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_persephone_'s review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett is not a bad book. In fact I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Morally, however, I cannot give this book any higher of a rating. This book was written in the 1930's and it shows.
The Racism-
This book is not continuously racist. However, the two scenes containing racism are pretty severe. The first is the use of the n-word with a hard r. It was used very casually in the sentence and it was very jarring. I understand that this was normal when the book was written but that doesn't excuse it whatsoever. The second and, from what I remember, last instance of racism was when native americans were referred to as indians and 'reds'. Again, this was very normal in the 30's, and, ignorantly, people still call native americans, indians, a lot. However, that doesn't make it any better, and stuff like this shouldn't be brushed under the rug because "It was a different time".
The Sexism-
Now for this, I would say 'The Thin Man' is slightly ahead of it's time. Just slightly though. Women are objectified several times throughout the book. There is one woman specifically who is said to be 'crazy'. She is not a good person, but not because of the reasons that are presented to us. She is physically abusive to her daughter many times in the book, and while this isn't necessarily shone in a 'good' light, it's not shone in an extremely bad one either, and was practically ignored by the end of the book. The reason your supposed to hate her though? Because she's portrayed as insane because she has some mood swings, lies, and flirts with men, including our married main character. I'm not saying these are good things by far, but it is obviously a very overused and misogynistic stereotype of women, and I have a hard time hating her for those things when the fact that she hits her child is right there.
Now for some criticism's I have that aren't as serious but that I still feel I should point out.
Info dumping-
Now this is a rare criticism for me. Oftentimes I don't mind a bit of info dumping. Is it a sign of bad writing? Yes. Should authors find better ways to tell the reader about what's happening? Absolutely. But I can usually get past it when it later helps me understand things that are happening, that I would have been confused about otherwise. But when you dedicate more than half a chapter talking about another book about cannibalism, just because one character gives another character said book, just for it to never be brought back up again? Absolutely not. It was annoying and boring to read, but I wouldn't have cared much if that book, or cannibalism in general, was used as a plot point, or just brought up again, but nope, for the entire rest of the book you never hear anything about it again. So what was the point? Why would you go on about a random book for several pages for no reason? I honestly have no clue. My best guess? The author had found out about the story and wanted to impress the reader with his knowledge or something. Whatever the reason though, it was pointless and boring.
The Dialogue-
I actually loved the dialogue for the most part. It was entertaining and witty. But at least five times a chapter characters would just continually cut other people off. Someone would be in the middle of a sentence and other people would just interrupt that person and that would be it. No one gets upset at the other person for doing that, no one tries to finish what they were saying, just:
"Here's something I'm saying that's important to the plot and-" "I'm going to casually interrupt you now and have no consequences for doing so."
It was annoying and pointless. At first I thought it was just something that Nick and Nora do to each other, which I actually thought was pretty cute and was showing how comfortable they are with each other and showing another way that they banter. But when every single character would repeatedly do it to every single other character, it got old fast.
Now onto things I actually liked
Speaking of Nick and Nora-
OMG Nick and Nora were literally so adorable, I love them. Honestly I could go on and on about them but I probably shouldn't so I'll leave it at this:
They were generally just very sweet to each other, sure they would banter and quibble but it was very clearly affectionate and adorable. And whenever Nick called Nora "Darling" or "Sweetheart", istg I was kicking my legs, giggling. Also they are just very stable and healthy. A few different times, the other would casually just say that someone else was attractive or something and it was okay because the person who said that knew the other one wouldn't get mad or jealous or insecure about it, and the other one knew that it was okay because they knew it wouldn't go anywhere, they just fully trusted each other. And their trust went further than that, several times someone else would second guess if it was okay to talk about certain things in the investigation because Nora was there, but every time Nick would tell them that it's okay and that she's trustworthy. Like I said, I could keep going about them forever but I should probably stop before this review just turns into me gushing about them.
The Sexism (pt.2)-
Earlier I said that this book was slightly ahead of its time, and what I meant was this: Nora. She wasn't some helpless trophy wife that was only there to sit there and look pretty so the main character can have backstory. She had a personality, a good one at that. She was smart and a good detective. She was witty and interesting and curious. I love Nora, and in a time when the only female characters men could write was either none at all or boobs with no lines of dialogue and even less personality, Nora was revolutionary. Plus I think this quote sums up a lot
"Nora said 'Poor Alice,' Sympathetically. She did not like Alice."
Sympathizing with, an defending a woman that she didn't like? Nora was a girls girl in a book written by a man in the 1930's. She was groundbreaking and I love her.
Now, to make up for the lack of gushing, I will leave you with some of my favorite Nick and Nora quotes
"'Besides I haven't the time; I'm too busy trying to see that you don't lose any of the money I married you for'"
"[She] grinned at me.
'You're wonderful,' I said"
"'Your wife's lovely.'"
"'I like her."
"'Tell me the truth Nick: have I been too silly?' I shook my head, 'Just silly enough'"
"'She's a mighty fine woman, Mr. Charles" I nodded solemnly
"'Whatever you say'"
"'How's Nora?'"
"'Looks all right to me.'"
