Define Books In Favor Of Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2)
| Original Title: | Farewell, My Lovely |
| ISBN: | 0394758277 (ISBN13: 9780394758275) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Philip Marlowe #2 |
| Characters: | Moose Malloy, Philip Marlowe, Lindsay Marriott, Jessie Florian, Anne Riordan, Mrs. Lewin Lockridge Grayle, Jules Amthor, Laire Brunette, Dr. Sonderborg, Lewin Lockridge Grayle, Detective-Lieutenant Carl Randall, Nulty, Chief John Wax |
| Setting: | Los Angeles, California,1940(United States) California(United States) |
Raymond Chandler
Paperback | Pages: 292 pages Rating: 4.15 | 28903 Users | 1560 Reviews
Interpretation To Books Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2)
Definitely my favorite Chandler, beating out The Big Sleep by a star and more than a dozen memorable lines. This book is absolutely soaking in quotables and may have the best prose of any noir I’ve ever read. Add in a classic main character and a solid plot and you have a nice shiny bundle of win.PHILIP MARLOWE:
Chandler’s iconic PI is an arrogant alcoholic who fails every PC test you can formulate. He’s racist (from what I recall he insults African-Americans, Japanese and Native Americans and maybe others), homophobic and sexist enough that I would blackjack him on the braincase before he ever got within 10 yards of either of my daughters.
He’s also mesmerizing and fills up the page with his presence. His entertainment value is off the charts and he cracks wiser than anyone this side of Sam Spade. But whereas Hammett’s Spade is all slick, smoky quips and cat-like grace, Marlowe is the “other side of the tracks” version. He’s unkempt, rugged and surly and his words are crusty with barbs.
Whereas Spade’s every move seems coordinated and cross-referenced like a well-rehearsed play, Marlowe is all reaction, counterpunch and intuitive hunches.
However, like Spade, he’s also smart (much more than he usually lets on) and has a knack for clear thinking and being able to read people. Best of all though, the man is incapable of cutting slack or giving inches and is saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
THE PLOT:
A convoluted series of mini-mysteries all stemming from Marlowe’s search for the ex-girlfriend of a just released from prison man-mountain named Moose Malloy. Fairly typical noir stuff but very well executed and paced to perfection by Chandler.
THE WRITING:
Finally…the prose. The real star of the show. I would say Chandler’s writing is a masterful example of noir. There may be others as good but it is hard for me to imagine any better. I would put Chandler’s prose into 3 separate and equally impressive categories that you don’t usually see from a single pen. First, you have a whole host of “I have to remember that” lines that are just fun to read. Quotes like:
“The eighty-five cent dinner tasted like a discarded mail bag and was served to me by a waiter who looked as if he would slug me for a quarter, cut my throat for six bits and bury me at sea in a barrel of concrete for a dollar and a half, plus sales tax.”
“‘Who is the Hemingway person at all?’
A guy that keeps saying the same thing over and over until you begin to believe it must be good.”
“I didn’t say anything. I lit my pipe again. It makes you look thoughtful when you’re not thinking.”
“It was a nice walk if you liked grunting.”
“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.”
“I like smooth shiny girl, hardboiled and loaded with sin.”
“A Harvard boy. Nice use of the subjunctive mood. The end of my foot itched, but my bank account was still trying to crawl under a duck.”
Second, Chandler has a wonderful facility for painting descriptions so that you feel like you’re walking right beside Marlowe and he does it in such sparse, efficient style.
1644 West 54th Place was a dried-out brown house with a dried-out brown lawn in front of it. There was a large bare patch around a tough-looking palm tree. On the porch stood one lonely wooden rocker, and the afternoon breeze made the unprunned shoots of last year’s poinsettias tap-tap against the cracked stucco wall. A line of stiff yellowish half-washed clothes jittered on a rusty wire in the side yard.Those descriptions materialized in front of me more than pages of less polished prose could accomplish. It felt like I was there.
