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bassant's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
tragicianreads's review against another edition
5.0
HOLY SHIT!
5 starts to a book I HAD TO READ for school?
It was a stable 4.25 for most of it but the last chapter--- that really got me.
I enjoyed the whole novel really, probably the best crime book I've read so far! Very very suggested to literally anybody who sees this!
5 starts to a book I HAD TO READ for school?
It was a stable 4.25 for most of it but the last chapter--- that really got me.
I enjoyed the whole novel really, probably the best crime book I've read so far! Very very suggested to literally anybody who sees this!
eacolgan's review against another edition
5.0
I love noir to the bottom of my soul, and this is the perfect model of the genre. Marlowe is the embodiment of "hard-boiled", but in this book he just can't dodge the need to figure out what happened to his friend, to unravel the mystery around his death. The way Chandler writes about L.A. is so stark and lonely, but gorgeous, and the way the plot threads weave together prove what a master he is at mysteries. I love this book so much.
talentedmisfit's review against another edition
emotional
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
5.0
obnorthrup's review against another edition
4.0
First LA-based hard-boiled detective fiction I've read since moving here.
chaser26's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
chicagobob's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful, still well worth reading today, 50 years after Chandler wrote the Philip Marlowe books. The writing and atmosphere are wonderful as Marlowe gets involved with a war vet who has married and divorced a spoiled wealthy girl.
Much of the book is no longer politically correct but you have to take it in its 1953 timeframe.
Much of the book is no longer politically correct but you have to take it in its 1953 timeframe.
robnobody's review against another edition
Man, I was really into Raymond Chandler in my late teens/early twenties. Hell, I STILL have MarlowePI as my usual forum name. Anyway, this was Chandler's second-to-last completed novel, and generally agreed to be his last good one. It's a little more meandering and philosophical than his earlier Marlowe novels, showing a little more of the day-to-day life of being a private eye that doesn't involve the Big Cases, with character digressions on consumerism, mass production, the nature of crime and the police, alcoholism, writing, alcoholic writers, and the different types of blondes (...Chandler was paid by the word.) There's the cringey sexism, racism, and homophobia endemic to the time period and the genre, though it's a little hard to tell if they reflect more on the character narrator (as sort of comes across with the racism) or on the author (as really seems the case with the other two), or if there's any difference. This was also Chandler's most personal novel, dealing heavily with two different alcoholics and their effects on the people around them. Of course, the real draw is Chandler's patented snappy tough-guy sarcasm, with this one including some of my favorites lines, like “The girl gave him a look which ought to have stuck at least four inches out of his back," and "He had short red hair and a face like a collapsed lung."
Ray Porter on the whole does a great job with the narration, bringing the appropriate level of weary, cynical snarkiness to Marlowe, and bringing a startling amount of variation to the many males voices. It was just a little disappointing, then, for the only two major female characters to have basically the same breathy falsetto.
Ray Porter on the whole does a great job with the narration, bringing the appropriate level of weary, cynical snarkiness to Marlowe, and bringing a startling amount of variation to the many males voices. It was just a little disappointing, then, for the only two major female characters to have basically the same breathy falsetto.
mrblonde91's review against another edition
5.0
Particularly impressed that it's aged so well since it's a genre piece.