Farewell, My Lovely (1940)

Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler once again features his hard boiled detective, Philip Marlowe and in this outing he gets knocked out a couple of times, beaten up, almost choked to death, and pumped full of morphine but he still doggedly follows his hunches and solves the case. It starts when he is dragged into a situation by an ex-con called Moose Malloy who, just out of prison, is searching for his girl, Velma.

Marlowe is an original character that has become one of the most copied characters in literature. His world weary attitude, staccato delivery of one-liners, and effortless aura of self-contained toughness all combine to become the gold standard of private detectives. The author excels in writing razor sharp dialogue, along with atmospheric settings, and plenty of twists in his plots.

Speaking of plots, although I enjoyed Farewell My Lovely immensely, I really don’t read Chandler for the story. It’s all about the styling, pacing, atmosphere and witty quips with a main character that has a drink in one hand and a ‘gat’ in the other. ( )

Even though the plot felt familiar thanks to my reading so many of his pulp stories, Chandler has more than enough ability to keep me interested. Boy, wouldn't he be proud. The Big Sleep felt too familiar even with the breathing space allowed in a novel, but Farewell, My Lovely approaches the heights of The Long Goodbye because it has such well-drawn supporting characters. Like Mrs. Morrison. Known better as 'Old Nosey', she's a lonely old woman who Marlowe has several conversations with about her neighbor, peeping at the neighbors being all she has to do. She turns cold on Marlowe after she smells liquor on his breath ("I don't hold with it for medicine neither") and he asks the wrong question. So as he leaves he comments on a piece of furniture:

"'I bet that side piece was the admiration of Sioux Falls once,' I said, gazing at a carved sideboard that was in the hall because the dining room was too small for it. It had curved ends, thin carved legs, was inlaid all over, and had a painted basket of fruit on the front.

'Mason City,' she said softly. 'Yessir, we had a nice home once, me and George. Best there was.'"

She relents, "smiling as sharp as her eyes" and gives him a crucial piece of information. But with that short passage so much about Mrs. Morrison makes sense and falls into place, she rises above the character role she fills in the story and becomes something more, even if her role is comparitively small. This is something that he does throughout Farewell to an extant I've never read in him before, where he usually stopped after fleshing out a dame or two and maybe a guy.

Great book, I want to steam on with his stuff, but I feel I should keep pacing these books out so they'll last.

Review of Early Novels and Pulp Stories ( )

Excerpts from my original GR review (Mar 2013):
- It was high time I slunk down a dark alleyway and sampled one of Chandler's Marlowe tales.
- Our private eye is brazen to the point of foolish, suave around the dames, and quick with a quotable one-liner. Such as, "He smiled his first smile of the day, he probably allows himself four", and "It was a blond. A blond to make a bishop kick a hole in a stain glass window". You gotta love that. These noir tales are what they are, I guess. Equal parts sinister and laughable circumstances, but this one shines in atmosphere and attitude. ( )

1940, hard boiled detective Philip Marlowe. A complex who dunnit with some pretty writing. It wasn't my favorite but it was entertaining. ( )

exCon Moose hires Marlowe to find his lost girl friend ( )