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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
tense
medium-paced
Marlowe is the epitome of the smooth-talking and full of quips noir detective, and it's amazing to read. Feels more like an arthouse movie, where you care more about the style than you do the substance, but man does the style make up for it.
Philip Marlowe is probably the definitive hard-boiled detective. He tells his tale in a trademark, smart tongue without quite being a smart-ass. It is a joy to hear the tale told in his voice. Characters are all colorful. The story is fairly straightforward without being predictable and moves along nicely. Elliot Gould's narration of the audiobook was unfortunately lackluster - little vocal differentiation among many of the characters and the delivery of much of Marlowe's exposition felt rushed and too dead-pan.
Awfully good, except in the many ways in which it is bad; however, it is good in those ways as well.
"The fog had cleared off outside and the stars were as bright as artificial stars of chromium on a sky of black velvet. I drove fast. I needed a drink badly and the bars were closed."
In the chronology of twentieth-century crime fiction we're following for my English module this semester, I did not expect there to be such a big jump in tone from the clue-puzzle mysteries of Christie and Sayers that we covered last week to the hardboiled, manly grit exemplified here in Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Where Christie and Sayers are homely, matter-of-fact, and at times a bit foppish, Chandler is violent, pugnacious, and intensely masculine. This novel unfolded much like a Humphrey Bogart film, which makes sense since Chandler was involved in quite a few of those, and presents itself as ostensibly American and rather jaded.
The cozy clue-puzzle is definitely much more it for me. While I could appreciate what Chandler was doing here, the overwhelming male energy, the constant degradation of the female characters to objects of sexual desire, and the tendency to outright violence were just not as enjoyable for me. Even at the end, when everything finally came together, the plot still seemed all over the place, with a decent amount of random associates I felt weren't necessary.
One thing, though, that I did actually love about this book was Chandler's descriptive writing. Throughout the whole book he maintains a very distinct sense of place wherever Marlowe goes, with really rich visual language that really makes this book a masterpiece of atmosphere. Every office, every street corner, every dark, nighttime landscape is described with care and attention to all five of the senses, and thus why I still say I can respect Chandler's writing.
I would actually like to still read some of Chandler's work that was adapted by old Hollywood eventually, and, in the meantime, I'm excited to dig into the politics of this book in my course later this week.
Klasická detektivka s drsným Marlowem v hlavní roli. Pro milovníky detektivek je to snad povinná četba. I dnes neztratila nic ze svého kouzla a napětí. Snad jenom na můj vkus se v tomhle díle vyskytovalo moc něžných mužů s pomněnkovými oči.
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So to say it quickly: every book about Phill Marlowe from Raymond Chandler is evergreen.
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So to say it quickly: every book about Phill Marlowe from Raymond Chandler is evergreen.
Ein neuer Fall für Philip Marlowe.
Diesmal wird er selbst Zeuge eines Mordes. Ein wahrer Riese von einem Mann tötet einen Barbesitzer im Hinterzimmer und haut einfach wieder ab. Doch wieso sucht er Velma und wer ist das überhaupt? Marlowe muss dem unfähigen Polizisten Nulty unter die Arme greifen, um den Fall aufzuklären.
[b:Lebwohl, mein Liebling|246995|Lebwohl, mein Liebling (Philip Marlowe, #2)|Raymond Chandler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385070402l/246995._SY75_.jpg|1263111] liest sich deutlich flüssiger als [b:Der große Schlaf|3090691|Der große Schlaf (Philip Marlowe, #1)|Raymond Chandler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400417677l/3090691._SY75_.jpg|1222673]. Zwar ist der Fall auch hier unheimlich komplizierter und die Auflösung voller eigenartiger Zufälle, doch wenigstens fühlt sich die Handlung nicht so durcheinander an. Daher war es mir diesmal möglich, zumindest ein bisschen mitzuraten.
Marlowe ist wieder der Höhepunkt des Buchs. Wie er trotz seiner schroffen, harten Art doch im entscheidenden Moment immer seine nette Seite zeigt, ist einfach liebenswürdig. Es fühlt sich beinahe so an, als wäre er, obwohl seine Markenzeichen eben diese schroffe, harte Art ist, gerade wegen seiner weichen Seite so erfolgreich.
Eine tolle Fortsetzung und definitiv zu empfehlen.
Diesmal wird er selbst Zeuge eines Mordes. Ein wahrer Riese von einem Mann tötet einen Barbesitzer im Hinterzimmer und haut einfach wieder ab. Doch wieso sucht er Velma und wer ist das überhaupt? Marlowe muss dem unfähigen Polizisten Nulty unter die Arme greifen, um den Fall aufzuklären.
[b:Lebwohl, mein Liebling|246995|Lebwohl, mein Liebling (Philip Marlowe, #2)|Raymond Chandler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385070402l/246995._SY75_.jpg|1263111] liest sich deutlich flüssiger als [b:Der große Schlaf|3090691|Der große Schlaf (Philip Marlowe, #1)|Raymond Chandler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400417677l/3090691._SY75_.jpg|1222673]. Zwar ist der Fall auch hier unheimlich komplizierter und die Auflösung voller eigenartiger Zufälle, doch wenigstens fühlt sich die Handlung nicht so durcheinander an. Daher war es mir diesmal möglich, zumindest ein bisschen mitzuraten.
Marlowe ist wieder der Höhepunkt des Buchs. Wie er trotz seiner schroffen, harten Art doch im entscheidenden Moment immer seine nette Seite zeigt, ist einfach liebenswürdig. Es fühlt sich beinahe so an, als wäre er, obwohl seine Markenzeichen eben diese schroffe, harte Art ist, gerade wegen seiner weichen Seite so erfolgreich.
Eine tolle Fortsetzung und definitiv zu empfehlen.
Funnier, darker, and more coherent than the first, this book really nailed noir for me. Marlowe is both stupidly reckless and impressively clever. The plot comes together nicely. However, it must be noted that the book reflects the horrifying racism of the day, when murdering a Black person was considered a “misdemeanor.” The rampant use of the n-word makes Farewell, My Lovely a book to read with a historian’s glasses.
Classic Chandler. Be warned: lots of language that might have been common in the 30s, not so appropriate 90 years later.
It is hard to pick a favourite between this one, The Long Goodbye and The Big Sleep, so I will have to say all three. As the other two, Farewell, My Lovely features the iconic tough but sentimental detective on a winding murder mystery that will leave him worse for wear, as the work he has chosen to do always does. And yet also as always, he emerges no less wise, hardboiled, sensible, cynical but chivalrous: equipped with enough barb to deal with the hard world on its own terms, while shielding a heart that keeps him going. His brutal words hide a rather old-fashioned sensibility and it is this curious mixture that informs his charm, in my books. (Chandler also uses terms which are shockingly racist to us today; although these sentiments are not to be excused, in my view, the reader can take them as products of his time, or a characteristic of his detective.) Well-executed and gripping plot, and its witty characters make this an enjoyable read.