Η ξανθιά με τα μαύρα μάτια

by Benjamin Black, Μαρία Φακίνου (Translator)

Ο απαράμιλλος ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ του Ρέιμοντ Τσάντλερ επιστρέφει όταν μια γοητευτική νεαρή κληρονόμος τον παρασύρει στην πιο δύσκολη και επικίνδυνη υπόθεση της καριέρας του.
Ο Μπέντζαμιν Μπλακ ξαναζωντανεύει τον περίφημο ντετέκτιβ για μια νέα περιπέτεια στους κακόφημους δρόμους του Μπέι Σίτι της Καλιφόρνιας. Βρισκόμαστε στις αρχές του 1950, ο Μάρλοου είναι ανήσυχος και μοναχικός όπως πάντα, και η δουλειά έχει κάπως πέσει. Τότε κάνει την εμφάνισή της μια καινούργια πελάτισσα: νέα, όμορφη, και με ακριβά ρούχα, ζητά από τον Μάρλοου να βρει τον πρώην εραστή της, έναν άντρα που τον λένε Νίκο Πίτερσον. Ο Μάρλοου ξεκινά την έρευνά του, αλλά σχεδόν αμέσως ανακαλύπτει ότι η εξαφάνιση του Πίτερσον είναι μόνο η αρχή σε μια σειρά από περίπλοκα γεγονότα. Σύντομα έρχεται σε σύγκρουση με μία από τις πλουσιότερες οικογένειες του Μπέι Σίτι και αναπτύσσει μια ιδιαίτερη αντίληψη για το πόσο διατεθειμένοι είναι να φτάσουν στα άκρα προκειμένου να προστατεύσουν την περιουσία τους.
Μόνο ο Μπέντζαμιν Μπλακ, ένας σύγχρονος δεξιοτέχνης του είδους, θα μπορούσε να γράψει ένα νέο αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα στο ύφος του Ρέιμοντ Τσάντλερ, που διαθέτει όλη την ατμόσφαιρα και τη γοητεία των πρωτότυπων βιβλίων, παραδίδοντας ταυτόχρονα μια ιστορία που είναι τόσο ξεχωριστή και φρέσκια όσο και η καλύτερη αστυνομική λογοτεχνία του σήμερα.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Noir, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Audiobook

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2014

About the author

Pen name for John Banville

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.

Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.

After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.

Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benjam...

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for a well done hard boiled Private Eye story set in 1950s California. The author is actually John Banville, Irish author and Man Booker prize winner. However he has written an excellent Phillip Marlowe story with Raymond Chandler's memorable PI. He has the style, cadence and wording of Chandler down pat.
This book has Marlowe looking for Nico Peterson, at the request of Clare Cavendish . Although she is married to another man, she tells Marlowe that Nico was her lover. She says that he has disappeared.
Marlowe starts to investigate and finds himself dealing with some murderous thugs.
I liked the opening sentence: " It was one of those Tuesday afternoons in summer when you wonder if the earth has stopped revolving"
This was a library book. I read it in 1 day.
Update March 2024: this has been made into a movie, filmed in Ireland and Spain. Marlowe is played by Liam Neeson. I recommend the movie. It was true to the book.

[James Thane · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a general rule, I avoid reading books in which a new author takes over an established character from another author who has died or retired. The whole idea of taking over someone else's series seems somehow wrong to me on a number of levels, and I've never read one yet in which I thought that the new author really did justice to the series or the characters.

Given that, I would have totally ignored this book in which Benjamin Black resurrects Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe who is, of course, one of the icons of crime fiction. But then a book club to which I belong chose the book and I had no choice in the matter.

I really wish they hadn't. I've read a couple of Black's novels featuring his own series character, Quirke, a pathologist in the 1950's Dublin morgue, and I've enjoyed them. Even so, I approached this book with more than a little trepidation, and reading it did nothing to allay the concerns I had going in.

The book is set in the early 1950s and opens with Marlowe sitting in his office. A beautiful, leggy and mysterious black-eyed blonde wanders in and asks Marlowe to find a missing "friend," named Nico Peterson. The blonde is a little vague about the details of her relationship with the missing Nico and about why she is so anxious to find him.

Marlowe and the reader both know that the woman is not giving him the whole story, but of course that's the way things go in P.I. novels like this. Marlowe takes the case, which naturally takes any number of strange twists and turns before finally coming to a conclusion. Black attempts to imitate Chandler's style, but succeeds only marginally. The fact of the matter is that there was only one Raymond Chandler and in the seventy-five years since Philip Marlowe first appeared in The Big Sleep, no one's come close to matching what Chandler did.

If I'd picked up this book knowing nothing about it, and if the main character had been named something other than Philip Marlowe, I would have thought that someone had made yet another fairly game effort to imitate Chandler but had fallen short like everyone else who has attempted to do so. And before writing this review, I sat down and re-read The Big Sleep, which I reviewed here in March, 2010. Doing so simply confirmed my impression that this homage pales against the original.

The Black-Eyed Blonde is not a bad book, and, for what it's worth, it's better than Poodle Springs, the novel that Chandler left unfinished and which was then completed by Robert B. Parker. But it's not nearly as good as a Philip Marlowe novel by Raymond Chandler and, for that matter, it's not as good as a Quirke novel by Benjamin Black. I'll eagerly look forward to reading another of the latter, but when it comes to Philip Marlowe, I'll be sticking to the real thing.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raymond Chandler's 'Philip Marlowe' series was continued after his death, and this addition to the oeuvre by Benjamin Black is pretty good.

*****



In this new book in the Phillip Marlowe series, a stunning, married, blonde - Clare Cavendish - asks Marlowe to look into the disappearance of her lover, Nico Peterson.



Turns out Nico is dead, killed by a hit-and-run driver. But wait! Clare has seen Nico walking around San Francisco after the accident. Why didn't Clare just tell Marlowe that in the first place? Because the devious beauty needs to manipulate and seduce Marlow into helping her. Thus we have the set-up for our noir thriller.



Marlowe sets out to find Nico and soon discovers that the missing man apparently faked his death (with a little help from his friends). Moreover, Mexican thugs are looking for Nico and don't mind a little torture and murder to help them in their quest. As in the original Phillip Marlowe books, the private investigator drinks a lot, is witty, has a smart mouth, and doesn't want to cooperate with the cops. He also has a penchant for getting beat up and almost killed.



Of course Marlowe carries on and solves the case and learns once again that a beautiful woman can harbor a lot of secrets. I thought the book felt like a pretty authentic Phillip Marlowe story and I enjoyed it.

You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sixty years after Chandler published the Long Goodbye, Black (or the author writing as Benjamin Black) continues the story in a novel that pays homage to the tradition of Raymond Chandler and his iconic hero, Philip Marlowe. Purists will shrink from going near a pastiche, even a well-done one, by another author. Others might spend their time comparing the grammar and phrasing of the two writers, the younger one consciously and openly aping the elder writer. Black is not Chandler, but offers us a private eye novel that respects the Marlowe character, often turning a phrase here and there that feels authentic.

