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feastofblaze's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
missyjohnson's review against another edition
3.0
Not a bad story. Philip Marlowe, PI is hired to discover who is trying to blackmail a wealthy family. Just as the old film noir stories, the original issue is not really the issue at all. The General would like to know where his missing Son-in-law has disappeared to. He has two daughters who seem to be in trouble at every turn. Nude pictures for one and gambling on roulette for the other. It was an interesting look at life in the 1930’s. Hints of societal attitudes toward pornography, gay men, and prohibition were a part of the narrative. There were places in the book where the use of simile was overused and annoying. Marlowe got out of a number of “jams” and still solved the crime.
babyhandles's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
wetsmoke's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars.
This book was just never meant for me. I’m sure that it’s good for what it is, which is a classic hard-boiled detective novel. But I couldn’t stand the main character. He’s so arrogant. He thinks that everyone around him is an idiot (and the author writes the book so that he’s right), and that he’s the most brilliant, the most clever, and the most tough. It’s incredibly annoying.
That’s all to say nothing about how horribly the women are written. And it’s not that I’m holding this book to modern PC standards - it’s that I really think the women characters are terribly written. And the protagonist has an absolute contempt for women because of the fact that he’s attracted to them. That irritating attitude permeates literally every interaction he has with a woman.
The end was kinda good, though, so if you can endure all the stuff I take issue with, it might be worth reading.
This book was just never meant for me. I’m sure that it’s good for what it is, which is a classic hard-boiled detective novel. But I couldn’t stand the main character. He’s so arrogant. He thinks that everyone around him is an idiot (and the author writes the book so that he’s right), and that he’s the most brilliant, the most clever, and the most tough. It’s incredibly annoying.
That’s all to say nothing about how horribly the women are written. And it’s not that I’m holding this book to modern PC standards - it’s that I really think the women characters are terribly written. And the protagonist has an absolute contempt for women because of the fact that he’s attracted to them. That irritating attitude permeates literally every interaction he has with a woman.
The end was kinda good, though, so if you can endure all the stuff I take issue with, it might be worth reading.
herthrillingreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
pizzamcpin3ppl3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
kaazi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
novabird's review against another edition
4.0
What I experienced while reading The Big Sleep was a sense of nostalgia and a sense of appreciation for how far exactly we have come in gender relations – “You've come a long way, baby.” (from the Virginia Slims cigarette campaign)
Who knew that reading noir could be a ’comfort’ read? Before colorization of movies, before cable, before video rentals or downstream of movies, I read books and watched black and white television. Those early days when I watched movies like: Key Largo, Night of the Hunter and Casablanca while during the same timeframe I had outgrown Cherry Ames, Sue Barton and Nancy Drew, books and was peeking into The Hardy Boys, I became bored and started dipping into my father’s bookshelves for full-grown male spy characters: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Where Eagles Dare, and The Odessa File etc.
But it was that buffer zone between childhood and adolescence, that I remembered when I read The Big Sleep; that fuzzy feeling where I still believed in the goodness of the world, the sound of my cat purring and the smell and taste of freshly baked, home-made cinnamon rolls that I had made. Maybe it was because I heard a certain prominent male actor HB, doing an internal voice-over for me, yet I still think it has more to do with the time anchoring of my first exposure to that time period; when things were still black and white in my mind’s eye, and I was a lot less aware of all the gray shades, hues and tints.
Who knew that reading noir could be a ’comfort’ read? Before colorization of movies, before cable, before video rentals or downstream of movies, I read books and watched black and white television. Those early days when I watched movies like: Key Largo, Night of the Hunter and Casablanca while during the same timeframe I had outgrown Cherry Ames, Sue Barton and Nancy Drew, books and was peeking into The Hardy Boys, I became bored and started dipping into my father’s bookshelves for full-grown male spy characters: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Where Eagles Dare, and The Odessa File etc.
But it was that buffer zone between childhood and adolescence, that I remembered when I read The Big Sleep; that fuzzy feeling where I still believed in the goodness of the world, the sound of my cat purring and the smell and taste of freshly baked, home-made cinnamon rolls that I had made. Maybe it was because I heard a certain prominent male actor HB, doing an internal voice-over for me, yet I still think it has more to do with the time anchoring of my first exposure to that time period; when things were still black and white in my mind’s eye, and I was a lot less aware of all the gray shades, hues and tints.
jess_mango's review against another edition
3.0
Finally got around to reading this noir classic that has been sitting on my shelf. It was pretty much what I expected...Depression Era L.A., bootleggers, porn scandal, twists, turns, brooding. Phillip Marlowe is most definitely a man's man...which I suppose is to be expected from the era it was written in AND the era it depicts. I can appreciate Chandler's turns of phrase and I will be picking up the follow up which is sitting on my shelf waiting.
8797999's review against another edition
4.0
I had been curious about this book and thought it was a good read, a very enjoyable plot with good twists and charcaters. The characters and dialogue is somewhat dated but it is a book of it's time and unlike some I am not easily offended.
A good read and opener to a well regarded series. I have the rest of the books and look forward to reading them in the near future.
A good read and opener to a well regarded series. I have the rest of the books and look forward to reading them in the near future.