The Long Goodbye
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The renowned novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson.
In noir master Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, Philip Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, whom he divorced and remarried and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
In noir master Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, Philip Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, whom he divorced and remarried and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
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Community Reviews
I read this to fulfill a summer checklist item (a personal list I made for myself after my first year of teaching): "try a new author." I had just ravished the newest Tana French novel and was in the mood for another mystery, so I thought I'd try out a classic mystery author. I had trouble getting into this one for a few reasons. First, I felt I had to slow down and reread bits of it fairly often because of unfamiliar idioms or era-specific slang. Some of these bits of language I really enjoyed, chuckling in appreciation at some now-cliche film-noir-type lines. But the ones I didn't understand pretty much just slowed me down. Pacing seems to be a crucial element of a mystery, and as a reader new to this particular sub-genre of mystery, I think I stopped and started and reversed and stalled too much to ride whatever momentum Chandler had intended for me.
Another obstacle for me was that I never really felt I got to know Philip Marlowe, the narrator/protagonist. I know things about him: He has a sense of justice and duty - often not accepting payment for some of his PI work out of principle (the principles were not often clear to me). He can also be rather reckless and volatile. He is, of course, highly observant and skilled at his job. He is attracted to women but not a philanderer or even much of a flirt. (SPOILER ALERT)*** Yet at the end, he has a surprising (and confusing) fling with a character with whom he hadn't interacted all that much before.*** (END SPOILER) Somehow, he just seems like a bundle of traits that don't necessarily go together. At the same time, I appreciate that, as a first-person narrator, he doesn't over-share or over-explain things. He is a bit closed-off and guarded, not finding it necessary to explain his private motives to anyone, even the reader. This is not necessarily bad or good. But part of what makes me love a book is feeling a strong connection to a character, and that simply didn't happen this time.
This book really was about the unraveling of a mystery - driven more by plot and external conflict than by character development. Some parts of the mystery I was able to predict, and some parts were surprising - this balance was appropriate. I think that Chandler probably did a fine job of unraveling (and re-raveling, and re-unraveling) this mystery. I'll take the blame for screwing up the pacing by letting myself get distracted while reading and having to go back and reread too much, and putting the book down for too long and too irregular of intervals. At the same time, overall, I have to be honest that my experience with this book was just OK. I'm glad I read it, but there are other books on my to-read list that I'll try before I attempt another Raymond Chandler.
Another obstacle for me was that I never really felt I got to know Philip Marlowe, the narrator/protagonist. I know things about him: He has a sense of justice and duty - often not accepting payment for some of his PI work out of principle (the principles were not often clear to me). He can also be rather reckless and volatile. He is, of course, highly observant and skilled at his job. He is attracted to women but not a philanderer or even much of a flirt. (SPOILER ALERT)*** Yet at the end, he has a surprising (and confusing) fling with a character with whom he hadn't interacted all that much before.*** (END SPOILER) Somehow, he just seems like a bundle of traits that don't necessarily go together. At the same time, I appreciate that, as a first-person narrator, he doesn't over-share or over-explain things. He is a bit closed-off and guarded, not finding it necessary to explain his private motives to anyone, even the reader. This is not necessarily bad or good. But part of what makes me love a book is feeling a strong connection to a character, and that simply didn't happen this time.
This book really was about the unraveling of a mystery - driven more by plot and external conflict than by character development. Some parts of the mystery I was able to predict, and some parts were surprising - this balance was appropriate. I think that Chandler probably did a fine job of unraveling (and re-raveling, and re-unraveling) this mystery. I'll take the blame for screwing up the pacing by letting myself get distracted while reading and having to go back and reread too much, and putting the book down for too long and too irregular of intervals. At the same time, overall, I have to be honest that my experience with this book was just OK. I'm glad I read it, but there are other books on my to-read list that I'll try before I attempt another Raymond Chandler.
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