A review by mikel_pfeiffer
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

3.0

This was my 2nd book for Noir November, the 2nd book I've read by Raymond Chandler and I think it was his 2nd novel. I was disappointed that I didn't enjoy Farewell, My Lovely as much as I did The Big Sleep. For me, Farewell, My Lovely, was more disjointed and uneven, making it a little more of a difficult read than I expected. I enjoyed many passages, especially in the middle where it seems like the story was chugging along. However, I found the beginning and parts along the way, awkward and my visualization of what was going on was just not working well. Dialog between Marlowe and characters would be going along nicely, then, WAM! something would happen quick and I wouldn't immediately catch what it was. I was often going back and rereading sections. Chandler wrapped it up fairly neatly but many of the characters that seemed important to the story were merely window dressing so maybe they could have been avoided altogether to tighten the story. As others have mentioned this was a combination of three stories he had written and I definitely liked one of them. Chandler's writing and dialog is so clever and fun to read I'll keep going with him and just hope for a smoother ride next time around.