ELIZA'S IMAGINARY ADVENTURES
  • Home
  • Fiction Blog
  • Etsy Blog
  • Library
  • About Eliza

'The Big Sleep' - Review

11/19/2014

0 Comments

 
Since I've been spending some much time in short story land for school this semester, I found it refreshing to hear that we would be reading a novel too.  The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler is considered the father to the modern noir genre and a classic.  I was strongly on the fence in my opinion and ultimately found myself glad to have ready such and influential piece, but ready to be finished with it.  Goodreads Review.
Picture
|Amazon|B&N| 
Great story, outdated language and moody protagonist.

2 Stars
Series: Philip Marlowe #1
Characters: Philip Marlowe
Setting: California, LA, Hollywood
Mature Themes: murder, violence, sexual imagery, drugs/alcohol, pornography, violence, homophobia, anti-antisemitism 
What is hailed as a classic, Philip Marlowe's journey to uncover the mystery of an old man is nothing short of a launching point for modern noir.  Unfortunately, the language is outdated, offensive, and in some points unable to be understood with the slang.

Philip is a lonely private detective, broken by the world, and barely hobbling along in daily life. Marlowe's cognitive leap at the end of the book to solve the mystery left the reader behind and felt more like divine intervention than that of a human detective.  The mystery on a whole was short and only really addressed at the end of the book, this may be on account of the novel being comprised of two smaller short storied recycled and meshed together.  I'd also like to point out that epileptics are not psychotic just because they are epileptic.

There were also many things well handled in the novel that balanced out the harsh aging effects. The characters were well described, vivid, and each in their own way human and easy to relate to. Marolowe's narrative voice was exquisite in how it was written, strengthening his impact on the story and adding a blunt but clear thought process to an otherwise unwieldy story.  Just as with Marlowe, Carmen and Vivian were written well enough for you to challenge their motives and when the story comes to a close, their voices make the reveal acceptable.

Recommendation:  Philip Marlowe's outdated language, deep rooted prejudices, and blatant hate for anything not in his sphere of control made it hard to read this story and accept Marlowe as character worthy of my time spent reading his adventure.  Though a classic, and a well documented influence in modern movie, book, and video game history, I would recommend this book to be read as a historical reference and learning experience only. Take the good with the bad and for someone more interested in mysteries and the cops versus robbers genres, this might be one you'll love and read time and again.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @ElizaLeone3

    Topics

    All
    Article
    Blog
    Book Club
    Everyday Adventures
    Fiction Friday
    Giveaway
    Guest
    ImPROMPTu
    Keeper's Conundrum
    NaNoWriMo
    News
    Review
    Silencingtheelephant
    Stealth
    The Society
    Vlog
    Wisdom


    Picture

    Archives

    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013


Copyright © 2013-2018 Eliza's Imaginary Adventures LLC | Privacy
Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from _Matt_T_, billknock, naiaraback1, FateDenied, mitch98000, www.wbayer.com - www.facebook.com/wbayercom, d_vdm, namnguyen.jpg, Ryan Dickey, martinak15, blgrssby, Leimenide, Masa__Israel, Boris Thaser, dolbinator1000, Anne Worner, Matias Carreño, dwilkows, 3 0 d a g a r m e d a n a l h u s, Catface27, gminguzzi, Street matt, n_sapiens, giopuo, garryknight, mattk1979
  • Home
  • Fiction Blog
  • Etsy Blog
  • Library
  • About Eliza