…
I was looking into dimness at a blowsy woman who was blowing her nose as she opened the door. Her face was gray and puffy. She had weedy hair of that vague color which is neither brown nor blond, that hasn’t enough life in it to be ginger and isn’t clean enough to be gray. Her body was thick in a shapeless outing flannel bathrobe many moons past color and design.
Finally, there are the passages that aren’t just clever quips or snappy dialogue, but that convey a real sense of emotion.
“She hung up, leaving me with a curious feeling of having talked to somebody that didn’t exist.”
“…a sudden flashing movement that I sensed rather than saw. A pool of darkness opened at my feet and was far, far deeper than the blackest night. I dived into it. It had no bottom.”
“There was just enough for to make everything seem unreal. The wet air was as cold as the ashes of love.”
That is the trifecta of writing. Brilliant, sharp and fun….descriptive, informative and polished…and evocative, moving and powerful.
Yes, 5.0 stars and a definite must read for fans of noir, mysteries or just superb prose.
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!
Identify Based On Books Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2)
| Title | : | Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2) |
| Author | : | Raymond Chandler |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 292 pages |
| Published | : | August 1992 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (first published 1940) |
| Categories | : | Mystery. Fiction. Crime. Noir. Classics. Detective. Literature. American |
Rating Based On Books Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2)
Ratings: 4.15 From 28903 Users | 1560 ReviewsAssess Based On Books Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe #2)
"Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food."I'm gonna admit right up front that the fourth star of my rating comes entirely from Raymond Chandler and his way with words. Nobody knew how to turn a phrase like good old Ray-Ray. I mean, what a guy. What a kick he must have been at parties.I don't normally read books for language alone. I'm an emotional reader, and my emotions tend to be tickled byWhat could be better than listening to Elliot Gould read a Philip Marlowe mystery?! He was the perfect narrator to match Chandler's tough guy noir classic. I loved the rat-a-tat writing, whether actual dialog or Marlowe's first person description of the action. So many quotable lines, I'm not even going to try! Creating atmosphere is what Chandler is all about and he completely transports the reader to 1940's Los Angeles's seamier side. There was so much going on that, at times, I lost the
More tough-talking noir from the world-weary Marlowe as he untangles another convoluted case involving jewel heists, blackmail, corruption, a beautiful woman on the make and a feisty girl-next-door. The casual racism is jarring to modern ears with use of the N word alongside descriptions of an Indian who is 'greasy' and 'smelly'... But the prose is characterful and the plot flows easily - and me, I love Moose Malloy!
A victory of style if ever there was one. Immersed in the beauty of his prose, the way in which he presents his world, the timing of his humour, one scarcely notices the storyline, and I use that word advisedly.As it happened, style's been uppermost in my mind lately while editing a friend's autobiographical ms. In her attempt to find her style she has resorted to a heavy-handed use of The Rhetorical Comma. Eventually they began to enrage me. I pictured lining them up in front of a firing squad
I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance. I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.While working a missing persons case, Detective Philip Marlowe finds himself drawn into a murder investigation. Jailbird Moose Malloy knocks off the proprietor of a local watering hole in his pursuit of a gal named Velma. While assisting the cops in hunting him down, Marlowe backs off the case when he realizes he
First of all I'm so partial to R.Chandler's books that I'd easily give only the titles three stars,and this gem is definitely a five-star title.Apart from this sentimental love-and-hate story,Im ALWAYS impressed by the characters speaking like they carry a book of wit and humor,to the point that Ill start picking up sharp-edged setences from here and add them to my daily conversation.The plot is a bit comlicated with rugged and overused narrative and minor parts,but the main irresistible
During a boring routine case Philip Marlowe stumbles upon a huge (really huge) guy dressed the way which would make any peacock die of jealousy. He seems to be looking for a long-lost girlfriend doing this with a grace and persistence of a charging rhinoceros. Marlowe decides to stick with the guy having nothing better to do and as a result he keeps getting high level of entertainment, noir fashion: he gets shot at, people use his head for a drum set to knock him out, and tough guys try to beat
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