Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (1939).
Good Reads meta-data is 231 pages rated 3.94 by 167,404 litizens.
Genre: Noir. Species: Sunshine.
DNA: SoCal.
Verdict: Who dun it?
Tagline: Where in the world is Sean Regan?
The immortal Philip Marlowe’s first big case, and today he is still on the job somewhere, in some media (paper book, film, play, poem, radio, audio book, ebook, and more) or another, doing something. Ergo, this is vintage Chandler, a man of his time and place and an ear for dialogue.
That 1930s context means he lacks contemporary sensitivities. Fortunately for us there are many Good Readers on the job to tell us that in the 1-Star reviews where they parade their virtues – many. Here is a sampling of their insights in bold with my reactions.
- misogynist – It is true, and an apt reminder of those bad old days that so many people are trying to turn the clock back to now. It is a big word that is often misspelled in the tirades.
- too many detailed descriptions – Yes, true and I also find it tedious, though sometimes it does deepen either plot or character. Editors get paid to convince writers to cut such verbiage. Too bad it wasn’t done for this one to make it even leaner and meaner. Try Honoré Balzac, Charles Dickens, or Herman Melville sometime. These writers were paid by the word.
- actually 0-stars – ‘actually?’ The superfluous ‘actually’ is ‘actually’ unnecessary. Emphatically unnecessary!
- convoluted – Yes, indeed there are twists and turns and I got lost a few times with all those comings and goings. That however intrigued me rather than defeated me. If you don’t like a mystery don’t read a mystery.
- I don’t like this author – A valuable insight for others.
- homophobic – indeed, true and grating, and another salutary reminder of the bad old days that we are now reinventing.
- slightly sexist – Slightly! Hardly. Wake up! Far more than slightly.
- racism – Huh? I must have missed this one, but no doubt true.
A lot of these comments sound like idiot’s revenge for having to read something assigned by others for classes, clubs, or sadism.
It is also true that it is replete with brittle dialogue, memorable characters like District Attorney Wilde, General Sherwood, Eddie Mars, Butler Norris, Bernie Ohls, Harry Jones, and Agnes Lozelle, Canino; some very well judged negotiating with Cronjager, Brody, and Mars. Then there is the ghostly presence of the Irishman. Vivian herself has no trouble holding her own despite the prevailing attitudes that outrage some readers. Carmen is addled, like it or not, such individuals exist. Finally, it did much to cement the krimi noir into the popular mind.
After finishing The Long Goodbye the algorithm suggested this well-worn title and with little better to read at the time I started…. Yes, I have read it before, yes I have seen the totemic representation on celluloid, and yet it seemed fresh and new on the Kindle pixels. So I went on, and on.
Some hack is missing a chance to bring the late Sean Regan to life.