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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
3.0
This is your stereotypical crime Noir - all about people back-stabbing each-other. There is a detective who gets all the cool dialogues. Almost all the women fall in category of femme fatale who can be assumed to be wearing, if they are wearing anything, a deep cut dress or a night dress or better still a still a deep-cut night dress. They are all trying to seduce our hero, who may accept or reject their proposal as the case may be. You can be sure there will be drug dealers in there, somewhere - and everybody, without exception, is carrying guns. Everybody is morally deficient in one way or other and there are sure to be psychopaths. I just love psychopaths - they are the only characters I can relate to.
One thing I hate in all crime books when in the rare case hero gets outnumbered or overpowered by villain(s). My problem is that villains are satisfied in knocking the hero to unconsciousness and then just tying him. Why won't they just kill him? They have killed other characters far less threatening than heroes and yet they are satisfied in captivating him, and in a place where they can easily get help. The least they could do is to break some limbs but no .... It is frustrating for someone like me who roots for them. I call it Brutus syndrome - after Brutus from Popeye the sailor man - you know how he is happy in just tying Popeye every time and whats more, around a place where he can easily get some spinach. It is worse in case of masked heroes - villains never unmask them, they are just too respectful of hero's right to privacy. It is high time that our villains should learn from their mistakes.
For me, Chandler's problem is that of Austen and Wells; they were all highly and beautifully original - but the problem is after once they came up with the egg of Columbus, they get averaged out by the better and bad works inspired by them.
One thing I hate in all crime books when in the rare case hero gets outnumbered or overpowered by villain(s). My problem is that villains are satisfied in knocking the hero to unconsciousness and then just tying him. Why won't they just kill him? They have killed other characters far less threatening than heroes and yet they are satisfied in captivating him, and in a place where they can easily get help. The least they could do is to break some limbs but no .... It is frustrating for someone like me who roots for them. I call it Brutus syndrome - after Brutus from Popeye the sailor man - you know how he is happy in just tying Popeye every time and whats more, around a place where he can easily get some spinach. It is worse in case of masked heroes - villains never unmask them, they are just too respectful of hero's right to privacy. It is high time that our villains should learn from their mistakes.
For me, Chandler's problem is that of Austen and Wells; they were all highly and beautifully original - but the problem is after once they came up with the egg of Columbus, they get averaged out by the better and bad works inspired by them.
kaelynrothe's review against another edition
Too much misogyny (among other things) for me to stay. Look at this quote from the book when the narrator was talking about an unconscious and possibly drugged woman he found in a room with a dead body:
"I slapped her around a little. She didn't mind."
marie_90's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Marlowe is a typical detective figure, arrogant, honest, alcoholic and womanizer. This crime strings many different people together, and the story until solution to Marlowes quest at the end stays exciting to read :)
onkeltuka's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
gwit's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. “He didn’t know the right people. That’s all a police record means.”
rainy_window's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
stephibabes's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I did in actuality. Which is a shame. It is the favourite book of someone who played a big supportive role in my life.
I enjoyed the noir and how the narrative voice in my head very much had 'that lilt'. The characters were impressive and the one lines really quite enjoyable.
But I struggled to get into it, and in fact fell out of my reading habit. I struggled to differentiate characters and settings as the thick description, in places so rich, in others left me unsure of where I was in the story.
I borrowed this as an ebook from my library. Support your local library!
I enjoyed the noir and how the narrative voice in my head very much had 'that lilt'. The characters were impressive and the one lines really quite enjoyable.
But I struggled to get into it, and in fact fell out of my reading habit. I struggled to differentiate characters and settings as the thick description, in places so rich, in others left me unsure of where I was in the story.
I borrowed this as an ebook from my library. Support your local library!
kdawud's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5