For all that, it is an enjoyable read and, once you start reading it, you want to find out what happened to the missing man, who was spotted from a car in San Francisco, months after he was cremated. Marlowe knows from the start that Clare Cavendish's explanation for seeking his esteemed services is a bunch of hooey. He's operating by instinct in the dark and does not know particularly what the real stakes are, but is mesmerized by this ultra-wealthy blonde heiress who lives in a mansion by the sea with a husband who lives his own life and a mother who owns a perfume fortune. Marlowe is always conscious of the class difference between himself and Clare and knows that they (the Cavendishes and the like) live lives so different from that of ordinary working stiffs. The usual hoodlums and double-crossers make their appearances and even Detective Bernie Ohls who cannot understand how Marlowe keeps turning up corpses wherever he turns and how he is not fully involved in whatever is going on. There is a melancholy feel to much of the novel, but do not fear cause there is plenty of action as things get cooking.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admire director Robert Altman and his “take” on Philip Marlowe in the movie, The Long Goodbye. However, that isn’t the Philip Marlowe that Raymond Chandler wrote about. It can’t be the same Marlowe that was walking those “mean streets” more than half a century ago.

Setting that aside, Benjamin Black provides the basics for an entertaining plot: a mysterious blond; a simple assignment that becomes more complex and complicated as the story rolls one; many characters who are venial; more characters who misrepresent themselves and their interests; and, our P.I. who struggles through all of that, including danger and physical harm to resolve it all.

Here are some of Black’s attempts to mimic Chandler’s style with inconsistent success:
"She was taller than she had seemed when I saw her from the window, tall and slender with broad shoulders and trim hips. My type, in other words. The hat she wore had a veil, a dainty visor of spotted black silk that stopped at the tip of her nose—and a nice tip it was, to a very nice nose, aristocratic but not too narrow or too long, and nothing at all like Cleopatra’s jumbo schnozzle. She wore elbow-length gloves, pale cream to match her jacket, and fashioned from the hide of some rare creature that had spent its brief life bounding delicately over Alpine crags. She had a good smile, friendly, so far as it went, and a little lopsided in an attractively sardonic way. Her hair was blond and her eyes were black, black and deep as a mountain lake, the lids exquisitely tapered at their outer corners. A blonde with black eyes—that’s not a combination you get very often. I tried not to look at her legs. Obviously the god of Tuesday afternoons had decided I deserved a little lift."

"I waited for more, but she only leaned back a farther inch or so and smiled again. That smile: it was like something she had set a match to a long time ago and then left to smolder on by itself."
"Maybe it was time I forgot about Nico Peterson, and his sister, and the Cahuilla Club, and Clare Cavendish—but hold up there. Clare? The rest would be easy to put out of my mind, but not the black-eyed blonde."

"He paused. “You a cop?” “Sort of.” “What’s that mean?” “Private dick.” He chuckled, stirring up the phlegm. “A private dick ain’t a sort of cop, except in your dreams, maybe.” I sighed. When they hear you’re private, they think they can say anything to you. I guess they can, too. The old man was grinning at me, smug as a hen that’s just laid an egg."

And now back to the ersatz Marlowe that Black tries to convince us is the real deal:
"When I was young, a couple of millennia ago, I used to think I knew what I was doing. I was aware of the world’s caprices—the goat dances it likes to do with our hopes and desires—but where my own actions were concerned, I was pretty confident that I was sitting square in the driver’s seat, with the wheel held firmly in my own two hands. Now I know different. Now I know that decisions we think we make are in fact made only in hindsight, and that at the time things are actually happening, all we do is drift."

This Marlowe is too much inward focused for his own, much less the reader’s good:
"Women are not the only thing I don’t understand—I don’t understand myself, either, not one little bit."

A couple of big handicaps, added on to a foundation that lacks essential confidence.

"I came across a nice word recently: palimpsest. The dictionary said it was a manuscript with the original text partly erased and a new one written over it. What I was dealing with here was something like that. I was convinced that behind everything that had happened there was another version of things that I couldn’t read. All the same, I knew it was there. You don’t do my kind of work for as long as I have without developing a nose for the missing facts."

It wasn’t just the facts that were missing from this novel: Philip Marlowe was “missing in action.” Sad.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Resurrecting iconic literary characters is tricky business and when John Banville (under the pseudonym Benjamin Black) signed on to write another Philip Marlowe novel, I was worried. Most people know I am a huge fan of Marlowe, the hard-boiled detective created by Raymond Chandler, but something in me had to know if The Black-Eyed Blonde was any good. Now I’m left to decide if to review this as a Philip Marlowe novel or cliché pulp.

The premise is simple; a blonde bombshell, Clare Cavendish, seeks out Marlowe to find her missing lover Nico Peterson. If we look at the tropes of pulp fiction, in particular hard-boiled detective novels than we must suspect Clare to be the femme fatale and the case would be full of unexpected twists and turns. In both aspects The Black-Eyed Blonde failed to deliver anything interesting; Clare was attractive and seductive but never really had an air of mystery about her and the case felt too cut and dry.

Now let’s look at the protagonist; clearly not Philip Marlowe but someone trying to impersonate this great detective. Marlowe is a modern day knight in shiny armour; in a world of corruption he is incorruptible. He is also a flawed character; Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe is a loner, bitter, cynical, quick witted with a silver tongue. The Marlowe portrayed here was a much older, slower babbling mess; nothing really rang true. You can look at the amount of alcohol Chandler’s Marlowe drinks and wonder just how a man can function but in this novel while he drank a lot, the Mexican beers don’t sit right. Also you have to wonder about the dialogue; the Marlowe in The Black-Eyed Blonde talked differently, I tried to place the way he spoke and all I could think was this character was from Brooklyn.

Since nothing in this book felt like a Philip Marlowe novel, I tried to read The Black-Eyed Blonde in the same way I would read any other pulp. I tried to separate my love of Philip Marlowe and Raymond Chandler’s writing to give a fair review but it is hard to separate the two. Even if I judge The Black-Eyed Blonde as a standalone novel I still feel like the whole thing was a bit flat. There are some decent moments in this book and I was mildly entertained, however I doubt I will ever read a Benjamin Black novel again based on this experience.

I really want to see more Philip Marlowe stories but everyone who attempts it seems to butcher the character. The Black-Eyed Blonde was better than Perchance to Dream but the bar was set so low that I think Benjamin Black must have tripped over it. Do yourself a favour; stick to Raymond Chandler. If you’ve never read a Philip Marlowe novel start with The Lady in the Lake, it is a good introduction to the character and the style without being overly complex. For me, I may just reread the series (an excuse to blog about them) and try Chandler’s short stories.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marlowe is tasked with tracking down a man who up until recently was believed to be dead. However, it’s those who are also on the missing man’s trail that will prove to be Marlowe’s biggest challenge. Can Marlowe find his man before two mean Mexicans do or did ol’ Phil bite off more than he could chew?

