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The Long Good-bye (Philip Marlowe #6)

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 11,896 ratings · 726 reviews

Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead, and now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.

Paperback, 448 pages

Published 1959 by Penguin (first published 1953)

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Dec 24, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-and-mystery

A down and out friend of Marlowe's flees to Mexico with Marlowe's help, his wife dead under suspicious circumstances. Marlowe's friend soon turns up dead, an apparent suicide. But what does his death, if anything, have to do with a drunk writer Marlowe finds himself watching?

I'm not really sure how I feel about the Long Goodbye. It's Chandler so the writing is great, with Chandler's trademark similes and hard-boiled atmosphere. On the other hand, it's written a little differently than his other...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Aubrey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-06-12, 5-star, reviewed

People. They pass through your life, your mind, your heart, bundled in their own worlds with their wants and needs and feelings. And they'll tangle you up and drag you with and leave you with a lump in your throat and a weight in your gut. That's the best case scenario. Worst case scenario you end up broken, in jail, dead. Philip avoids the latter case with an insight into the human condition so instinctive and accurate it is frankly terrifying. Doesn't help him at all with the former though.

Be...more People. They pass through your life, your mind, your heart, bundled in their own worlds with their wants and needs and feelings. And they'll tangle you up and drag you with and leave you with a lump in your throat and a weight in your gut. That's the best case scenario. Worst case scenario you end up broken, in jail, dead. Philip avoids the latter case with an insight into the human condition so instinctive and accurate it is frankly terrifying. Doesn't help him at all with the former though.

Besides all that, he is a singular character with singular motives. He would have been an excellent knight in the medieval ages, but I have a feeling that he wouldn't have been drawn to such an auspicious living. His inherent moral code is tempered by a fixation on the seedier side of living. He craves the city, a filthy machine that rests on a vicious underbelly and is topped with a slathering of sickening gilt. Guilt? Same difference. He lives to solve the problem without regard to both those he affects and those who affect him; he must have an indifference to life made of steel, if not a mental complex the size of the city he resides in. I'd have to read more into him to find out. Which I think I shall.

All discussion of the main character aside, the crime was tantalizing, the plot moved at a compulsively readable place, and you have to love witty banter, even if much of it was bluffing and bullshit. That's why we have Marlowe though, to carve through all the things people say and find what they actually mean. You know, I think he also would've made a cool English professor. I'm not sure how well street smarts would have translated to character and plot analysis, but humans really haven't changed that much in the past millennium or so. Different words, but our motives and thought patterns still follow stupidly predictable ways for those who can see it. Raymond Chandler can definitely see it, and shows it to the rest of us in a way that leaves us craving more. There's no greater escape from the bullshit of your own life than through a novel that cuts through its own, and it is inherently addicting.(less)

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Apr 08, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So are you familiar already with the "One Book One Chicago" (OBOC) program? We're not the first city to do it (in fact, we stole the idea from Seattle), but are definitely now the largest city in America to do so; basically, roughly three or four times a year the Mayor's Office and the public library...more

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Sep 14, 2007 Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

Chandler wrote tighter, tougher books, but this one was his masterpiece. I'd been pulled into loving noir by Hammett & W. R. Burnett but they didn't write like Chandler. The Long Goodbye has all the best snappy dialog and constant menace, but it had something more. It was cynical poetry, it had the brittleness and immediacy of the "existential", as we used to call it.

It had a thoroughly adult, disillusioned worldview but it also had a hero who refused to renounce his principles, even when h...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Kimley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, american-lit

Just reread this and need to update my old review below...

