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chloekg's review against another edition
4.0
"They're so American!" I said to a friend, "And I could feel the whole world loving America."
Language is the star, nobility and longing, the silver flask and a dame with purple eyes comin' back from a sap on the head, "I like your whiskey. Could I have a little more?"
Starry heartache of California dreams, "games of chance, including women." A 6'3" serge suit and the biggest shoes in the world. The stories are urgent, iconic-timeless, and mostly very fun. It's the whole world of it all that lingers, the titular essay forever.
Language is the star, nobility and longing, the silver flask and a dame with purple eyes comin' back from a sap on the head, "I like your whiskey. Could I have a little more?"
Starry heartache of California dreams, "games of chance, including women." A 6'3" serge suit and the biggest shoes in the world. The stories are urgent, iconic-timeless, and mostly very fun. It's the whole world of it all that lingers, the titular essay forever.
lgpiper's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of eight stories by the master of hard-boiled fiction, Raymond Chandler: two short novellas, five novelettes and a short story proper. If you like that genre even a bit, this is a can't miss collection. It's full of tough guys and floozies and the consumption of unimaginable amounts of whiskey. There's always a body or two that shows up full of lead, or in one of the stories, "Nevada gas", which seems to be a euphemism for hydrogen cyanide, the stuff of gas-chamber executions.
rocketiza's review against another edition
4.0
the master of crime noir. essay that kicks it off is extremely interesting.
tomebro's review against another edition
4.0
Once you get past the pretensiousness that Chandler demonstrates in his thinking, he does actually make some good points on the nature of detective fiction and what its place is in the realm of literature. I agree with thinking that since all literature is a form of escape, then wanting to dig into the small items in a story should be alright in detective literature - especially since most detective stories are built on that.
His idea of realism as a genre is also interesting. He brings the detective novel into the real world, where he says it belongs. Rather than "provide a corpse" for a mystery to revolve around, the circumstances and people who are surrounded by it are complex, dark, and may beyond an individual's understanding.
That's why Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes, and others persist and are popular. We want someone like them to make the world a little safer.
His idea of realism as a genre is also interesting. He brings the detective novel into the real world, where he says it belongs. Rather than "provide a corpse" for a mystery to revolve around, the circumstances and people who are surrounded by it are complex, dark, and may beyond an individual's understanding.
That's why Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes, and others persist and are popular. We want someone like them to make the world a little safer.
alexcabanechevarria's review against another edition
read this essay for my senior seminar to accompany the film the maltese falcon
koki_siringo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
batbones's review against another edition
4.0
Came for the name on the cover, a love for hard-boiled fiction and a soft spot for Philip Marlowe, and curiosity. Stayed for all of that. Even without Marlowe, the ride is still pretty good with Chandler. His short stories leave savory hints of the characters he may have worked with (mostly gritty types with reluctant but good hearts) if he had explored his options a bit more and not stopped at writing full-length novels of just Marlowe. The characters are quite indistinguishable (their names are easily forgotten, but there are many stories) but the style was familiar - and therefore, fun. Some evidence of Chandler's critical smarts available in the essay that shares the book's title. It is impressive to watch him poke holes into classic English detective stories from A.A. Milne and Dorothy Sayers.
rosekk's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the way he constructed the setting(s) of the stories, and some of the characters (particularly the detectives) were great. I really enjoyed the pearl story. The problem I had was that everything was so gritty it was hard to care about the murders and the mystery - I never really felt like solving the mystery was important, because it didn't feel like that would make anything any better in the long run - the whole setting was just so set up for everyone to die that death didn't really matter. And tons of people died in the solving of the mystery as well, so the act of solving the mysteries often felt dirtier than the original crime.
brucehoward's review against another edition
5.0
Read this book primarily for the essay of the same title included in this collection, which by itself is sufficient reason to pick up this book.
mjrl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Definitely not my favorite Chandler, especially since the stories don’t feature Phillip Marlowe