After Robert B. Parker finished up with Chandler’s iconic character in the early nineties with his sequel to The Big Sleep, “Perchance to Dream” (a review from The New York Times suggested an alternate title of “Sleep Bigger” – much better), no one dared to touch Marlowe until nearly twenty five years later when Benjamin Black was given his own opportunity with the character. Did he have an interesting enough story to tell? Sure, but was he able to nail that elusive Chandler style? No – although he did a better job than Parker, in my opinion.

All of the hallmarks of the Marlowe universe are present: tough talking criminals, drop dead gorgeous women, more twists and turns than a figure skater, but the writing is off and in my opinion it will always be off. At the risk of sounding like some sort of literary snob (trust me, I’m not), the writing at the heart of any new Marlowe novel will always be lacking something. Maybe the similes aren’t up to snuff, maybe Marlowe isn’t ruthless enough, mean enough, I can’t put my finger on it but it’s missing something. It just doesn’t feel right. The problem lies in the fact that this is a character that only its creator could write and any subsequent release will feel like a cheap imitation.

I’m not knocking Benjamin Black (which is a pseudonym for acclaimed author John Banville) as he’s a tremendous writer, same goes for Robert B. Parker, but maybe it’s best to leave well enough alone and let Marlowe rest easy – Chandler’s seven novels contain more than enough material to do the character justice.

Also posted @ Every Read Thing.

[Gerard Cappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was determined to enjoy this from the moment I heard about it.
John Banville has been my favourite living writer since the 80's, when my reading diet was almost completely restricted to an Irish menu, and before I got the noir bug. Then, when I converted to noir as an eager disciple, Chandler was my first Master.
So, when Banville felt the need to scratch the itch of thrills and spills through his new Benjamin Black persona, and then got the nod for a new Marlowe, I knew hatches would be battened in advance of a perfect storm of murder, mayhem, a double-dealing dame and a wise-cracking gumshoe.

A beautiful client, Clare Cavendish, rich and mysterious, a missing link, to be found dead or alive, the flatfoot cop to be manipulated and avoided. Even a Sydney Greenstreet character and an Elisha Cook Jnr. (and a nice touch, a reference to Aidan Higgins' 'Langrishe, Go Down).

"I turned to go, then stopped. How beautiful she was, standing in the sun in her cool white linen, with all that shining glass and candy-pink stone behind her. I could still feel the softness of her mouth on mine. "Tell me," I said, "how did you hear about Peterson's death?"
"Oh," she said, perfectly casual, "I was there when it happened."

I started it with the frame of mind that this was the original Chandler, with Banville skulking in an anonymous background. After a while, and it wasn't long, I dispensed with the illusion. Only one Chandler, and only one Banville, so I was happy to change tracks and jump on the Banville express to Bay City and the Ritz-Beverly. Like Marlowe says:
"I had the phone in my hand and was dialing her number before I knew what I was doing. There are times when you find yourself following your instincts like a well-trained dog trotting behind the heels of its master."
I expected Chandler but got Banville - not a bad deal for this well-trained Banville dog.

Chandler said, "Mystery and the solution of the mystery are only what I call 'the olive in the Martini'. The really good mystery is one you would read even if you knew somebody had torn out the last chapter."
The Black Eyed Blonde fits that bill: worth reading even if the last chapter doesn't explode into a pyrotechnic rapture of Marlowe redemption.

Banville is, I believe, a Wexford man. Raymond Chandler's people were from the neighbouring county, Waterford, and the young Raymond, apparently spent many's a happy day of his childhood wandering the streets of Waterford City.

If Banville/Black is to mix the Marlowe Martini again, maybe he will revisit a plotline that Chandler was considering shortly before his death, as confided to a Waterford writer who became Chandler's neighbour in London in the late 50's:

"The Waterford writer, Bill Long, made Chandler's acquaintance in London in 1958 when they lived two doors apart in Chelsea.

... Crowds tired him and, often, he and Long would leave the party-goers and retire to Chandlers study where, invariably, Chandler wanted to talk about Waterford. He would ask Long to tell him about the Waterford of Long's youth, forty years after Chandler had known it. Long said that Chandler would often take pencil and paper, and make lists of streets and squares and laneways of the old city, just as James Joyce did in recalling Dublin. Chandler often spoke about Power's second-hand bookshop that he frequented in Waterford. This was the famous "Sticky Back" Power's shop, known to several generations of Waterford people. Chandler startled Long, on one occasion when he was talking about "Sticky Back's," by saying that he had been thinking about the old bookshop and had come up with an idea for a new Philip Marlowe novel. He thought it would be a wonderful idea to use the shop, and the maze of streets and lanes surrounding it, as a setting for the novel. He outlined the plot: -

Marlowe is visiting Ireland and he stops in Waterford for a few days. He visits a bar on the quays in Waterford and there he witnesses a fight between sailors from different ships. The next day he hears that one of the sailors from the fight has been murdered and the body was found slumped in Sticky Back's doorway. That evening Marlowe is recognized by the captain of the murdered sailor's boat and is asked to investigate."

I think Banville would make a beautiful martini from that mix, olive and all.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It certainly depends on your mood how much you do appreciate such a product.
The first part, almost a half, is rather dull and too descriptive; nothing significant happens, nothing worthy of being retained is said, even the humor does not fit to a so-called Chandler book.
But somehow imperceptibly something changes. There is more action, metaphors appear and you can even believe that you're reading a genuine book. The final is bittersweet, like it would be the original, so you have to respect such an enterprise.
Perhaps four stars are one too many, but for sure three would be too few...

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the tradition of Raymond Chandler this hard-boiled noir picks up sometime after The Long Goodbye and sees a slightly older Philip Marlowe being hired by the wealthy Clare Cavendish to track down a former boyfriend who may or may not have faked his own death after being spotted in San Francisco. Where we go from here is pretty much a standard affair in terms of plot with nothing that hasn't been done before, but as it doesn't have the complexity of other Marlowe novels it does make for an easier read and John Banville (pen name Benjamin Black) does stick very close to Chandler's style while adding something of his own. For fans of a good old fashioned detective yarn this just about makes the grade but never really hits the heights of Chandler's originals.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recognize well-written noir when each sentence feels like a story unto itself; strung together those sentences form a book that feels somehow "more" than any other out there. "The Black-Eyed Blonde" is such a book. Black manages to mimic the style of one of the best-known authors of the 20th-century while still keeping a distinct voice. And Raymond Chandler fans will be happy to see Phillip Marlowe back roaming the mean streets of L.A. There's a sultry femme fatale, a sinister philanthropist, and plenty of punches thrown, pistols whipped, and suits ruined. "The Black-Eyed Blonde" is a tall drink of whisky, and I enjoyed every drop!

