Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The big sleep by Raymond Chandler
Loading...

The Big Sleep (original 1939; edition 1988)

by Raymond Chandler

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5,598134697 (3.99)314
Member:Coonsrc
Title:The Big Sleep
Authors:Raymond Chandler
Info:Vintage (1988), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 139 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work details

The big sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939)

1001 (35) 1001 books (37) 1930s (36) 20th century (87) American (80) American literature (94) California (60) Chandler (36) classic (65) crime (346) crime fiction (133) detective (237) detective fiction (70) fiction (766) hardboiled (161) literature (35) Los Angeles (99) Marlowe (40) murder (35) mystery (698) noir (349) novel (137) Philip Marlowe (146) private investigator (50) pulp (38) read (85) thriller (33) to-read (57) unread (39) USA (44)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

English (130)  Spanish (2)  French (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  All languages (134)
Showing 1-5 of 130 (next | show all)
This is considered the start of the modern detective story. I also heard that about The Murders in the Rue Morgue, but no matter. This is a very enjoyable read. At 185 pages I finished it in a day. There are a ton of characters, and one murder that, according to rumor, Chandler forgot about when he was writing the book so it is unsolved. The book starts with Philip Marlowe being hired to deal with a blackmailer, who ends up getting murdered. A lot of people get murdered and Marlowe is in the thick of it.

Chandlers descriptions are vivid and sharp, his protagonist is a no nonsense guy with apparently no sentimentality. Some have described this book as confusing and convoluted, I thought it was busy and filled with characters but thought the story line flowed, I didn’t have much trouble following it. I recommend this book. ( )
  BellaFoxx | May 4, 2013 |
Another book for Crime Fiction! I really, really liked this one. Raymond Chandler has a hell of a style, and that's mostly why it gets five stars. The plot made me shrug a little, didn't impress me that much, and the characters were nigh on all insane. I followed the plot well enough, but not to the point where I could figure things out for myself. Guess I'm not detective material...

Anyway, it gets five stars because the style kept on making me sit up and take notice, over and over again. I thought it was amazing. It's in first person, so all the imagery -- which seems pretty fresh to me, reading it now, years after it was published, and was probably even fresher back when it was first published -- adds to character as well. I should have noted down more of the lines I liked, but so many struck me.

Getting a couple more of Raymond Chandler's books.

I'm really glad I'm taking this Crime Fiction class. ( )
  shanaqui | Apr 26, 2013 |
Another book for Crime Fiction! I really, really liked this one. Raymond Chandler has a hell of a style, and that's mostly why it gets five stars. The plot made me shrug a little, didn't impress me that much, and the characters were nigh on all insane. I followed the plot well enough, but not to the point where I could figure things out for myself. Guess I'm not detective material...

Anyway, it gets five stars because the style kept on making me sit up and take notice, over and over again. I thought it was amazing. It's in first person, so all the imagery -- which seems pretty fresh to me, reading it now, years after it was published, and was probably even fresher back when it was first published -- adds to character as well. I should have noted down more of the lines I liked, but so many struck me.

Getting a couple more of Raymond Chandler's books.

I'm really glad I'm taking this Crime Fiction class. ( )
1 vote shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |
I could read this prose over and over again. ( )
1 vote veracite | Apr 7, 2013 |
I could read this prose over and over again. ( )
  veracite | Apr 6, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 130 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (55 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Raymond Chandlerprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Del Buono, OresteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gould, ElliottNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ortlepp, GunarTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Is contained in

Has the adaptation

Has as a study

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.
Quotations
Such a lot of guns around town, and so few brains.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Information from the Norwegian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to the English one.
Blurbers
Publisher series

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Book description
Plot Summary: The decrepit General Sternwood hires Detective Marlowe to investigate Geiger, the man who is blackmailing him. Marlowe discovers Geiger is running a pornography lending library under the front of an antique book store. Marlowe tries to confront Geiger, but finds Geiger dead along with evidence that Geiger has been taking nude photos of Sternwood’s youngest daughter Carmen. While Marlowe takes the drugged Carmen home, Geiger’s body disappears along with the photographic evidence. As one murder leads to another, Marlowe must follow the clues to protect the Sternwood family from its own dark secrets.
Appeal Factors: Private investigator subgenre. Narrated in the first-person by Marlowe. Primary characters are complex. The atmosphere is dark and brooding. The frame highlights the dark underbelly of L.A. The language is succinct, but very descriptive; powerful, gritty and realistic. Action scenes are suspenseful and fairly fast-paced, with space for reflection in between. The reader is drawn in as Marlowe uncovers each new layer of clues. Violent, but not graphic.
Haiku summary
General's daughters
are handful for Marlowe.....but
who did slay chauffeur?
(abbottthomas)

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0394758285, Paperback)

"His thin, claw-like hands were folded loosely on the rug, purple-nailed. A few locks of dry white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock." Published in 1939, when Raymond Chandler was 50, this is the first of the Philip Marlowe novels. Its bursts of sex, violence, and explosively direct prose changed detective fiction forever. "She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full."

(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 17 Oct 2010 07:48:17 -0400)

(see all 5 descriptions)

When a case of blackmail involving the daughter of a California millionaire leads to murder, the inimitable Philip Marlowe is stirred into action as he becomes embroiled in a troublesome case of extortion complicated by kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder.… (more)

(summary from another edition)

» see all 5 descriptions

Quick Links

Swap Ebooks Audio
17 avail.
195 wanted
4 pay5 pay

Popular covers

Rating

Average: (3.99)
0.5 3
1 9
1.5 2
2 50
2.5 12
3 242
3.5 105
4 558
4.5 66
5 414

Audible.com

An edition of this book was published by Audible.com.

See editions

Penguin Australia

Three editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0140108920, 014118261X, 0141037598

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | Legacy Libraries | 81,931,788 books!