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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
To be honest, when I started reading [b:Farewell, My Lovely|2050|Farewell, My Lovely|Raymond Chandler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465778099l/2050._SY75_.jpg|1263111], I thought I was reading a novel written by Joe Friday. A novel where men were men and women were dames, dolls, broads, or hags. I almost didn't finish it, but I'm glad I did.
The books was published in 1940 and it shows. I'm old enough to catch a lot of the references, but many of them went beyond me too. Still, Chandler's style of writing is so engaging, you want to figure out what he's alluding to. His overall ability to set the mood is a wonder to behold.
Of course, because of the time period, minor characters or people furniture are often referred by race and not always in a positive light. His main character, Private Detective Philip Marlow is far from politically correct.
Still, his description are beyond compare.
"He opened the door with a fingertip, as though opening the door himself dirtied him a little."
"Twenty minutes sleep. Just a nice doze. In that time, I had muffed a job and lost eight thousand dollars. Well, why not? In twenty minutes, you can sink a battleship, down three or four planes, hold a double execution. You can die, get married, get fired and find a new job, have a tooth pulled, have your tonsils out. In twenty minutes, you can even get up in the morning. You can get a glass of water at a night club—maybe."
The sparse dialog is just as moody and revealing.
"You," Nulty said, and looked at his toothpick to see if it was chewed enough.
"Any luck?"
"Malloy? I ain't on it any more."
"Who is?"
"Nobody ain't. Why? The guy lammed. We got him on the teletype and they got readers out. Hell, he'll be in Mexico long gone."
Overall, this book was a lesson in how to write a crime thriller. Authors, take note!
The books was published in 1940 and it shows. I'm old enough to catch a lot of the references, but many of them went beyond me too. Still, Chandler's style of writing is so engaging, you want to figure out what he's alluding to. His overall ability to set the mood is a wonder to behold.
Of course, because of the time period, minor characters or people furniture are often referred by race and not always in a positive light. His main character, Private Detective Philip Marlow is far from politically correct.
Still, his description are beyond compare.
"He opened the door with a fingertip, as though opening the door himself dirtied him a little."
"Twenty minutes sleep. Just a nice doze. In that time, I had muffed a job and lost eight thousand dollars. Well, why not? In twenty minutes, you can sink a battleship, down three or four planes, hold a double execution. You can die, get married, get fired and find a new job, have a tooth pulled, have your tonsils out. In twenty minutes, you can even get up in the morning. You can get a glass of water at a night club—maybe."
The sparse dialog is just as moody and revealing.
"You," Nulty said, and looked at his toothpick to see if it was chewed enough.
"Any luck?"
"Malloy? I ain't on it any more."
"Who is?"
"Nobody ain't. Why? The guy lammed. We got him on the teletype and they got readers out. Hell, he'll be in Mexico long gone."
Overall, this book was a lesson in how to write a crime thriller. Authors, take note!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
Tightly plotted, even when I didn't think so. Marlowe notices everything and comments on it. Lots of description with similes and metaphors. Would be fun to use his descriptions in the classroom.
Phillip Marlowe seems to be minding his own business but gets involved in one case, then another, then another. But wait! Are they all connected somehow? You betcha!
Great stock characters...great atmosphere. My first Chandler, but I'll look for others.
Narration contributed to the entire effect.
Phillip Marlowe seems to be minding his own business but gets involved in one case, then another, then another. But wait! Are they all connected somehow? You betcha!
Great stock characters...great atmosphere. My first Chandler, but I'll look for others.
Narration contributed to the entire effect.
This will probably be my last foray into "hard-boiled" detectives for a while. I've found Chandler a lot harder to get through than Hammett. I didn't like both movies based on this one, so I didn't have high hopes. It's very clunky as a book. Chandler's plotting and the pacing are not the styles I enjoy. It also hasn't aged well. The stereotypes are harder to swallow than in other books of the period.
50's hard boiled crime at it's best. I'd be one of Marlowe's dames anyday.
i'm like really annoyed that this is maybe the best written chandler so far in terms of prose but a lot of the poc characters are basically caricatures? which is like. to be expected from the 1930s-1940s but really irritating to read nonetheless. and yet. the women. bless.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Even though the plot felt familiar thanks to my reading so many of his pulp stories, Chandler has more than enough ability to keep me interested. Boy, wouldn't he be proud. 'The Big Sleep' felt too familiar even with the breathing space allowed in a novel, but 'Farewell, My Lovely' approaches the heights of 'The Long Goodbye' because it has such well-drawn supporting characters. Like Mrs. Morrison. Known better as 'Old Nosey', she's a lonely old woman who Marlowe has several conversations with about her neighbor, peeping at the neighbors being all she has to do. She turns cold on Marlowe after she smells liquor on his breath ("I don't hold with it for medicine neither") and he asks the wrong question. So as he leaves he comments on a piece of furniture:
"'I bet that side piece was the admiration of Sioux Falls once,' I said, gazing at a carved sideboard that was in the hall because the dining room was too small for it. It had curved ends, thin carved legs, was inlaid all over, and had a painted basket of fruit on the front.