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult to imagine being handed the task of writing a Philip Marlowe novel. Raymond Chandler, the original author is now such an icon of classic crime/noir fiction that it would just be too daunting for most authors to attempt. On the other hand, what an honor to be asked to do so! Benjamin Black (pseudonym of Man Booker Prize-winning novelist John Banville) was an excellent choice in my opinion as he captures much of what we readers look for in a Marlowe novel.

Set in early 1950’s LA, of course, the plot surrounds a case presented to PI Philip Marlowe by the titular black-eyed blonde, Claire Cavendish. It seems she wants him to find her former lover. Almost immediately, Marlowe discovers the guy had previously been killed in a hit-and-run but that Ms. Cavendish has since seen him walking the streets of San Francisco. From there events take off in all directions and it isn’t long before Marlowe finds himself entwined among the rich and famous, movie stars, the underworld, and of course, the femme fatale.

The author totally captures the atmosphere of a Chandler novel, the mood of the city, the action of brutal fights, dead bodies, and an exquisite investigation. He also captures the essence of the character of Marlowe, himself, truly a testament to the skills of this author. That being said, this is not an exact replica of a Raymond Chandler Philip Marlowe novel. While Black does come close to the style and all of those memorable lines that Chandler seemed to come up with so effortlessly, I think he wisely steered clear of overdoing that for fear it would result in a sense of fakery. There are still plenty of one liners and amazingly descriptive phrases, very much like Chandler’s style, but thankfully, the story is not plastered with them.

I would also recommend that you first read Chandler’s The Long Goodbye before diving into this one. Several characters and circumstances from that story are involved here and, in fact, this novel is pretty much a sequel to that one. While you can read and enjoy this one on its own, there is a small but necessary information dump near the end of this novel for those who haven’t read ‘The Long Goodbye’.

Overall, this is a superb novel that Chandler fans will certainly appreciate. For those who have never read a Philip Marlowe novel, this is very enjoyable noir fiction and will likely lead you to seek out the original Chandler stories.

[Gintautas Ivanickas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Airių rašytojas John Banville garsus savo, kaip pasakytų literatūriniai snobai „rimtais“ kūriniais, be krūvos visokių kitų apdovanojimų pelnęs ir Bookerį. Bet va, kartais leidžia sau paišdykauti, pasinerti į detektyvo žanrą. Tiesa, tarsi to susigėdęs, tuomet prisidengia pseudonimu Benjamin Black.
Šį sykį Benjaminas Blackas prikelia iš užmaršties Raymondo Chandlerio personažą – privatų detektyvą Philipą Marlowe. Kaip žmogus, perskaitęs visą krūvą holmsiados, galiu pasakyti, kad oi kaip ne kožnam pavyksta gerai sužaisti svetimame lauke. Benjaminui Blackui, manyčiau, pavyko. Gerai pagautas Chandlerio stilius, tipiška ironija ir netikėti palyginimai – viskas savo vietose. O ir siužetas, sakyčiau, nepavedė.
Taigi, apie siužetą. Į Marlowe, kaip visada, kreipiasi „damsel in distress“ – gražuolė blondinė juodomis, kaip anglis akimis (oi, ką tik suspoilinau jums romano pavadinimą?). Ji norėtų, kad detektyvas surastų nežinia kur prašapusį jos meilužį. Vos tik pradėjęs domėtis, Marlowe supranta, kad akivaizdžiai čia kažkas ne taip. Jam, kaip kokiam daktarui Hausui, visi meluoja. O netrukus aplink ima žūti žmonės. Na, ir, savaime suprantama, pats Marlowe ne sykį atsidurs per plauką nuo panašaus finalo. Bet jis juk pripratęs, jo daugiametė patirtis byloja, kad gražios moterys neša vien nemalonumus. Kita vertus, nemalonumai – jo biznis, tad kožną sykį Marlowe lipa ant tos pačios banano žievės, o mes (na, bent jau tie, kas mėgsta noir tipo detektyvus), kožną sykį susidomėję ryjam puslapius, skubėdami link finalo. Nors ir bendrais bruožais žinome, koks is bus. Marlowe liks vienas, liūdnas, apipešiotas, bet nenugalėtas.
Tvirti keturi iš penkių.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a general rule I do not mind continuation novels especially by writers that are fairly good at their job as writers. Benjamin Black AKA John Banville is a fairly accomplished writer of Irish descent who takes on the job of continuing where a certain Raymond Chandler did stop writing about the fairly well known PI Philip Marlowe. And he is not the first to do so, somewhere in my collection I have a collection of short stories that all involve fairly well known writers and their short take on Philip Marlowe and Raymond Chandler. Then came Robert B. Parker who finished an unfinished book that was started by Chandler and finished by Parker. Next he tried it himself with an original tale which was fairly decent but then again Parkers' genre is the PI genre as further developed by Robert B. Parker. The amusing bit is that Parkers Spenser & Jesse Stone also are written by continuation writers and thus prove that a good hero is difficult put to bed permanently.

Enter Black/Banville's where Marlowe who gets hired by a rich woman who wants him to find out where he lover is. A possible problem might be that the man in question has been killed in a car accident, in which he was mostly the victim. But the lady in money is quite sure she saw him way after his death and Marlowe has to find out if it is possible.
The book meanders around up to past halfway the book when the action and speed finally picks up and something actually happens beyond questioning people and Irish pubs outside of Ireland, which is respectable due to the writers place of birth.
It is only then that the book picks up flight and delivers enough excitement. However as a spoiler I would add that this books at various moments looks back at the Chandler written tales and you should be a wee bit knowledgeable about the character and his stories. So in my ever so humbly view this is not a great starting point reading the Marlowe books.

I do find that Benhamin Blacks' Quirke books are better fun and better written, but then again that is his own creation. I do hope he had fun writing it and if he were to do another do a stand alone and create something new without including Marlowe's history as strong as did happen in this novel.

His depiction of Philip Marlowe is spot on and does work well, still feels like a pastiche and less of a Marlowe story, something Parker did do better.

Do not forget to read: Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: A Centennial Celebration it has some excellent stories with Marlowe.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Raymond Chandler’s books. I also love John Banville/Benjamin Black. Add them together and the result is a funny smart new age continuation of gum shoe Philip Marlowe’s adventures. Unfortunately and wonderfully Marlowe’s attitude and luck haven’t changed. Nor has his luck. As always there’s a woman at the heart of the shenanigans and she’s rich and beautiful and has Marlowe wrapped around her lovely little finger. The result is that our friend Marlowe gets roughed up, lied to, hustled by both the bad guys and the police. So what’s new? Nothing. And I love it.

