Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Though this is considered the better book, I actually enjoyed The Big Sleep more than this.
To be honest, this is a difficult story to write about with immediately spoiling things.
(There were also some uses of the N word, which... yeah, not appreciated, to say the least. I can never tell if Chandler's writing Marlowe in the 40s or the 70s, I'm sure it says it somewhere but either way, I wasn't a fan.)
Story-wise, Chandler does a very strange, engaging thing with his Marlowe plots by somehow making it seem as if he's making the story up as he goes. Which he may well have been doing. The reader's along for the ride with Marlowe, who is equally confused and keeps getting roped into bigger and bigger problems, one after the next. By the time the "mystery" is solved (and there are six mysteries happening at once), you'll be exhausted. Like Marlowe!
The characters were honestly fairly fun, larger than life but also grounded. Chandler didn't just describe a bunch of good-looking body parts and call it a female character. Instead, he bothered to write multiple female characters with their own lives and motives separate from Marlowe's own. It's a low bar, I know, but I was pleasantly surprised that Chandler cleared it. Marlow himself is still a world-weary man who carried a small, shy torch for finding out the truth wherever he can. He tries to stay in his league, but it's more out of recognition of his own limitations than out of resignation. He can't do everything. And he's saddened by the fact that no one can.
Recommended if you want to read Chandler's noir books, although I think I'd recommend starting with his short story collection "Trouble Is My Business" before this one, or even the earlier book, "The Big Sleep." "Farewell My Lovely" probably works better once previous installments have done the heavy lifting for the protagonist's characterization.
(There were also some uses of the N word, which... yeah, not appreciated, to say the least. I can never tell if Chandler's writing Marlowe in the 40s or the 70s, I'm sure it says it somewhere but either way, I wasn't a fan.)
Story-wise, Chandler does a very strange, engaging thing with his Marlowe plots by somehow making it seem as if he's making the story up as he goes. Which he may well have been doing. The reader's along for the ride with Marlowe, who is equally confused and keeps getting roped into bigger and bigger problems, one after the next. By the time the "mystery" is solved (and there are six mysteries happening at once), you'll be exhausted. Like Marlowe!
The characters were honestly fairly fun, larger than life but also grounded. Chandler didn't just describe a bunch of good-looking body parts and call it a female character. Instead, he bothered to write multiple female characters with their own lives and motives separate from Marlowe's own. It's a low bar, I know, but I was pleasantly surprised that Chandler cleared it. Marlow himself is still a world-weary man who carried a small, shy torch for finding out the truth wherever he can. He tries to stay in his league, but it's more out of recognition of his own limitations than out of resignation. He can't do everything. And he's saddened by the fact that no one can.
Recommended if you want to read Chandler's noir books, although I think I'd recommend starting with his short story collection "Trouble Is My Business" before this one, or even the earlier book, "The Big Sleep." "Farewell My Lovely" probably works better once previous installments have done the heavy lifting for the protagonist's characterization.
Love the way he writes. Wish I could live inside his novels as private detective. I liked this one better than his first.
This book is just how Marlowe likes his girls, "... hardboiled and loaded with sin."
My favorite Marlowe mystery, and I love them all. Chandler is at his best with his always-sparkling dialogue in this one, and his descriptions just kill me every time. Everything is sun-drenched and languid and rotten. The mystery is ranging and wild, full of colorful characters, danger and the kind of dogged, beaten nobility that makes noir so satisfying. The writing is gorgeous and funny and quietly sad, as Marlowe's endless struggle against cynicism inflects every note of Chandler's prose.
I'd forgotten just how unfortunately racist the setting is, reflecting the times: the story opens with a senseless murder in a black-only bar and all the white characters say causally racist things whenever the subject is brought up. Marlowe gets called into the job because the cop assigned to the murders doesn't think it's worth his time, since the victims are black. It does not age well.
Other things I hadn't remembered: there's a very interesting episode toward the end, where Marlowe meets a helpful man in a bingo parlor, that on this reading jumped out at me as very queerly coded. It is notable that Marlowe confronts and explores relationships with a beautiful seductress who offers easy sex, as well as a romantic would-be sidekick who offers domestic comfort, and he is never quite comfortable with either; in the end he is only ever emotionally honest, vulnerable, and sincerely rhapsodic about a beautiful man he meets briefly on the pier.
I'd forgotten just how unfortunately racist the setting is, reflecting the times: the story opens with a senseless murder in a black-only bar and all the white characters say causally racist things whenever the subject is brought up. Marlowe gets called into the job because the cop assigned to the murders doesn't think it's worth his time, since the victims are black. It does not age well.
Other things I hadn't remembered: there's a very interesting episode toward the end, where Marlowe meets a helpful man in a bingo parlor, that on this reading jumped out at me as very queerly coded. It is notable that Marlowe confronts and explores relationships with a beautiful seductress who offers easy sex, as well as a romantic would-be sidekick who offers domestic comfort, and he is never quite comfortable with either; in the end he is only ever emotionally honest, vulnerable, and sincerely rhapsodic about a beautiful man he meets briefly on the pier.
Twisty plot wrapped in classic Chandler writing. Reminded me a bit of True Detective S2, but better. It had that dark California underbelly vibe, including a trip to the hills to see a quack. But better. I'll rank this just below The Big Sleep.
As with a lot of the writing from this period, some unfortunate political incorrectness.
As with a lot of the writing from this period, some unfortunate political incorrectness.
He calls a black child "it."
Yeah the prose is sometimes clever, but the amount of slurs, sexism and racism in this book is kind of over the top.
Chandler didn't like POC or women and really makes that fact obvious, take that how you will.
Yeah the prose is sometimes clever, but the amount of slurs, sexism and racism in this book is kind of over the top.
Chandler didn't like POC or women and really makes that fact obvious, take that how you will.
It took me a while to get into this, thrown off trail more than once by casual racism - which didn't surprise me but still made me feel uneasy - , but the moment I was in, it was as pleasant as the first one, packed with beautiful prose, which underlined the atmosphere perfectly, smart and witty dialogues and Marlowe being annoyed by the world he lives in and still manage to fight his hardest to keep the things he believes in safe and sound.