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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This rating reflects my personal enjoyment, not the novel’s literary value.
I’m sorry, but super racist detective stories from the 1940s are just not my jam.
I’m sorry, but super racist detective stories from the 1940s are just not my jam.
Another Chandler re-read, the second Marlowe, where he continues to wisecrack his way through various beatings and close calls. Densely plotted and charismatic as ever.
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:
Yes
This is my third Philip Marlowe novel and so far, even though it's so critically acclaimed, I like it the least. Not to say it's a bad novel, far from it, but it just felt weaker. Maybe I missed a few clues but it felt like a lot of the leaps Marlowe made came from nowhere and left me feeling like it should have been explained more.
There were also a few passages that read like something from [a:Hunter S. Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg] that I'm not sure really fit in to the overall story. I enjoyed the plot though and thought it came together well. Chandler's writing was superb and I will continue reading his books as I get to them.
There were also a few passages that read like something from [a:Hunter S. Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg] that I'm not sure really fit in to the overall story. I enjoyed the plot though and thought it came together well. Chandler's writing was superb and I will continue reading his books as I get to them.
La trama de este segundo libro es bastante compleja, ya que el detective Marlowe se ve envuelto en un asesinato en la primera página: un señor alto y corpulento entra en un bar y mata al dueño en su búsqueda de su antiguo amor Velma. La noche de Marlowe va a peor cuando es contratado para escoltar a un señor en una venta ilegal de una joya robada y su cliente acaba asesinado. El detective se ve obligado a investigar la muerte de este último, lo que le sumerge en una extensa y complicada red de crímenes.
El caso que se presenta en este libro es bastante complejo, y la verdad, no sabía muy bien cómo iba a terminar porque ambos casos me parecían irresolubles, así que el final fue toda una sorpresa. Al igual que el anterior, el principio se me hizo un poco pesado, pero a medida que el caso avanzaba, más difícil me resultaba dejar el libro. Una vez más, expresar mi admiración frente a la forma de escribir de Raymond Chandler, tiene una forma de describir que encanta. Las únicas pegas que le pongo son los diferentes insultos raciales que salen en el libro (aunque también hay que tener en cuenta el año en que fue publicado) y el principio un tanto pesado. Por lo demás, otro libro excelente del gran Raymond Chandler
El caso que se presenta en este libro es bastante complejo, y la verdad, no sabía muy bien cómo iba a terminar porque ambos casos me parecían irresolubles, así que el final fue toda una sorpresa. Al igual que el anterior, el principio se me hizo un poco pesado, pero a medida que el caso avanzaba, más difícil me resultaba dejar el libro. Una vez más, expresar mi admiración frente a la forma de escribir de Raymond Chandler, tiene una forma de describir que encanta. Las únicas pegas que le pongo son los diferentes insultos raciales que salen en el libro (aunque también hay que tener en cuenta el año en que fue publicado) y el principio un tanto pesado. Por lo demás, otro libro excelente del gran Raymond Chandler
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
I sort of had a hunch on who Velma was pretty early on. But I bought into the story of the necklace heist and there were pieces of the puzzle floating around which I couldn't grasp. I also have read enough noir fiction to figure out that the rich lady being coy with the detective means she is playing a game. A game she wishes he will buy. And be bought into. There are distractions in the form of a harmless psychic and racketeer to make the plot impregnable. I like it and am glad it's finished. I would say I have read better though.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
OK, this had its moments and I'm kind of fascinated by Marlowe's weird empathy for bugs and murderers, but overall my first forray into Chandler did not impress. I generally dig the over-the-top descriptive turn of phrase, but the hyperboles are so persistent and heavy handed. The buttons were golf balls. The hallway had been mopped the day McKinley was inaugurated. Enough already.
And I'm telling you even the characters in the book couldn't refill their glasses fast enough to survive the offhand-racist-comment drinking game. As far as I can tell Chandler's much touted love affair with the city of Los Angeles just makes for a setting with more people of color to hate on. In addition to a variety of slurs unprintable here, there's the chapter that begins, "The Indian smelled." An odor which Marlowe can't shut up about for the next 30 pages, in between joking about wanting to shoot an Indian and throwing out vocabulary like "gottum." But don't worry, "His smell was the earthy smell of primitive man, and not the slimy dirt of cities."
Anyway, PUTTING THAT ASIDE. The writing, Marlowe's roll-with-the-punches incompetent PIing, the convoluted mystery, the women - meh.
(WatchingThe Big Goodbye The Big Sleep shortly afterward helped me to stop taking it all so seriously and just enjoy the tough talk and ridiculous dames. Believe it or not, lucky reader, you've just dodged several rants.)
And I'm telling you even the characters in the book couldn't refill their glasses fast enough to survive the offhand-racist-comment drinking game. As far as I can tell Chandler's much touted love affair with the city of Los Angeles just makes for a setting with more people of color to hate on. In addition to a variety of slurs unprintable here, there's the chapter that begins, "The Indian smelled." An odor which Marlowe can't shut up about for the next 30 pages, in between joking about wanting to shoot an Indian and throwing out vocabulary like "gottum." But don't worry, "His smell was the earthy smell of primitive man, and not the slimy dirt of cities."
Anyway, PUTTING THAT ASIDE. The writing, Marlowe's roll-with-the-punches incompetent PIing, the convoluted mystery, the women - meh.
(Watching