Banville isn’t quite as skilled as Chandler at portraying the places in and around 1940’s Los Angeles but Banville still does a pretty bang up job. He also approximates Chandler’s writing style well including the unique hard boiled dialog and the funny/sad thought processes unique to Doghouse Reilly. I dectected just a few ‘Englishisms’ or should I call them UKisms since I think Banville is Irish? Altogether an enjoyable book. I hope Banville enjoyed writing it as much as I enjoyed reading it.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, having read Robert Parker’s job finishing Raymond Chandler’s last Philip Marlowe novel, and not well, I was wary, but I just finished 8 Benjamin Black mysteries, and had finished all of the seven Marlowe novels, so thought I would check this out, in hope. It’s a kind of act of literary ventriloquism, to see one author try to adopt the voice of another. Why not just read Black and then read Chandler? But then it occurred to me that in mystery writing--as with any genre--you are always in conversations with all the writers you have ever read in the genre. You write through them, to some extent. And then I recalled that several of Black’s Dr Quirke novels were clear homages to his favorite mystery writers, including Edgar Allan Poe, Graham Greene, and yes, Raymond Chandler. So I dove in, and was not disappointed.

I never think of Banville/Black as having much of a sense of humor, but here he is at his funniest, by far, channeling the wise-cracking Marlowe. The story picks up from the end of the author’s favorite Chandler novel, The Long Goodbye, and of course Marlowe falls in love with the titular blonde, Clare Cavendish, a perfume heiress. And what of the disappearance of Nico Peterson? Well, we have several serpentine twists and turns, even as we meet old friends Bernie Ohls and we hear of his long love Linda Loring.

Black has fun with Chandler’s over-the-top one-liners:

* "Around here there are days in high summer when the sun works on you like a gorilla peeling a banana"

* a brunette wears "an unignorably tight sweater"

* "Sometimes," he says, "I think I should lay off cigarettes for good, but if I did that, I'd have no hobbies except chess, and I keep beating myself at chess."

Banville says he read a few of the novels again, read the stories, read some of the essays and letters, and tried to get into Chandler’s head just as he might get into any character’s head, and for my money, he does a masterful job! Okay, it's not as good as Chandler at his best, and it's not as good as Black at his best, so I'll rate it 3.75, rounding up because it's a very entertaining act of ventriloquism, finally.

[Roybot · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the most interesting things about books is the way that two people can read the same thing and have such different reactions. This applies not just to the implications or moral of a story, but even to the characters themselves. My Pillip Marlowe is, for better or worse, not Benjamin Black's Marlowe, and The Black-Eyed Blonde, despite trying hard to hit all the right notes, just didn't come together for me.

If this weren't presented as a Marlowe book (and if it didn't carry the many allusions to Chandler's works so blatantly), I think I'd have enjoyed it a lot more. The ending would need to be reworked, of course, but, frankly, I think it ought to have been reworked anyway given how, as another reviewer points out, appallingly eye-rolling it is. For a while, the story clips along alright, and the central plot certainly keeps Marlowe confused in an appropriately Chandleresque fashion, but... well... it's just not Marlowe.

The author tries very hard--too hard--to remind you that this is a Marlowe book. The constant barrage of throw-back references was too much at times. "Oh, here's the place I used to drink back in that other book. Here's the doctor I called from that one. Here's the restaurant that reminds of that lady I helped out that one time. Remember that? Do you? Because they totally happened to me." There are times where less is more, and this would have been a major one. Marlowe's constantly referring back to Terry and Linda and Holland and etc... it began to feel like the author was shouting in my ear all the time "Look, see, it's Marlowe!" Yes, yes. I know... I knew it was Marlowe when I picked up the damn book. I knew that because it says it in big letter right on the spine "A Philip Marlowe Novel." While I'm not a private eye, I still managed to pick up on that one.

Even beyond that issue, The Black-Eyed Blonde is also noticeably more... vulgar than Chandler's earlier works, in the sense that the violence and sex are far more explicit and blatant. Having just finished a reread of the other Marlowe books, it really stands out. A character hit and tortured so badly that it leaves an "eyeball dangling"? Another shot in the head such that "there were two holes in his head, the one in his forehead and another, bigger one at the back, at the base of his skull. There was a lot of blood coming out of this second hole, and some sticky-looking gray stuff, too."?

And, like I said, this wasn't my Marlowe, nor my Chandler. My Marlowe was world weary and waxed philosophical and, yes, he talked tough and he had an eye for women, but he was sort of a knight in tarnished armor. He'd seen things and the world had beaten him down, but he tried to stay on the right side of things and he helped the people who needed to be helped because if he didn't, nobody else would. And, to be fair, he wasn't the most progressive character regarding race or sexuality (that is: there's pretty explicit homophobia and racism in the books). Weirdly, here, Black white-washes away the racism and homophobia, but really ramps up Marlowe's issues with women (who, we're reminded, are nothing but trouble). His infatuation for the femme fatale is never justified, but Marlowe lets us know, repeatedly, what he thinks about her body. Black's version of Marlowe is darker than mine... less tarnished knight and more bitter jerk.

Overall, the effect was like seeing these characters--Marlowe, mostly, but also Joe and Bernie--through a funhouse mirror.

You know who you're supposed to be looking at, but everything is distorted and wrong.

[Lance Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Marlowe lives! Benjamin Black aka John Banville brings Raymond Chandler's iconic detective back to life in the 1950s for a case involving (of course) a less than truthful blonde. The pace and prose were like a TCM film noir movie and I couldn't help but picture Bogey as Marlowe, street-smart and quick with a sarcastic gibe. Never mind that the plot gets a little confusing. After several viewings, I still don't completely understand the plot of "The Big Sleep" and yet I love it. I thouroughly enjoyed The Black-Eyed Blonde and hope Marlowe still walks the lonely streets of the city in the future.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a self-proclaimed Raymond Chandler expert, I read this book with an exceptionally critical eye, and what resulted was a two star book rating. Maybe I read it too closely, because I can see how it might have been an okay book, if only it weren't supposed to be a Marlowe one. For me, this was like a strange imitation Chandler, but not a parroting. It was more like the book was parading about in the skin of a Chandler book, and sometimes it would look like Chandler, but then I would notice a glaring imperfection that would shake me out of any illusions I had.

Possibly my biggest issue was that Marlowe felt to me more like some kind of manic, unhinged version of himself. Like an evil twin impersonating the real one, maybe. Certain character traits were just wrong, such as huge gaps in common knowledge that I would certainly expect him to be aware of, I mean, not knowing what a Shriner was? I know that even, and that's not exactly my scene. And what was this affection for Mexican beer? Or for beer at all? It didn't jive at all with me. Perhaps worse is his unexplainable infatuation (or was it love...?) with Clare. That is not at all the Marlowe that I know and obsess about. I should do the obsessing, that's the way this works. Oh. And the constant habit of Marlowe telling me things he did or didn't like, or what he did or didn't do. No. Firstly, I can't see many of those things as being true, second I don't think someone borrowing a dead author's character should take such liberties. I would stab someone who did that to one of my people. I swear, Marlowe was more watered-down and mushy here than in Poodle Springs. Actually, I kind of liked him in that, at least he felt somewhat like himself. Even if the circumstances made things go wrong.

