir thriller. I get why Chandler is held in such high regard. ACAB.

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bookfann's review against another edition

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4.0

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samanthawattam's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Synopsis: It all starts with Moose Malloy who is looking for Velma a redhead, he has just been released from prison where he did 8 years for a bank job and Velma was his girl. Philip Marlowe, a P.I. has the misfortune to meet him, which leads to a whole heap of trouble.

Review: I thought that I would like this more than I did I found the story a struggle to maintain interest in. It has bags of atmosphere but for me it lacks an interesting storyline and although it is very clever and it does all wind up where you understand how the pieces all fit together I just didn’t like the journey.

Also be forewarned the language and stereotypes are by today’s standards very out of date and to many offensive.

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