'Mason City,' she said softly. 'Yessir, we had a nice home once, me and George. Best there was.'"
She relents, "smiling as sharp as her eyes" and gives him a crucial piece of information. But with that short passage so much about Mrs. Morrison makes sense and falls into place, she rises above the character role she fills in the story and becomes something more, even if her role is comparatively small. This is something that he does throughout 'Farewell' to an extant I've never read in him before, where he usually stopped after fleshing out a dame or two, and maybe a guy.
Great book, I want to steam on with his stuff, but I feel I should keep pacing these books out so they'll last.
Philip Marlowe
Next 'The High Window'
Previous 'The Big Sleep'
Review of 'Early Novels and Pulp Stories'
"'I bet that side piece was the admiration of Sioux Falls once,' I said, gazing at a carved sideboard that was in the hall because the dining room was too small for it. It had curved ends, thin carved legs, was inlaid all over, and had a painted basket of fruit on the front.
'Mason City,' she said softly. 'Yessir, we had a nice home once, me and George. Best there was.'"
She relents, "smiling as sharp as her eyes" and gives him a crucial piece of information. But with that short passage so much about Mrs. Morrison makes sense and falls into place, she rises above the character role she fills in the story and becomes something more, even if her role is comparatively small. This is something that he does throughout 'Farewell' to an extant I've never read in him before, where he usually stopped after fleshing out a dame or two, and maybe a guy.
Great book, I want to steam on with his stuff, but I feel I should keep pacing these books out so they'll last.
Philip Marlowe
Next 'The High Window'
Previous 'The Big Sleep'
Review of 'Early Novels and Pulp Stories'
"She leaned forward a little and her smile became just a little glassy. Suddenly, without any real change in her, she ceased to be beautiful. She looked merely like a woman who would have been dangerous one hundred years ago, and twenty years ago daring, but who today was just Grade B Hollywood."
I love Chandler's clipped descriptions and dialogue. I just finished the book and I couldn't tell you the plot. Somehow his writing is good enough that you don't care.
I love Chandler's clipped descriptions and dialogue. I just finished the book and I couldn't tell you the plot. Somehow his writing is good enough that you don't care.
Very Well written, I think. It got a little tedious at times, but the plot made up for it.
This is the third book in the Marlowe series that I am reading. And I must admit that I understand why it is so popular. There is an undeniable charm to these stories.
First of all, Marlowe himself has his own specific charm, which also results from the fact that he is a completely unreal character. He is a tough guy who, against all odds, strives for justice as he understands it. No woman is immune to his allure. And the number of times someone tries to kill or beats him is almost absurd. And yet he works great as the main character of the series and has become a model for other similar characters.
I think I liked the plot of this book the least of those I've read, which does not mean that it was a bad book. But I think the plot is rather complicated and it is not necessary. There are several threads here that, at one point or another, connect and intersect. There are also a lot of characters, although fortunately they are quite easy to distinguish. Even if determining who played what role in this story is a little more difficult. And that's what I mean when I say this story is unnecessarily complicated. Of course, the final answers to the whole story turn out to be very simple.
Despite what I wrote above, I had a lot of fun reading this book. Marlowe is the main character you want to follow through this story. It always seemed to me that he was one step ahead of me, that he saw something that I did not notice. And while that wasn't always true, it felt good.
First of all, Marlowe himself has his own specific charm, which also results from the fact that he is a completely unreal character. He is a tough guy who, against all odds, strives for justice as he understands it. No woman is immune to his allure. And the number of times someone tries to kill or beats him is almost absurd. And yet he works great as the main character of the series and has become a model for other similar characters.
I think I liked the plot of this book the least of those I've read, which does not mean that it was a bad book. But I think the plot is rather complicated and it is not necessary. There are several threads here that, at one point or another, connect and intersect. There are also a lot of characters, although fortunately they are quite easy to distinguish. Even if determining who played what role in this story is a little more difficult. And that's what I mean when I say this story is unnecessarily complicated. Of course, the final answers to the whole story turn out to be very simple.
Despite what I wrote above, I had a lot of fun reading this book. Marlowe is the main character you want to follow through this story. It always seemed to me that he was one step ahead of me, that he saw something that I did not notice. And while that wasn't always true, it felt good.