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A review by forgottensecret
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
4.0
'She was twenty or so, small and delicately put together, but she looked durable... She came over near me and smiled with her mouth and she had little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pith and as shiny as porcelain. They glistened between her thin too taut lips. Her face lacked colour and didn't look too healthy.
'Tall, aren't you?' she said.
'I didn't mean to be.'’
Several years ago, I watched every movie that won the Best Picture Oscar. This eventually led to the old film noirs: 'Double Indemnity', 'Sunset Boulevard' and of course, 'The Maltese Falcon'. I had heard of another Humphrey Bogart film, 'The Big Sleep' but had never seen it. I am so glad that I read the book first.
'The Big Sleep' is the first novel of Raymond Chandler to feature the private detective Philip Marlowe. The novel begins with Marlowe accepting a case by the old General Sternwood. His youngest daughter, the thumb-sucking Carmen, is being blackmailed and the General wants the matter dealt with. The novel follows Marlowe in finding the source of the blackmail: the dead body of the bookseller Geiger and its disappearance, a night out at the casino of Eddie Mars with the elder daughter of General Sternwood, Vivian Regan, and Joe Brody's unlucky end.
The story, however, does not end there. The disappearance of Rusty Regan, Vivian's husband and the General's son-in-law lingers in the background. Marlowe cannot let it go. This culminates in the previously scatterbrained Carmen trying to shoot Marlowe with a chamber of blanks. Marlowe had worked out that Carmen shot Regan for rejecting her sexual advances; the detective had earlier also incited revenge by rejecting her unclothed in his bed. The novel ends with Vivian confessing the cover-up of Carmen's crime, and her promise to have her sister instituionalised.
Similar to film-noirs, this book is a mood. I cared less about the plot and more about being in the company of Philip Marlowe. The day-drinking of whisky, indoor smoking, brushing off the advances of women in commitment to the case, the snippy dialogue that is so reminiscent of the old 40s movies - it is all there. Chandler is also an excellent writer. For someone who has read a lot of Haruki Murakami, I can see that the Japanese author's prose has been influenced by Chandler. Chandler writes with such detailed economy and often striking imagery, and did I mention the dialogue? Highly recommended as a great detective novel, but also for those who love film-noir and movies from Classic Hollywood.
'Tall, aren't you?' she said.
'I didn't mean to be.'’
Several years ago, I watched every movie that won the Best Picture Oscar. This eventually led to the old film noirs: 'Double Indemnity', 'Sunset Boulevard' and of course, 'The Maltese Falcon'. I had heard of another Humphrey Bogart film, 'The Big Sleep' but had never seen it. I am so glad that I read the book first.
'The Big Sleep' is the first novel of Raymond Chandler to feature the private detective Philip Marlowe. The novel begins with Marlowe accepting a case by the old General Sternwood. His youngest daughter, the thumb-sucking Carmen, is being blackmailed and the General wants the matter dealt with. The novel follows Marlowe in finding the source of the blackmail: the dead body of the bookseller Geiger and its disappearance, a night out at the casino of Eddie Mars with the elder daughter of General Sternwood, Vivian Regan, and Joe Brody's unlucky end.
The story, however, does not end there. The disappearance of Rusty Regan, Vivian's husband and the General's son-in-law lingers in the background. Marlowe cannot let it go. This culminates in the previously scatterbrained Carmen trying to shoot Marlowe with a chamber of blanks. Marlowe had worked out that Carmen shot Regan for rejecting her sexual advances; the detective had earlier also incited revenge by rejecting her unclothed in his bed. The novel ends with Vivian confessing the cover-up of Carmen's crime, and her promise to have her sister instituionalised.
Similar to film-noirs, this book is a mood. I cared less about the plot and more about being in the company of Philip Marlowe. The day-drinking of whisky, indoor smoking, brushing off the advances of women in commitment to the case, the snippy dialogue that is so reminiscent of the old 40s movies - it is all there. Chandler is also an excellent writer. For someone who has read a lot of Haruki Murakami, I can see that the Japanese author's prose has been influenced by Chandler. Chandler writes with such detailed economy and often striking imagery, and did I mention the dialogue? Highly recommended as a great detective novel, but also for those who love film-noir and movies from Classic Hollywood.