Then there were the references, which were sometimes on point, and sometimes just wrong. So wrong that they were jarring. And the copious backstory given for The Long Goodbye. Unnecessary, and it slowed down that narrative. Not that the narrative was moving at all until about halfway through. The first half is utterly devoted the eponymous "black-eyed blonde," not any sort of mystery.

Really, all I can do is complain about how things ended up so badly. Involving Terry Lennox and then killing him off? Another case of taking another author's characters and bastardizing them to your will. It isn't right, and it irks me more than a little.. I was disappointed in the cast of characters in general. The femmes weren't at all fatale, and the men were basically lacking in any menace, though they were obviously supposed to be so uber intimidating. Not to mention the lack of vitality in the setting itself, so that the story lacks one of the components that make Chandler's work so unique and addictive.

Altogether: this was a gigantic disappointment, and at least mildly offensive to me. I can see how it would have made at least a passable noir, but my Chandler standards are exceedingly high, and this book missed just about every one of them. :(
Yes, sad face is necessary to express my feelings properly.

[F.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I’m a huge Raymond Chandler fan and thus this is a book I was unbelievably wary of. Somehow it’s okay for later authors to write new James Bond novels. The originals are entertaining, but not a huge literary triumph and besides – because 007 is these days more of a film phenomenon than a character from battered old spy novels – we’ve all got used to there being a new James Bond story every couple of years anyway. Philip Marlowe is different. The books are consciously literary, albeit in a worn-down and battered way; they ain’t shy of giving tough guys tough dialogue interspersed with high-flying classical allusions. What’s more they’re sealed in aspic. All the film versions are very much in the past and the six novels (I don’t think anybody but a fool is going to make great claims for ‘Playback’) stand at the absolute apex of the thriller writers’ art. Matching the hard, yet effortless beauty of the prose; while capturing those sharp as dagger similes, just feels like a difficult and thankless task for any author foolhardy enough to strap on some gumboots. Plus there’s the problem that all that tough guy, hard-boiled stuff makes it ridiculously easy for a writer to fall into parody. You can see why I was wary of picking this damn thing up.

But then, I thought, what the hell?

Actually John Banville (writing as Benjamin Black) doesn’t do a bad job here. Marlowe is perhaps a bit more self-satisfied with his wit than previously, and definitely has an even keener sense of other people’s fashions, but is still the Galahad of the mean streets that Chandler imagined. The first person narration gives us a sharp and amusing turn of phrase, there’s a varied cast of sneaks and heavies ready to threaten our hero, and a truly convoluted mystery for him to solve. And yet, it only ever feels Chandler-esque, rather than actual Chandler. There’s no way you could close your eyes and believe this is really Raymond Chandler writing (actually don’t close your eyes when you’re trying to read, that’s a ridiculous suggestion). It’s a smart and dryly humorous, hard-boiled read, yet just feels Chandleresque in a way that a thousand other detective writers do when they try be Chandleresque – some get nearer than others, but few are actually cheeky to call their hero ‘Philip Marlowe’.

But there’s an extra problem for this book. However obliquely, it’s a kind of sequel to ‘The Long Goodbye’. The woman who hires Marlowe is a friend/acquaintance of Linda Loring from that book. Even though Loring herself never appears, there are echoes throughout – some louder than others – of the earlier novel. The thing is that ‘The Long Goodbye’ is a bona-fide masterpiece. Writing as Chandler is one thing, writing as Chandler while riffing on his best novel is quite another. On its own terms this book does pretty well, it’s a detective novel which tackles heartbreak, loneliness and disappointment; unfortunately it doesn’t exist on its own terms and ‘The Long Goodbye’ is a detective novel which does heartbreak, loneliness and disappointment so much better.

[Rosenkavalier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chandlerian or Chandleresque (e altre quisquilie di cultura generale)

Qualche tempo fa ho proposto al gruppo di lettura cui partecipo "Il lungo addio", di Raymond Chandler. Il libro è piaciuto molto, nonostante il suo autore non fosse molto noto a parecchi di quei lettori forti, che di Chandler avevano giusto sentito parlare.
Pochi avevano già letto qualcosa di suo (a memoria, quasi tutti "Il grande sonno", molti invece avevano visto i film con Humphrey Bogart (che nell'immaginario collettivo è una specie di alter ego di Chandler, nonostante lui preferisse Cary Grant).
Forse perchè comunemente confinato nel genere hard-boiled, forse perchè (qualcuno ha commentato) sono cose già sentite, già viste (appunto) mille volte nei film, alla fine pare che i suoi romanzi siano dati per noti, forse per scontati.

E' vero.
La prosa di Chandler ha marcato un segno pressocchè indelebile nello stile della narrativa nera, molto più del suo maestro Hammett e dei coevi Woolrich e McCain. Quel segno è tralignato dai libri nel cinema e da lì nell'estetica visiva più generale e tuttora rimane.
Il fatto è che Chandler è l'originale. Apparentemente, troppe persone hanno più familiarità con gli imitatori. Ma Chandler è the real thing e, come diceva una vecchia pubblicità, la "cosa vera" non si batte.

Avendo ormai esaurito le letture originali (incluso Poodle Springs, che consiste in 10 pagine di Chandler e una trecentina, trascurabili di Robert Parker), ho scoperto che il famoso scrittore irlandese John Banville aveva pubblicato sotto pseudonimo questa "Philip Marlowe novel", ben recensita sulla stampa americana.

L'ho comprata e letta in un amen, con moltissimo divertimento.

La trama è interessante e complicata quanto si deve, in omaggio ai totem del genere. Le atmosfere sono convincenti, i personaggi sono ben costruiti, si riconoscono i riferimenti ai clichè ma a un appassionato questo non dispiace. Il colpo di scena non arriva certo inaspettato, per i chandleriani (anche perchè preparato da indizi che i conoscitori del filone marloweiano riconoscono abbastanza facilmente), ma chiude efficacemente una storia che fin lì aveva funzionato bene e, si sa, il rischio è che si guasti proprio al momento che sarebbe destinato agli applausi finali.

Per divertente (e molto) che sia stata, la lettura mi ha fatto sorgere più di una riflessione.
Piacerebbe questo romanzo a uno che non abbia mai letto Chandler? E se sì, perchè?
A un chandleriano come me, questo romanzo piace così tanto perchè è ben scritto o perchè somiglia tantissimo (quasi perfettamente, direi) a un romanzo scritto da Chandler?
Le doti mimetiche di Banville costituiscono un pregio o un plagio?

Rispondere a queste domande è un vasto programma. Un aiuto lo dà Banville, che in un bell'articolo sul Guardian racconta la genesi del romanzo, si dichiara chandleriano militante e dice "what I found most attractive in Chandler's work was the sumptuousness of the prose style".
Ne fà, in altri termini, soprattutto una questione di stile.

"Could I invent a plot to match the master's fiendishly intricate mysteries? Would I be able to catch anything of the flavour of postwar Los Angeles, the accents, the atmosphere, the acrid feel of a time and place so specific to the Marlowe books? Above all, would I be able to reinvent a convincing Marlowe?"

