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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Well written, and memorable characters, but it feels of its time now. Best part for me was reading the description of old Californis
This is the second book in the Philip Marlowe series and I liked it, but not as much as The Big Sleep. I think I just liked the characters better in The Big Sleep, plus I have all those fond memories of watching Bogart and Bacall in the movie. For the most part I enjoy the nostalgic feeling of going back in time to the 1940s when I read these. And, as I said, it also brings back fond memories of watching the old film noir movies that were made from them.
I have to add that this book is definitely a product of its time. There's lots of smoking and drinking and attitudes about certain things were different then. There were several terms used that would never be used today, including racial slurs. In the beginning, I had forgotten I was reading a vintage book that could very likely have those things in it, and it caught me off guard. It's a hard boiled detective book written in 1940, so keep that in mind if you read it.
One thing I enjoy the most about these books are the inner thoughts of Philip Marlow. I get a good chuckle out of it most of the time. It's just so quotable. I could add so many quotes into my review, but it's better to just discover them while reading, so I've only included a few.
“He smiled his first smile of the day. He probably allowed himself four...He was doing an awful lot of smiling that day. Using up a whole week's supply.”
I remembered in the movie that Marlowe gets pretty roughed up, more than once, and it really does happen in the book. I watched the 1944 version of this Starring Dick Powell that was retitled Murder, My Sweet. There were several changes made for that movie version, but I still like it. Originally, I didn't like Dick Powell as Philip Marlowe as much as a couple of the other actors that played him, but after reading a couple of the books I think he's closer to what Raymond Chandler had in mind than the other actors.
“Time passed again. I don't know how long. I had no watch. They don't make that kind of time in watches anyway.”
“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.”
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader.
I have to add that this book is definitely a product of its time. There's lots of smoking and drinking and attitudes about certain things were different then. There were several terms used that would never be used today, including racial slurs. In the beginning, I had forgotten I was reading a vintage book that could very likely have those things in it, and it caught me off guard. It's a hard boiled detective book written in 1940, so keep that in mind if you read it.
One thing I enjoy the most about these books are the inner thoughts of Philip Marlow. I get a good chuckle out of it most of the time. It's just so quotable. I could add so many quotes into my review, but it's better to just discover them while reading, so I've only included a few.
“He smiled his first smile of the day. He probably allowed himself four...He was doing an awful lot of smiling that day. Using up a whole week's supply.”
I remembered in the movie that Marlowe gets pretty roughed up, more than once, and it really does happen in the book. I watched the 1944 version of this Starring Dick Powell that was retitled Murder, My Sweet. There were several changes made for that movie version, but I still like it. Originally, I didn't like Dick Powell as Philip Marlowe as much as a couple of the other actors that played him, but after reading a couple of the books I think he's closer to what Raymond Chandler had in mind than the other actors.
“Time passed again. I don't know how long. I had no watch. They don't make that kind of time in watches anyway.”
“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.”
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader.
There’s a reason that Raymond Chandler was a genre-defining talent. The evocative metaphors and the pitch-perfect tone of Marlowe’s narration are deservedly iconic. The novel’s atmosphere was memorable, and the wordplay engaging.
It is also a pretty fundamentally racist book. “But surely it is a book of it’s time,” you might protest, “And who decides where the line is between depicting racism and embodying it?” But can be all just all agree that the then-social acceptability of the racist violence and language in this novel—or the enthusiastic homophobia of The Big Sleep—is not the same as moral acceptability?
(While we’re at it, perhaps we can also do away with framing these observations solely in terms of how they land to “the modern reader,” as if nonwhite and nonstraight people with a point of view on their own personal worth weren’t invented until the 21st century.)
If the question, then, is whether a novel can have a disturbing moral vision and still have literary merit, this one makes a good case for maybe.
It is also a pretty fundamentally racist book. “But surely it is a book of it’s time,” you might protest, “And who decides where the line is between depicting racism and embodying it?” But can be all just all agree that the then-social acceptability of the racist violence and language in this novel—or the enthusiastic homophobia of The Big Sleep—is not the same as moral acceptability?
(While we’re at it, perhaps we can also do away with framing these observations solely in terms of how they land to “the modern reader,” as if nonwhite and nonstraight people with a point of view on their own personal worth weren’t invented until the 21st century.)
If the question, then, is whether a novel can have a disturbing moral vision and still have literary merit, this one makes a good case for maybe.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Quintessential Noir.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the incredible levels of casual misogyny and homophobia in the big sleep is replaced by racism and xenophobia in this one. i’m not even talking about the language used, but the way the “shines” and the stinky natives are portrayed as predictable and unsophisticated simpletons.
you might say chandler is the product of his times, but his times are the product of high-profile men like him that normalize their bigotry in the mainstream
what’s just as infuriating is the constant use of “he’s not the type” talk. the prejudiced dipshit main characters are little less than the projection of the manchild author’s hero-complex, proto-Punishers. the entire time their “hunches”, i.e. their thinly veiled bigotry, keeps being confirmed correct. seeing the absurd fetishization of cops today, it’s not hard to see what audience chandler was pandering to
you might say chandler is the product of his times, but his times are the product of high-profile men like him that normalize their bigotry in the mainstream
what’s just as infuriating is the constant use of “he’s not the type” talk. the prejudiced dipshit main characters are little less than the projection of the manchild author’s hero-complex, proto-Punishers. the entire time their “hunches”, i.e. their thinly veiled bigotry, keeps being confirmed correct. seeing the absurd fetishization of cops today, it’s not hard to see what audience chandler was pandering to
I liked this one even better than [b:The Big Sleep|2052|The Big Sleep|Raymond Chandler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327876070s/2052.jpg|1222673], the first Philip Marlowe book by Raymond Chandler. The plot was cleaner and less confusing but all those memorable one-liners just kept on coming. If you like a little noir in your reading portfolio and haven't tried Chandler, then you owe it to yourself to give him a try.
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:
Complicated
One of the hardest of the hard boiled. Great book. Plus Philip Marlowe!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-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:
Yes