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mulrine's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I did in actuality. Which is a shame. It is the favourite book of someone who played a big supportive role in my life.
I enjoyed the noir and how the narrative voice in my head very much had 'that lilt'. The characters were impressive and the one lines really quite enjoyable.
But I struggled to get into it, and in fact fell out of my reading habit. I struggled to differentiate characters and settings as the thick description, in places so rich, in others left me unsure of where I was in the story.
I borrowed this as an ebook from my library. Support your local library!
I enjoyed the noir and how the narrative voice in my head very much had 'that lilt'. The characters were impressive and the one lines really quite enjoyable.
But I struggled to get into it, and in fact fell out of my reading habit. I struggled to differentiate characters and settings as the thick description, in places so rich, in others left me unsure of where I was in the story.
I borrowed this as an ebook from my library. Support your local library!
kdawud's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
nwordsmith's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
The dialogue is crisp. The descriptions are vivid and full of excellent imagery and metaphor. Marlow is a good character. Well developed and gritty.
But good lord, Chandler cannot write a believable woman to save his life! Every. Single. One. Attractive but dumb as a box of rocks. Hysterical. Can’t make up her mind. And they’re all wildly attracted to Marlow despite flip flopping between loving and hating him multiple times in a single interaction. Could one or two of these women exist? Sure. But it defies belief for nothing but utterly silly flippant one dimensional women to exist in the story. Very frustrating when chandler otherwise wrote some wonderful prose.
But good lord, Chandler cannot write a believable woman to save his life! Every. Single. One. Attractive but dumb as a box of rocks. Hysterical. Can’t make up her mind. And they’re all wildly attracted to Marlow despite flip flopping between loving and hating him multiple times in a single interaction. Could one or two of these women exist? Sure. But it defies belief for nothing but utterly silly flippant one dimensional women to exist in the story. Very frustrating when chandler otherwise wrote some wonderful prose.
jal91's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
3.75
nolegirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
guppyur's review against another edition
3.0
Short version: a lot of fun, a noir classic for a reason.
Longer version: I picked up the 1946 Bogart film adaptation some time back when I was on a Bogart-and-noir kick. I don't remember it very well; it didn't seem especially coherent, and mostly I remember thinking The Maltese Falcon was better. I left it on the shelf and haven't watched it since.
That's really a shame, because the book is excellent. I started reading it when A Dance With Dragons didn't grab me right off and I decided to detour to something else until i was more in the mood for it, and this was the book of the month for the Something Awful Book Club. My understanding is that some of the seedier details were left out of the film for reasons of decency, and without them the movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'll rewatch the film soon and see if that's true. Hopefully it will be more enjoyable now that I know what's going on.
I'm always a little surprised when I see older works with snappy dialogue, even though that makes no sense. Overcoming that illogical mental hurdle was what first got me into Bogart. The book has it too, and some admittedly overwrought writing, but that's sort of a hallmark of the genre, I think. The prose will probably not win awards. But it is very fun nonetheless.
This one is a quick read, weighing in at about 234 pages. It's worth a look, especially if you can imagine all of Marlowe's lines in Bogart's voice.
Longer version: I picked up the 1946 Bogart film adaptation some time back when I was on a Bogart-and-noir kick. I don't remember it very well; it didn't seem especially coherent, and mostly I remember thinking The Maltese Falcon was better. I left it on the shelf and haven't watched it since.
That's really a shame, because the book is excellent. I started reading it when A Dance With Dragons didn't grab me right off and I decided to detour to something else until i was more in the mood for it, and this was the book of the month for the Something Awful Book Club. My understanding is that some of the seedier details were left out of the film for reasons of decency, and without them the movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'll rewatch the film soon and see if that's true. Hopefully it will be more enjoyable now that I know what's going on.
I'm always a little surprised when I see older works with snappy dialogue, even though that makes no sense. Overcoming that illogical mental hurdle was what first got me into Bogart. The book has it too, and some admittedly overwrought writing, but that's sort of a hallmark of the genre, I think. The prose will probably not win awards. But it is very fun nonetheless.
This one is a quick read, weighing in at about 234 pages. It's worth a look, especially if you can imagine all of Marlowe's lines in Bogart's voice.
mandalor3960's review against another edition
2.0
I can see the beauty in this quintessential hardboiled detective novel. It has an insane story full of twists and surprises that caught me off guard during its entirety. But as usual, the genre bores me. I would never read it again but it's a great hardboiled detective novel.
Rating Update 3/12/2019 - 3 to 2 stars. It's boring.
Rating Update 28 May 2019
Two stars to one star. I was pretty bored with reading this book.
August 25, 2019
Update
With the adoption of my new rating system, a two star rating is befitting. The original review and rating updates conform to the new rating system. I will ignore the final rating update and retain the two star rating, because the atmosphere from reading the scenes with Marlowe visiting the General and Marlowe being shot blanks by the girl, are three star content. It's a boring mystery book but its alright. Nice story and crazy twists, but not to my liking, but not to my disliking. An accurate rating could be around 1.5 stars, because I still detest mysteries because of their slow reads.
Rating Update 3/12/2019 - 3 to 2 stars. It's boring.
Rating Update 28 May 2019
Two stars to one star. I was pretty bored with reading this book.
August 25, 2019
Update
With the adoption of my new rating system, a two star rating is befitting. The original review and rating updates conform to the new rating system. I will ignore the final rating update and retain the two star rating, because the atmosphere from reading the scenes with Marlowe visiting the General and Marlowe being shot blanks by the girl, are three star content. It's a boring mystery book but its alright. Nice story and crazy twists, but not to my liking, but not to my disliking. An accurate rating could be around 1.5 stars, because I still detest mysteries because of their slow reads.
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