Reading 1001 discussion

3 stars

This first story about sleuth Philip Marlow hasn't aged as well as The Long Goodbye. The femme fatales are so bizarre they are fairly unbelievable as characters, and there's a lot of derogatory language, especially about homosexuals. Still, it's a neat tale, and Chandler's descriptions are stellar.

This is Chandler’s first Philip Marlowe novel, and it packs a punch. It is easy to see why it is/was so influential on the genre.

We are dropped into the corrupt, (film) noir movie set that was 1930s Los Angeles. Marlowe is a character that has lived some life and is now working on his own as a private detective. He is recommended to a wealthy client (by the DA) who is an elderly, dying man with two debauched daughters. The complex story goes from there – and it is complex!

I liked everything about this novel. The hard boiled dialogue was on point, although there was the occasional slang that I didn’t know the meaning of. Chandler’s detailed and vivid descriptions of the settings and atmosphere were unexpected by me. They added so much to the story, that the scenery was almost like another character. Bad things happened, mostly to bad people but were presented (to the reader) in a subtle way – not the blood + guts gory way modern thrillers might do. Marlowe was presented as a complex man – yes, he’s a tough man of action but he also got queasy with one of the dead bodies and refused a frank offer from one of the female characters. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. 5*

This was an interesting experience. I have a (slight ahum) obsession with British Golden Age detectives, so this book was not quite what I'm used to. In fact, the Big Sleep is almost the complete opposite of those GA novels. The language is rough, hard, very American. The sentences are short, to the point. Conversations are very fast paced, not a word is wasted. Compare that to the long-windedness of Miss Marple or Poirot speaking in riddles.

The setting here also functions much differently. The Big Sleep is set in California, but actually, it could have been anywhere. Most of the action takes place indoors, bookstores, mansions, casino's... hardcore city life, it is not exclusive to California. Especially since it continuously rains or is foggy outside and scenery plays no part. Interestingly, while the outside is much-ignored, interior decoration is explored in great detail. Which makes the stories very lively and the reading experience almost like watching a movie.

If I continue on comparing this book to the British GA I am used to; the sleuth here is a proper certified private detective, hired and actually paid for the job. He is a man of action, thinks on his feet not much with his "little grey cells", though he often sits down with them and treats them to a drink or five. The reader doesn't get to know much about this PI, other than he is a somewhat chivalrous, very flawed, man of action with a conscious. Perhaps the other Philip Marlowe books develop his character, but here we meet him without introduction in the cause of action.

Obviously, this book is heavily set in the time it was written. People are quick to take offence these days. I don't think that's needed. What is needed it a little time to look into the background of the writer and the time of writing.

After finishing this book, I started the sequels immediately.

read this in 2013, did not write a review, but I remember liking it

Poor Marlowe. He seems to have started out his published career being constantly bombarded by naked or mostly naked women who want to kill him or use him somehow. But to his credit, he doesn't sleep with all of them, and he doesn't necessarily kill them either, unlike the otherwise rather similar James Bond.
This novel was not as smoothly orchestrated as the other one I read this week (Farewell, My Lovely), but since this is book #1, it makes sense that they get better after this book. it is fun reading this series alongside later book/tv series like Gardner's Perry Mason and Nero Wolf, since Chandler's books helped set the tone for this sort of crime series.
I gave this novel 4 stars on Goodreads. It was fun and fast paced, even if it was a little disjointed or overly complicated at times.

I have read two other Chandler's on the list: Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye. The Big Sleep was written before either of those but I rather preferred it for its tighter slightly less convoluted structure and because our main character, Marlowe, is less consumed with drinking and women. Chandler's narrative and dialogue worked better for me here as there was quite a bit less explanations that had to take place within the dialogue. I found The Big Sleep's Marlowe to be a complex man but I understand where the line was drawn for him between his strong and strange values and his complete disregard of most social conventions. Marlowe was okay with killing someone as long as he deserved it. He was able to say "no" to women who threw themselves at him for all the wrong reasons. The aspect of the book I didn't like as well was that the primary female characters were all broken or breaking and they didn't have much agency of their own.
Interestingly, the movie follows the book very closely but because Lauren Bacall plays the elder daughter, Mrs. Regan, that character instantly takes on a powerful role that was not drawn in the book. Another interesting tidbit about the movie is that William Faulkner was given credit for co-writing the script, or adapting the book for the movie.
I love film noir, and this Chandler helped define the tone of noir going forward.

I agree with Leni on this one that the book has not aged well. The depiction of women was not great. I am looking forward to watching the movie with Bogart and Bacall. When I started this book I was enjoying it but then I got sick and had trouble reading so that might be part of it. I am looking forward to reading his other books on the list hopefully I will like those better.

I think it got an extra nostalgia star. Reading this definitely lets you know its a return to the origins of the hardboiled detective - a time of innocence when there could be shock at gambling and pornographic photos, at police looking the other way on a lending library, when we couldn't even quite image what evil might become. I agree with those above who note a lot of the prejudice that also date it and which you do need to be willing to ignore if you are going to read these old things.

But on the detective side of things, it is almost hard to call Marlowe hardboiled compared to so many who come after. Sure he's a bit of a wise ass, but he only kills one bad guy (hardly ever even carries a gun) and only kisses one girl on purpose. He confesses and reviews everything after the fact with the police. He's practically a romantic. His heroism so much easier to believe in than the really crossing-the-line-to-vigilante types in the modern best sellers, although the point is the same, that these men are defending civilization in a world where the institutions can't. Its too bad that what we actually need right now are some heros who can strengthen our mutual trust in our joint social project.