Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Not quite as fun to read as the first book, The Big Sleep.
I still loved the snappy dialog, but the not entirely coherent plot was a little more off-putting with this one. With more period jargon and quite a bit of casual racism, it was harder to ignore that this was written the better part of a century ago definitely dulled my enjoyment.
I think I'll skip to The Long Goodbye and then call it done for this series.
I still loved the snappy dialog, but the not entirely coherent plot was a little more off-putting with this one. With more period jargon and quite a bit of casual racism, it was harder to ignore that this was written the better part of a century ago definitely dulled my enjoyment.
I think I'll skip to The Long Goodbye and then call it done for this series.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read The Big Sleep in college for a detective fiction English class; and I instantly fell in love with the hard-boiled detective, Phillip Marlowe. In Farewell, My Lovely Marlowe is back with his heavy drinking, chain smoking, wise-cracking, devil may care demeanor. I really liked this novel for the atmosphere it evoked of the 1940's smokey dark alley, corrupt govenmernt, mob ran Los Angeles where it was set. The mystery was engaging with twists and turns and red herrings galore. The characters spoke in 1940's slang that isn't used in the present day which made the plot hard to follow at times. Overall, this is a classic solid example of the hard boiled detective genre.
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great Philip Marlowe novel. Full of pathos and tragedy, but buoyed up by some of the most entertaining writing ever. I love how there are two different mysteries here that seem to be connected by coincidence until you get to the end and have that “aha, it all makes sense” moment. The characters are all great but I love Moose Malloy the most.
There is *a lot* of racism in this book which makes parts of it uncomfortable to read. The murder of a black character is not considered as important as the killing of a white one, and the main character spends a chapter mocking a Native American.
There is *a lot* of racism in this book which makes parts of it uncomfortable to read. The murder of a black character is not considered as important as the killing of a white one, and the main character spends a chapter mocking a Native American.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
mysterious
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sometimes I read books for fun. Sometimes I read books for research. Sometimes I read a book for both reasons at once.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot