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amybethharrison 's review for:
The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
I've read The Lady in the Lake and skimmed The Little Sister, but I liked this one best. It reads like literature that also has a murder and crime in it, rather than a detective novel. Chandler has something to say about how corrupt society is and Marlowe's attempt to be honest in the middle of all of it. In comparison to the other books, the cast of characters has more depth to them, everyone showing a range of good and bad. Then the main crime doesn't even show up until the end of the novel. This creates a lot of mid book rambling that almost feels like denouement. Amid this you begin to realize the point is this rambling; one sad old man's emotions compel Marlowe to keep digging. The message is that acting with integrity means never wavering from helping someone, even if it leads you through the muck and the mire. Helping someone has value in and of itself even if you never get rewarded or get the answer you want.