Reviews

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

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sarahandika's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep was my introduction to both the hard-boiled detective genre and the iconic Philip Marlowe.

At first, the dense style of writing and choice of words and colloquialisms were challenging for me. It felt like I was missing a few bits of the puzzle that were leaving me hanging on a few crucial details here and there to the point where I had to consult a few chapter summaries for everything to click into place. But after that, once I got into the flow of the writing, the atmosphere and the chatacter personalities, I liked the book a lot more and by the end, felt like I could see myself picking up another Phillip Marlowe novel to get more of a sense of the detective and his adventures.

This novel represents a grittier strain of detective fiction, often referred to as hardboiled, which contrasts sharply with the cozy mysteries of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, for example, that I'm more accustomed to. Although it isn’t my preferred sub-genre, I found myself enjoying the intricate plot and the colorful personalities surrounding Marlowe as he tries to solve the mystery. An interesting angle for me was how the mystery unfolds organically. Marlowe isn't confronted with the typical murder mystery plot from the onsent. He simply gets an assignment to check out a simple blackmail case that snowballs as one domino falls after the other until it all comes together in the end to reveal how the plot all ties together. This is unlike mysteries where you know what crime is intended to be solved from the beginning, and I think I did like the up-in-the-air structure of the novel, where as the reader you simply had to trust in the process and see what came out of it. And in the end, the author did deliver a satisfying conclusion, which did make the process worrth it as the unpredictability felt compelling and kept me engaged.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is Marlowe himself and his brash, almost vulgar and arrogant attitude as he went about. It was quite amusing watching him banter with others and hearing his inner monologues and thoughts as he went about and this also added a layer of dark humor to the story. Chandler also managued to capture the setting of the book vividly. I knew nothing about the time and setting but I felt the entire thing come to life as they described the netowork of organized crime, the racketeering, the police corruption, the drugs and gambling scene and so on. The book to me felt like the personification of old-timey black and white, classic noir films and I felt like I could easily picture it's full adaptation on the big screen.

I also appreciated the overall pacing of the book, the exposition of the clues, and some of the subtle details dropped in such as the portrait of the kinght trying to save the damsel unsuccessfully, that seemed to be a metaphor for Marlowe's quest in this book in general. There were some instances of random misogyny and racism in the book, but that is simply the book being a product of its time and not a flaw to dwell too much on. While not my favorite type of book genre or the most seamless book I have ever had to get into, I give it points for making me a convert by the end and I do intend to pick up another book in the Marlowe series in due time.

johnclough's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A stylistic masterclass, with a good amount of substance to back it up.

alexandriam_rose's review against another edition

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5.0

Random Reads Book Club - November pick

knitterscasket's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I read this because of a description of snappy writing in Stephen King's On Writing. I feel like I must have read Raymond Chandler many years ago before I started keeping track. I had to think about the difference between rating a book's quality and my enjoyment of it. It's 5 stars as a genre-defining classic, but minus a star for casual sexism and homophobia.

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