Il gusto, gli accenti, l'atmosfera, le sensazioni di un tempo e di un luogo. La reinvenzione.

Lo scopo, dice Banville, non è copiare Chandler ma onorarne lo spirito: "I have sought not to parrot Chandler, but to honour the spirit, vigorous, valiant and melancholy, of this master of English prose".

Scrivere un romanzo che sia (o suoni?) Chandleriano è essenzialmente una questione di stile?

"The Black-eyed blonde" è o suona? Chandlerian o Chandleresque?

Queste domande conducono alla vera domanda, che per me devoto della prima ora (compatibilmente con l'anagrafe) è la più rischiosa e potenzialmente dolorosa.

Se uno scrittore (bravo, ovviamente, come Banville dimostra di essere) può scrivere una "Philip Marlowe novel" così autentica, bella, divertente, accattivante, cosa resta della real thing?

Uno stile tutto sommato imitabile? Una serie di tricks of the trade (il gusto, gli accenti, l'atmosfera, le sensazioni), che un altro esperto di quell'arte può replicare con un peraltro difficilmente calcolabile sforzo?

Sì e no.

Sì perchè anche un Rembrandt si può imitare con successo.

No, perchè Rembrandt è "het echte ding" (courtesy Google Translator), De Nachtwacht l'ha dovuta dipingere lui perchè eventualmente possa poi essere copiata da qualcuno (bravo, eh, perchè un Mondrian lo si rifà con un righello, Rembrandt no). Ma nessuno aveva mai ritratto una milizia civica olandese in quel modo (e ritratti di quel genere in Olanda se ne facevano tantissimi, all'epoca, molti splendidi come quelli di Frans Hals).

Quindi, I rest my case.

Raymond Chandler era e rimane un maestro non soltanto del suo trade, cosa del tutto accertata, ma della letteratura. Anche solo rispetto ad Hammett, la nota distintiva profonda dei suoi romanzi, certamente di quelli migliori, è la capacità di creare un contesto morale credibile col quale il lettore può confrontarsi. Per questo, dissento da Banville quando riduce, per così dire, Chandler a un formalista, un maestro di stile. A me è sempre parso molto più di questo.

Je kan het echte ding niet verslaan.

"And now I wish I could meet up with him in some shady bar on Sunset, slide on to the stool beside him, give him a light for his cigarette and buy him a gin gimlet, and ask him how I did" (J. Banville)

[Álex A. Ochotorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 ✨

Que nunca sé si voy a pasar de la página treinta de una novela de Benjamin Black o si la voy a leer entera en un par de días? Sí

Que novelas suyas que no me han llamado especialmente la atención, tiempo e incluso años después las recuerdo y tengo agradables fogonazos de sus escenas? Sí, también.

“La rubia de ojos negros” es de las que me han gustado y creo que volverá a mi mente en el futuro. La prosa es elegante, muy buena, y sencilla a la vez.

La novela te traslada a Los Angeles de primeros-mediados de siglo pasado. Una historia de misterio calmada, a la vieja usanza, con un detective que cae como todos los detectives que son altamente funcionales pese a su alcoholismo y que debe buscar al amante dado por muerto de una mujer bellísima, rica y enigmática.

Es una novela tranquila y, en mi caso perfecta para sosegar ánimos y estrés mental. Nada de giros trepidantísimos o retorceduras, pero al final todo cuadra con la sencillez de la lógica.

Seguiré con “Las hermanas Jacob”, también de este autor.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author John Banville has won the Booker Prize. Here he writes as Benjamin Black, embarking on a homage to Raymond Chandler by recreating Philip Marlowe in a story meant to follow on from the 1953 novel The Long Goodbye. Using a title Chandler might even have used himself, The Black Eyed Blonde, Black has chosen an unenviable task – to try and be completely authentic to Chandler’s original tone of voice and come up with a story that fits into the canon. Joe Gores did a fantastic job with Spade & Archer, a proposed prequel to The Maltese Falcon, and we hoped Benjamin Black had produced something equally fitting.

In true Chandler fashion, the story opens in the early 1950s in a steaming hot Los Angeles, with our introspective gumshoe detective sweating in his office, and awaiting his next case. Cue a beautiful, mysterious and slightly tortured female client – the black-eyed blonde of the title – in search of an errant former lover. Although she’s a married woman and comes from a rich and influential family, Clare Cavendish needs Marlowe’s help in tracking down the slippery but charming Nico Peterson, whose disappearance is of some concern to her.

Of course Marlowe must fall for the dame, a dame who neglects to pay him at that, so he embarks on a search for Peterson. As he becomes intimately embroiled in Cavendish’s case and discovers more about Peterson’s unlawful activities, Marlowe finds himself is threatened by a local gangster. He uncovers the truth behind the veneer of a rich gentleman’s club, and is visited by a ghost from the past. Marlowe finds himself in deep water – literally – and needs all of his cunning to extricate himself from this thorny case.

The Black Eyed Blonde will transported you back to Marlowe’s world, and Black’s recreation of the sights, sounds and atmosphere of Chandler’s Los Angeles is as impressive as it is vivid. Having re-read The Long Goodbye recently, I take issue with criticisms other reviewers have raised over how authentic or credible a follow-up this is. It is a more than satisfying sequel to the events in, and tone of, earlier Philip Marlowe stories.

The outstanding feature is how the author has captured the narrative voice and style of Chandler’s private detective. His trademark introspection, wise-guy attitude and cynical asides are all there. Black also captures, in Marlowe’s a spare and uncompromising voice, all the protagonists, with the narrator’s observations and feelings bringing them to life. Respect for Chandler’s reputation and craft is in evidence throughout, and Marlowe’s natural, cynical humour will raise a smile.

Writing convincing crime fiction is not easy, but walking in the footsteps of a master like Raymond Chandler is almost impossible. I was more than satisfied with this homage to one of the most influential crime writers of all time. Raymond Chandler would be more than happy with the result. I certainly was.

[Márta Péterffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ez remekül sikerült, Mr. Banville!
Nem volt könnyű feladat, Chandler nyomában ilyet írni. / A Chandler Hagyaték felkérésére készült/
Benjamin Black=John Banville

[Kate Curtis-Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the cover of this book that first drew me in when I saw it lofted up onto the "New Mystery" section at my local Barnes and Noble. Maybe it was the Marilyn Monroe esque face or the bright and bold titles but there was something that made me need to pick it up. I was even more thrilled when I learned that it was a detective story set in the early fifties (I hadn't heard of Phillip Marlowe before this book) and I knew that at some point I was going to need to buy this book.

A couple of months passed and after repeated trips to Barnes and Noble to read it more I finally cracked down and bought it. The Black Eyed Blonde then sat on my shelf for a while but once the books I needed to read before it were past then I opened it back up and began to read in a feverish state.