"Nora said: 'I love you Nicky, because you smell nice and know such fascinating people.'"
The Racism-
This book is not continuously racist. However, the two scenes containing racism are pretty severe. The first is the use of the n-word with a hard r. It was used very casually in the sentence and it was very jarring. I understand that this was normal when the book was written but that doesn't excuse it whatsoever. The second and, from what I remember, last instance of racism was when native americans were referred to as indians and 'reds'. Again, this was very normal in the 30's, and, ignorantly, people still call native americans, indians, a lot. However, that doesn't make it any better, and stuff like this shouldn't be brushed under the rug because "It was a different time".
The Sexism-
Now for this, I would say 'The Thin Man' is slightly ahead of it's time. Just slightly though. Women are objectified several times throughout the book. There is one woman specifically who is said to be 'crazy'. She is not a good person, but not because of the reasons that are presented to us. She is physically abusive to her daughter many times in the book, and while this isn't necessarily shone in a 'good' light, it's not shone in an extremely bad one either, and was practically ignored by the end of the book. The reason your supposed to hate her though? Because she's portrayed as insane because she has some mood swings, lies, and flirts with men, including our married main character. I'm not saying these are good things by far, but it is obviously a very overused and misogynistic stereotype of women, and I have a hard time hating her for those things when the fact that she hits her child is right there.
Now for some criticism's I have that aren't as serious but that I still feel I should point out.
Info dumping-
Now this is a rare criticism for me. Oftentimes I don't mind a bit of info dumping. Is it a sign of bad writing? Yes. Should authors find better ways to tell the reader about what's happening? Absolutely. But I can usually get past it when it later helps me understand things that are happening, that I would have been confused about otherwise. But when you dedicate more than half a chapter talking about another book about cannibalism, just because one character gives another character said book, just for it to never be brought back up again? Absolutely not. It was annoying and boring to read, but I wouldn't have cared much if that book, or cannibalism in general, was used as a plot point, or just brought up again, but nope, for the entire rest of the book you never hear anything about it again. So what was the point? Why would you go on about a random book for several pages for no reason? I honestly have no clue. My best guess? The author had found out about the story and wanted to impress the reader with his knowledge or something. Whatever the reason though, it was pointless and boring.
The Dialogue-
I actually loved the dialogue for the most part. It was entertaining and witty. But at least five times a chapter characters would just continually cut other people off. Someone would be in the middle of a sentence and other people would just interrupt that person and that would be it. No one gets upset at the other person for doing that, no one tries to finish what they were saying, just:
"Here's something I'm saying that's important to the plot and-" "I'm going to casually interrupt you now and have no consequences for doing so."
It was annoying and pointless. At first I thought it was just something that Nick and Nora do to each other, which I actually thought was pretty cute and was showing how comfortable they are with each other and showing another way that they banter. But when every single character would repeatedly do it to every single other character, it got old fast.
Now onto things I actually liked
Speaking of Nick and Nora-
OMG Nick and Nora were literally so adorable, I love them. Honestly I could go on and on about them but I probably shouldn't so I'll leave it at this:
They were generally just very sweet to each other, sure they would banter and quibble but it was very clearly affectionate and adorable. And whenever Nick called Nora "Darling" or "Sweetheart", istg I was kicking my legs, giggling. Also they are just very stable and healthy. A few different times, the other would casually just say that someone else was attractive or something and it was okay because the person who said that knew the other one wouldn't get mad or jealous or insecure about it, and the other one knew that it was okay because they knew it wouldn't go anywhere, they just fully trusted each other. And their trust went further than that, several times someone else would second guess if it was okay to talk about certain things in the investigation because Nora was there, but every time Nick would tell them that it's okay and that she's trustworthy. Like I said, I could keep going about them forever but I should probably stop before this review just turns into me gushing about them.
The Sexism (pt.2)-
Earlier I said that this book was slightly ahead of its time, and what I meant was this: Nora. She wasn't some helpless trophy wife that was only there to sit there and look pretty so the main character can have backstory. She had a personality, a good one at that. She was smart and a good detective. She was witty and interesting and curious. I love Nora, and in a time when the only female characters men could write was either none at all or boobs with no lines of dialogue and even less personality, Nora was revolutionary. Plus I think this quote sums up a lot
"Nora said 'Poor Alice,' Sympathetically. She did not like Alice."
Sympathizing with, an defending a woman that she didn't like? Nora was a girls girl in a book written by a man in the 1930's. She was groundbreaking and I love her.
Now, to make up for the lack of gushing, I will leave you with some of my favorite Nick and Nora quotes
"'Besides I haven't the time; I'm too busy trying to see that you don't lose any of the money I married you for'"
"[She] grinned at me.
'You're wonderful,' I said"
"'Your wife's lovely.'"
"'I like her."
"'Tell me the truth Nick: have I been too silly?' I shook my head, 'Just silly enough'"
"'She's a mighty fine woman, Mr. Charles" I nodded solemnly
"'Whatever you say'"
"'How's Nora?'"
"'Looks all right to me.'"
"Nora said: 'I love you Nicky, because you smell nice and know such fascinating people.'"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death
Minor: Incest, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Sexism
More...