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Loading... The Big Sleep (1939)by Raymond Chandler
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A little hard to follow what was going on given the smart arse dialogue and the off-centre characters, but Chandler does help us recollect where we are with the story in a few places. The story is a sitter for the cinema and so it proved to be. Great to read a story about Los Angeles wherein the weather is so often wet. The Big Sleep introduces Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private detective. Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood who is blackmailed by one Arthur Geiger, but does not want to give in to it. The cause of Sternwood's trouble is always always one of his daughters, as Marlowe is soon to find out. The daughters are quite careless and while one has an alcohol problem the other gambles away the old man Sternwood's fortune. In his investigation of Geiger, Marlowe soon finds people getting murdered. A name that frequently surfaces is Rusty Regan, one of the daughters' husbands who is missing. Although it is not his job, Marlowe investigates his disappearance on the side. The plot develops into an interesting web of connections that Marlowe tries to uncover. What I liked most about this novel is Chandler's writing style. Chandler is very descriptive and witty ("I didn't know whether it was any good, not being a collector of antiques, except unpaid bills.", p. 22). He constantly uses comparison to create a more vivid picture for his readers and set the scenes in LA in rich detail. Apart from creating an authentic atmosphere the comparisons also provide funny quips and had me laughing time and again ("Blood began to move around in me, like a prospective tenant looking over a house.", p. 209). To me, the book was not so much about the plot itself, although I did not dislike it, but rather about Marlowe ("I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it.", p. 1) and how he deals with the situations he finds himself in. Chandler has done a truly amazing job in crafting his protagonist. I am happy that this is only the first in a series of novels centered around Marlowe and I will surely be reading more of the series. 5 stars.
Novela repleta de nervio y de ingeniosos diálogos. Es un caso de chantaje el que lleva a Marlowe a asomarse a las alcantarillas de una sociedad en apariencia espléndida. Belongs to SeriesPhilip Marlowe (1) Belongs to Publisher SeriesArion Press (19) Delfinserien (91) detebe (70/I) — 18 more El País. Serie negra (46) Penguin Books (652) SaPo (74) Den svarte serie (175) Vampiro (213) Zephyr Books (148) Is contained inRaymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America) by Raymond Chandler A Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volumes 1-2 by Howard Haycraft (indirect) The big sleep/Farewell my lovely/The high window/The lady in the lake/The long goodbye/Playback by Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Long Goodbye / Playback by Raymond Chandler The Raymond Chandler Omnibus: The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler Five Novels: Finger Man; The big sleep; Farewell my loveley; High window; The lady in the lake by Raymond Chandler Murder & Mayhem: The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories; The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window; The Human Factor; (Everyman's Library) by James M. Cain "Vechnyi son". "Prokrutka". "Nepriiatnosti - moe remeslo". "Chelovek, kotoryi liubil sobak". "Krovavyi veter". "Ispanskaia krov' ". "Prostoe iskusstvo ubiistva" by Chandler Reimond Great Mystery Books, 10 Volumes (Journey into Fear, The 39 Steps, And Then There Were None, Maltese Falcon, The Nine Tailors, The Doorbell Rang, The Confidential Agent, The Big Sleep, Assignment in Brittany, The Daughter of Time) by Eric Ambler Club del misterio. Volumen I: Prólogo de J. J. BORGES. "El cuento policial, IX" . Dashiell HAMMETT: "Cosecha roja". Arthur CONAN DOYLE: "Las aventuras de Shrlock Holmes". Hellery QUEEN: "Cara a cara". Raymond CHANDLER: "El sueño eterno". Patricia IHGSMITH: Erle STANLEY GARDNER: "El cuchillo". "El caso del juguete mortífero". James HADLEY CHASE: "Impulso creador". "El secuestro de Miss Blandish". Nicholas BLAKE: "La bestia debe morir". Volumen 2: Prólogo de R. CHANDLER: " El simpl by AA.VV. (indirect) Has the (non-series) sequelHas the adaptationIs expanded inIs parodied inInspiredHas as a student's study guideAwardsNotable Lists
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HTML:The iconic first novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times). A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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It's pulp fiction, a hard-boiled detective/noir that set the standard for a genre. What's notable is that in this case, the movie was better than the book. The dialogue is chock full of slang from the 30's, not all of which has aged well. Some lines were so ridiculous that I laughed out loud:
"My God, you big dark handsome brute! I ought to throw a Buik at you!"
As characters go, neither of the Sternwood daughters "has any more moral sense than a cat." They aren't fully developed and their misadventures are never fully explained,and the book leaves some of the murders unsolved, unfortunately. ( )