------------
I read all the Chandler books so long ago that frankly I don't really remember them that well. I just remember loving them! So I'm giving them all five stars even though I know I didn't like them all equally nor were they all worthy of five stars. If I can recall correctly The Long Goodbye was my favorite. For me Chandler was all about his style. The only thing I remember about the plots is that there was, you know, a murder,...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Sandra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“L’alcool è come l’amore. Il primo bacio è magico, il secondo intimo, il terzo un’abitudine. E poi si spoglia la donna”
C’è tutto quello che deve esserci in un romanzo del genere. Come principale protagonista c’è l’alcool, motore e spinta propulsiva della storia, che scorre a fiumi nelle case eleganti dei quartieri più esclusivi e nei bar silenziosi di Los Angeles; ci sono i bulli dal grilletto facile, grandi criminali tenutari di case da gioco in Nevada, messicani dal sangue caliente e con la vi...more

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Apr 18, 2007 amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

At first The Long Goodbye seemed like a far more complex book than The Big Sleep because the character of Marlowe, heartless and invincible and infallible in the latter, in the former is fleshed out with various forms of weakness (subjectively defined). These include a tendency towards the romantic, bravado and braggadocio, insatiable curiosity (the bane of many existences, not least the young elephant's), and an inability to let well alone. A sharp contrast is drawn between his masterful and kn...more

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Jul 25, 2007 Nathan Alderman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of pulp detective novels

Chandler's unabashed masterpiece, this novel is his only work to truly transcend the pulp genre and rank as first-rate literature. All of Chandler's books have gorgeous language and bafflingly labyrinthine plots, but this one stands out because of the author's poignant willingness to stare into his own soul. His stalwart, incorruptible hero Marlowe is hired to guard a washed-up, alcoholic, self-loathing writer who derides his own work as trash, and it's hard not to see the troubled Raymond Chand ...more

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Jun 15, 2007 Ha·t'ej rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fictionnoir

!!!

Reading this and nearing the very end, I was reminded of my experience with Focault's Pendulum, a long, dense, convoluted book which up until the end makes you question exactly what the hell it is the author is trying to accomplish. Then, upon reaching the end, in a sudden burst of revelation the entire story and everything the author means to say is laid bare in front of you and it all becomes crystal clear.

Long Goodbye is similar in that way, though far less dense and deliberately meanderin...more

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May 31, 2009 Georg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english, crime, classic

Though Chandler is one of my favorite authors and "The Long Goodbye" is one of my favorite books I have to admit that I have never understood Marlowe and what makes him tick. He almost always does the thing I would avoid and his lack of greed and egotism makes me always feel miserable. I certainly would have taken all the money he was offered, and I certainly would have let me been seduced by the "Golden Angel" (Eileen). But how can you not adore an author who writes a c.v. like that:

"The homici...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Tosh rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Raymond Chandler is the great Southern California poet of depair. The Long Goodbye is very much a sad look at relationships and how that affects one's psyche. I always felt Chandler is one of the great genius' of the sentence. You can tell how much he cares for the structure of his works - even when he sort of loses it at times. But it's part of the great car ride and he's the driver of course.

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Feb 24, 2011 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, favorites

I could not set this book down.

One of the many gems of dialogue:

"Alcohol is like love," he said. "The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off."
"Is that bad?" I asked him.
"It's excitement of a high order, but it's an impure emotion-- impure in the aesthetic sense. I'm not sneering at sex. It's necessary and it doesn't have to be ugly. But it always has to be managed. Making it glamorous is a billion-dollar industry and it costs...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, crime, mystery

...And now I'm fresh out of Chandler.

Everyone's been telling me that The Long Goodbye is the best. I think they're right. Several people told me I should read it first. I think they're wrong. I think it's best when you know and love Philip Marlowe, and you know and love Chandler's writing, and he can come along and punch you in the gut and bowl you over all over again. Or shoot you in the head.

I loved this one the best. I loved Terry Lennox and I loved Marlowe for helping him and I kind of follo...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 28, 2010 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: 1001-core, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. October-November 1949, New York. Detective Philip Marlowe and Terry Lennox are friends. One night, Terry asks Philip to bring him to Tijuana border as if he is running out from something. Later, it is revealed that Terry's wife is dead and the police files a case against Philip as an accessory to murder, i.e., for letting Terry to flee. What follows is a convoluted and improbable plot. There are many other characters introduced mostly as suspects. Although this book is an easy read, the plot can...more October-November 1949, New York. Detective Philip Marlowe and Terry Lennox are friends. One night, Terry asks Philip to bring him to Tijuana border as if he is running out from something. Later, it is revealed that Terry's wife is dead and the police files a case against Philip as an accessory to murder, i.e., for letting Terry to flee. What follows is a convoluted and improbable plot. There are many other characters introduced mostly as suspects. Although this book is an easy read, the plot can can make you woozy and confused. However, this is a typical whodunit and in the end, Terry - earlier introduced with another name and with another face - came out.