For those that don't know The Black Eyed Blond follows what is perhaps the most famous private detective ever put to page, Phillip Marlowe. In this new story our troubled hero finds himself under the charming spell of a Mrs. Clare Cavendish, a rich and beautifully intoxicating woman who tasks Phillip to find a long lost lover of hers. Quickly into the investigation Marlowe finds out that this man of hers is actually dead, but when she reveals that she saw him walk down the street Marlowe gets entangled into the most dangerous investigation of his career.

I don't think that many people out there are writing good old fashioned noir any longer and I certainly think that that's a sad fact. Maybe it's simply for a lack of fans or maybe it's just slipped from mainstream view, either way more books need to be written like this one. As someone who hasn't read Mr. Chandlers Marlowe I cant attest to how it matches up, and I'm sure that its no contest, but I do think that Mr. Black had written a really solid piece of noir fiction. The novel is hard boiled and does a fantastic job of sucking you in from the very beginning, but the best part by far in this novel is the tone.

Mr. Black does an incredible job of not only establishing the tone for this piece, but does an even better job of sustaining that tone for the next two hundred and eighty pages. There is such an overwhelming feeling of sadness within the pages that simply swallows up the reader and really makes them feel as though they understand the pain and sorrow that Marlowe feels over his all-but-broken life. The tone is also enhanced by some masterful dialogue both externally and internally, and this gives the reader the ability to really see that most of Marlowe's issues are self wrought, he knows that it's his own fault for ruining most of his life and Mr. Black makes sure that we know it too.

I think it takes a masterful writer to be able to create a first person novel, or at least one that is both engaging and well written. And while I've sung the praises of this novel for my whole review I must say that I was hoping to like it a lot more than I ended up actually feeling about it. I so expected to be able to put this book into my all time favorites but for some reason when I closed the back cover I knew, somewhere within my mind, that I simply wasn't going to be able to. I can't put my finger on what it is that's wrong but I just feel like something between these pages is missing, some crucial piece that seperates a masterfully written book and a masterpiece.

The Black Eyed Blond is a great book, especially if you love noir but much like our detective suspects of the femme fatale before him, there's just something missing.

[Gearóid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good.
Very fast paced and great tough guy atmosphere.
Cant really compare Benjamin Black to Raymond Chandler.
But taken as a story in the same genre it is really good.
Action packed!

[Gala · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5
La rubia de ojos negros es de las pocas novelas policiales que leí, pero considerando cuánto me gustó, sin dudas voy a seguir leyendo más libros de este género.

Para empezar, debería mencionar un poco el contexto de la novela. El personaje principal, el detective es Philip Marlowe. ¿Por qué, si el libro no es de Chandler? Unos descendientes de él, le pidieron a Black/Banville que escribiera una nueva novela usando a este detective. De lo que no puedo opinar es si Black encarnó bien a Marlowe o no, porque no he leído ninguna de las novelas "originales".

Ya la sinopsis nos muestra hacia quién estará enfocada la investigación. Esta es una de las características del policial negro: durante todo el libro se sabe quién es el culpable, y lo que se trata de resolver es qué pasó exactamente, en qué contexto, por qué, con quién se involucró, etc. Esto recién se resuelve al final, en las últimas páginas, y todo lo del medio sirve casi como introducción a lo que se revelará después.

Los personajes me gustaron todos. Con respecto a Marlowe, había algunas cosas de él que no me terminaban de cerrar; aunque seguramente esto tiene que ver con que él es ese hombre que no conoce a las mujeres, pero tampoco se conoce a sí mismo (cito textual de la contratapa) Igualmente, me gustó mucho su honestidad, y que siempre respeta el libreto del detective privado. En este caso, no revelar jamás para quién está trabajando, aunque esto le traiga problemas a la hora de la investigación; a pesar de que todo alrededor se produzca en contextos de mafia, estafas, violencia y traiciones, él nunca da el brazo a torcer y acciona según sus valores y no por lo que le inducen a hacer. Los personajes secundarios también estuvieron bien trabajados, y creo que complementan bien al principal.

La trama es buena en general, pero hay algo que me faltó. El final no me pareció tan espectacular teniendo en cuenta todo lo que pasó antes. O sea, con todo el complejo que había sido todo lo que pasa en el medio del libro, me esperaba otro final más interesante. No digo que sea malo, pero fue algo así como intrascendente.

Párrafo aparte para la prosa del autor. Es muy buena. Las descripciones son casi poéticas. Había ocasiones en las que Banville empezaba un capítulo hablando de algo totalmente ajeno a la historia, pero después usaba las palabras correctas para relacionarlo con la trama de una manera genial. Los diálogos no son para nada forzados ni antinaturales, al contrario: lo que diga un personaje lleva a lo que dice el otro, de una manera muy natural. Con este ejemplo no digo que la charla sea banal o innecesaria, si no que era muy llevadera, fácil de entender y muy bien argumentada. El libro está lleno de estos. De hecho, el final es más o menos una charla entre dos personajes en la que casi que se resuelve todo el caso.

En conclusión, La rubia de ojos negros es una buena novela policial, que no llegó a encantarme pero que tiene como puntos a favor los personajes y la prosa del autor. Probablemente continúe leyendo libros de Black/Banville y también del propio Chandler, para seguir leyendo de Marlowe por su autor original.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Banville writing as Benjamin Black writing as Raymond Chandler writing about Philip Marlowe in a sequel to Chandlers "The Long Goodbye".

Banville did an excellent job with this addition to the Marlowe epics of noir. He knows his history of the character, the taste of the era and the smell of the air. I have high praise for this creation and addition to to saga.

It's all here, the icy femme fatale, the missing person, the thugs and gangsters and a cast of colorful characters.

If not familiar with "The Long Goodbye" it night be helpful to reestablish that familiarity to better enjoy this next excursion into the world of Philip Marlowe.

Previous attempts to re-create Chandlers writing were done by Robert Parker about twenty or thirty years ago and failed miserably.

[Liviu Szoke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deși romanele lui Raymond Chandler care-l au ca protagonist pe Philip Marlowe sunt printre preferatele mele, iar Christine Falls, primul roman din seria Quirke a lui Benjamin Black a fost o adevărată revelație pentru mine, m-aș fi așteptat ca această combinație, Benjamin Black scriind un roman cu Philip Marlowe, preluând ștafeta de la Raymond Chandler, să fie una ideală. N-a fost chiar așa, ba chiar am rămas cam dezamăgit. Nu este un roman slab, ba din contră, are o intrigă bine închegată, iar documentarea autorului este pur și simplu impresionantă. Ceva totuși scârțâie, mai ales în construcția lui Marlowe, dar, per ansamblu, este o lectură destul de plăcută. Mai multe, aici: https://fansf.wordpress.com/2015/11/0....

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty good Marlowe book

No one can do Philip Marlowe like Raymond Chandler but Banville does a credible job. His Marlowe is a bit more flawed and tolerant than the one from the books. He's more vulnerable to being seduced but still a knight in sour armor. I like it better than the Liam Nelson movie that inspired me to check it out. I recommend the audiobook version over the written one.