 "Zzzzzzzz....Still, a Great Man Has to Start Somewhere!" | 2009-11-14 |
| - Reviewed By jevans062 |
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep is a great example of a seminal novel that is not actually a very good one. It helped establish numerous tropes of the hardboiled mystery subgenre, but the plot is a stitched-together, unsatisfying mess and the psychology is risible. About halfway though the novel, the plot--never very mentally stimulating--runs out of steam. Chandler throws in a naked girl in the hero's bed, some beatings and some shootings before reaching his finish, which predictably turns on the hardboiled keystone credo, "dames are bad news."
Chandler's main purpose in this book seems to be to convey his conception of masculine dignity and honor withstanding the temptations offered by rich, decadent, beautiful young women. This is a valid enough idea for a novel and the opening image of the knight in stained glass in a truly arresting one, but Chandler's "psychology" is blundering and heavyhanded. He was quite daring for his day in his presentation of blatantly loose women and "degenerate" homosexuals, but these depictions are not only insulting and offputting now but I would argue quite shallow (thumb-sucking, loose-bladdered, nymphomaniac Carmen has to be one of the most cartoonish and misogynistic creations in the genre by a serious writer). The characters with whom Chandler sympathizes are his ego-projection detective, Philip Marlowe, and Marlowe's original client, old, dying General Sternwood; tellingly, these are the only characters in the book who get anything beyond surface treatment.
In The Big Sleep Chandler achieves some of his patented, pithy bon mots, but his writing would get better in his next book, Farewell, My Lovely, as would his plotting. Chandler is a great figure in the genre and he produced some great detective novels, but The Big Sleep is not one of them. |
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| "bad edition" | 2009-11-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: A291WSE7MNCMOW |
| This book arrived, and it isn't the same edition that was pictured on Amazon. It's a Vintage Crime paperback, with a yellow cover, 139 pages. The type is so tiny it's difficult to read. It's about 6 point type. You need a magnifying glass. Very aggravating. I don't think I'll go to the trouble of reading it. |
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 "My Favorite All-Time Book" | 2009-11-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2NO7JG2PF2W90 |
This is my all-time favorite book. You can read it a 1,000 times and still be spellbound by Chandler's humor, his original scenes and his feel for all things dark but human. I loved this book the first time I read it, and whenever I need a good laugh and an adventure into dark psychology, I always go for The Big Sleep.
There is a modern version that features a female Philip Marlowe called TROUBLE IS HER BUSINESS. It doesn't incorporate all of Chandler's gifts, but does a better job of living up to The Big Sleep than any work since. |
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 "Tense Detective Story" | 2009-10-26 |
| - Reviewed By a1luciano |
Philip Marlowe is a private investigator who has been hired by a wealthy old man. the man is being blackmailed, something to do with one of his two wild daughters, and he needs to know if he should pay off the blackmailer or not.
Marlowe is on the case, plunging into a world of pornographers, mobsters, gamblers, and murderers. What seems like a straightforward case at first ends up twisting and turning, and everything seems to be trying to lead Marlowe toward a mystery he isn't interested in solving.
I loved the style of writing in this book. The metaphors and imagery were fantastic, and I enjoyed immensely the author's use of language. The story was interesting, too, and kept me guessing up until the end of the book. I found the anti-women and anti-gay sentiments sprinkled throughout the story to be a bit jarring, though. |
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| "Not a snoozer" | 2009-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: AHHUMMHD1V5OQ |
| I listened to this version which was narrated by Elliot Gould. I could not ask for a better narrator. His reading of the book gave the perfect voice for Philip Marlowe. The story centers around the Sternwood family - an aging and ailing father and his two adult daughters, one is being blackmailed. The body count mounts as Marlowe follows the clues. Sometimes the murder happens in Marlowe's presence. As rough as Marlowe seems to be, he does have integrity to the very end. |
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| "An all-time classic" | 2009-07-04 |
| - Reviewed By thejab |
A dying millionaire hires Private Detective Philip Marlowe to take care of a situation involving his youngest of two daughters. It seems that she has either been losing a bit too much in an illegal casino or is the victim of blackmail. Either way, Marlowe's job is to make the trouble go away. But this doesn't even scratch the surface of what's waiting for him as he begins to investigate. Before long, the same daughter is present at the scene of a murder, a pornography ring is part of the puzzle, as well as the usual collection of cutthroats and tough guys. Meanwhile, the older daughter's husband, a former gun-runner, has run off and absolutely everyone assumes Marlowe was hired to find him.
The Big Sleep, written in 1939, introduced Philip Marlowe to the world and has been entertaining readers ever since. When writing the snappy patter associated with this type of detective fiction, it's a tricky balancing act to make it funny and colorful without degenerating into a self-parody. Chandler not only accomplishes this, he makes it look easy. The dialog and narration deliver plenty of chuckles and offer many a well turned phrase, but are also polished to silky smooth perfection. The plot is a bit convoluted, but this is a detective story after all. The story has to have layers for the hero to keep peeling back and the main thing is that they're all interesting enough to keep the reader wanting to see what happens next.
While I don't think anyone would call this novel one of the great character studies in American literature, it's still safe to say that this is not a cast of two dimensional cardboard cutouts either. Marlowe, in particular, is both well developed and likeable. Lesser characters are obviously not developed as thoroughly, but most get enough nuance in how they speak and carry themselves that you don't feel that they're generic in any way.
For those who have seen the movie, I should caution that the book is quite different in many ways. A lot of the original story goes into territory that was strictly off limits in the Hollywood of that era. Also, while Bogart was very entertaining, he's fairly different from what you'd picture reading the book. A young James Garner would probably be closer to the character I picture while reading the novel (I know that Garner would have been too young to be in the movie, that's not the point). The main thing to remember is that however much you might have liked the film, reading the book will be a different experience and you'll need to accept that going in.
The Big Sleep is my first experience reading Raymond Chandler. I found it a true page turner and completed it in one day. I'll definitely buy more of his work and consider this one of the best books I've read in some time. This is a very easy book to recommend to anyone who is either curious about trying Chandler's work or a fan who hasn't gotten around to this installment just yet. |
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