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A review by bill_wehrmacher
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
3.0
I read The Thin Man for my mystery book club. I am not really familiar with the genre and was only vaguely aware of the story; I am a huge fan of Myrna Loy.
Because there were so many Thin Man books and movies out there, I assumed that the thin man must be Nick Charles, a heavy drinking detective who is married to Nora Charles, very smart, very beautiful, very wealthy heir. I suspect that must still be the case, although a wealthy inventor, Mr. Wynant, is described as a thin man on about page 190.
In any event, I found the book difficult to follow because of the writing style that included old gangster language as well as conversations in which I lost track of who was speaking to whom.
The story architecture is typical, perhaps being first used by Agatha Christy in which investigators, both police and private run around gathering disparate clues for 95% of the book only to have the killer, it is almost always a killer, outed by the smart person in the room filled with potential bad-guys, and then explaining how he, or she, figured it out.
To compare notes, I watched the Myrna Loy, William Powell movie. I found it equally confusing. I suppose that is a credit, or debit, to the film makers. The movie actually begins before the book does giving the audience a view of the events leading up to the beginning of where the book starts. The book allows Charles and the police to discover them throughout the first few chapters.
I wondered why Dashiell Hammett chose to make everyone such lushes. The book was published just after the end of prohibition and I wondered if Hammett was making a statement about the ability to be smart despite consumption of alcohol. All my research suggests that I was off on a quest. What I did find was that Hammett was heavy imbiber as were other writers of his era, namely Raymond Chandler.
I vacillated on how many stars to give The Thin Man. I decided on three because, for all the difficulty I had following it, it certainly has a lot to offer in the genre.
I am sure if you decide to read the book, you will find it compelling.
Because there were so many Thin Man books and movies out there, I assumed that the thin man must be Nick Charles, a heavy drinking detective who is married to Nora Charles, very smart, very beautiful, very wealthy heir. I suspect that must still be the case, although a wealthy inventor, Mr. Wynant, is described as a thin man on about page 190.
In any event, I found the book difficult to follow because of the writing style that included old gangster language as well as conversations in which I lost track of who was speaking to whom.
The story architecture is typical, perhaps being first used by Agatha Christy in which investigators, both police and private run around gathering disparate clues for 95% of the book only to have the killer, it is almost always a killer, outed by the smart person in the room filled with potential bad-guys, and then explaining how he, or she, figured it out.
To compare notes, I watched the Myrna Loy, William Powell movie. I found it equally confusing. I suppose that is a credit, or debit, to the film makers. The movie actually begins before the book does giving the audience a view of the events leading up to the beginning of where the book starts. The book allows Charles and the police to discover them throughout the first few chapters.
I wondered why Dashiell Hammett chose to make everyone such lushes. The book was published just after the end of prohibition and I wondered if Hammett was making a statement about the ability to be smart despite consumption of alcohol. All my research suggests that I was off on a quest. What I did find was that Hammett was heavy imbiber as were other writers of his era, namely Raymond Chandler.
I vacillated on how many stars to give The Thin Man. I decided on three because, for all the difficulty I had following it, it certainly has a lot to offer in the genre.
I am sure if you decide to read the book, you will find it compelling.