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Loading... The Maltese Falconby Dashiell Hammett
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. An international quest for the Maltese Falcon, an alcoholic detective, and a femme fatale make for a purely enjoyable read. Doesn't hurt that it got made into a Humphrey Bogart movie either. (  )gaialover2 | Jun 12, 2009 |   I seem to have trouble liking classics. I had heard that [The Maltese Falcon] was Dashiell Hammett's finest work, but if t is, I don't want to read another. I got through this book, that's about all I'll say because I felt that the writing was poor and that there was too much repetition of the actions and words that were used. If I read one more time about how he rolled a cigarette, I was closing the book and quitting right there. Besides the fact, I didn't think that it was much of a mystery. I hope that this year I can find at least one new classic that I can enjoy. (  )cyderry | May 17, 2009 | 1  I finally understand why people like this author! This is a great mystery, with lots of twists and guessing who's telling which parts of the truth. Sam Spade is a great main character who's easy to root for and I loved his secretary, Effie. Highly recommended for any mystery-lover. ( )vanedow | Apr 10, 2009 | The Maltese Falcon reads like a photo (if this metaphor makes sense) - the imagery is well-rendered without being overly-descriptive, and it really puts the reader into the scene, as it were. It was a quick read, full of action and enigmatic characters, and it's easy to see how much it contributed to the film noir genre. ( )ZanKnits | Jan 16, 2009 | 2 Hammett's descriptive prose is remarkable. His depiction of The Fat Man is unforgettable. "The fat man was flabbily fat with bulbous pink cheeks and lips and chins and neck, with a great soft egg of a belly that was all his torso, and pendant cones for arms and legs". (  )RRbob | Dec 23, 2008 | 0.068 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0679722645, Paperback)Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's archetypally tough San Francisco detective, is more noir than L.A. Confidential and more vulnerable than Raymond Chandler's Marlowe. In The Maltese Falcon, the best known of Hammett's Sam Spade novels (including The Dain Curse and The Glass Key), Spade is tough enough to bluff the toughest thugs and hold off the police, risking his reputation when a beautiful woman begs for his help, while knowing that betrayal may deal him a new hand in the next moment.Spade's partner is murdered on a stakeout; the cops blame him for the killing; a beautiful redhead with a heartbreaking story appears and disappears; grotesque villains demand a payoff he can't provide; and everyone wants a fabulously valuable gold statuette of a falcon, created as tribute for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. Who has it? And what will it take to get it back? Spade's solution is as complicated as the motives of the seekers assembled in his hotel room, but the truth can be a cold comfort indeed. Spade is bigger (and blonder) in the book than in the movie, and his Mephistophelean countenance is by turns seductive and volcanic. Sam knows how to fight, whom to call, how to rifle drawers and secrets without leaving a trace, and just the right way to call a woman "Angel" and convince her that she is. He is the quintessence of intelligent cool, with a wise guy's perfect pitch. If you only know the movie, read the book. If you're riveted by Chinatown or wonder where Robert B. Parker's Spenser gets his comebacks, read the master. --Barbara Schlieper (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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