The Long Goodbye (first published in 1953) is my first book by Raymond Chandler (1888-1959). His earliest novel, The Big Sleep (1939) is in my to-be-read shelf and now it will stay there for a longer time as my brother says it is a "big bore". Both of these books are in the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. 501 Must Read Books includes his other novel, Farewell My Lovely (1940) so it must be my next Chandler work. In most cases 501 editors make more sense than their 1001 counterparts.

However all of these - among 5-6 others - books by Chandler are all criminal cases by the same Detective Philip Marlowe. We know that Agatha Christie (1890-1976) has Detective Hercule Poirot and Dan Brown (1964-present) has Detective Robert Langdon. Christie and Chandler are contemporaries and made their mystery thrillers all blockbusters during their times. Now it is Dan Brown and his Robert Langdon lording it in the bestsellers list. There is also Patricia Cornwell (1956-present) with her Dr. Kay Scarpetta but she is not a detective but a medical examiner.

Interesting, huh? Style and plot stay the same and books in this genre can still make money even after a handful of decades.

I am not really a fan of detective mystery novels but it can be gripping and interesting at times. However, the one that is still to be topped is my favorite in this genre: Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Brown has so far released 5 novels: Digital Fortress (1988), Angels and Demons (2000), Deception Point (2001), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and The Lost Symbol (2009). So far, I've read the latter 4 as I heard the first one is mediocre.

However, as I still have 2 more books by Raymond Chandler so it is not yet goodbye time. But it will be take a longer while as I have other writers still to discover.

(less)

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Jul 09, 2011 Perry Whitford rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: All romantics everywhere

Possibly the greatest of all hard-boiled but romantic detective fiction novels, alongside a couple of others perhaps, both of which are also written by Raymond Chandler and feature the Philip Marlowe, the ideal representation of the 20th century knight.

Marlowe's honour is very much the main theme of this one as well, although it's examined in relief against the main antagonist, old friend and feckless womaniser Terry Lennox, not shoveled down your gullet through smug dialogue and the fawning rev...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Mila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: also-a-movie, bob

Chandler was born in 1888! Were there hard-boiled private investigators that attracted glamorous women before then or did Chandler dream up those characters? Chandler is credited with inventing this "Noir" genre and I have to admire him for that. While reading this book, it's hard not to picture Humphry Bogart but he came later! I also marvel that this was published when Chandler was 65 years old and probably a bit hard-boiled himself.

There is a lot more to this book than the mystery story. I c...more Chandler was born in 1888! Were there hard-boiled private investigators that attracted glamorous women before then or did Chandler dream up those characters? Chandler is credited with inventing this "Noir" genre and I have to admire him for that. While reading this book, it's hard not to picture Humphry Bogart but he came later! I also marvel that this was published when Chandler was 65 years old and probably a bit hard-boiled himself.

There is a lot more to this book than the mystery story. I can't help but wonder what Chandler would say about the smog in LA today, or the rampant consumerism in today's society that he thought was out of control in 1953. These are only two of the subjects that I remember him commenting on in between scenes.

I also enjoyed the short chapters in this novel which made it easy to read in spurts. I found the story line a bit more complicated than it had to be and apparently so did the screenwriters as the movie left out entire plot sections.

The dialogue is so different than anything I have read. PI or dick, Philip Marlowe is so funny - he made me laugh out loud at times. Maybe because it reminds me of the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway" when Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood had to do an improvisation in the style of "Film Noir".

Raymond Chandler is famous for his metaphors. Here are some examples: "I belonged in Idle Valley like a pearl onion on a banana split." "She opened a mouth like a fire bucket and laughed. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed." My favourite is: "I went out to the kitchen to make coffee - yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. The life-blood of tired men."

There are over 500 results on Google for "Raymond Chandler metaphors or similes". I love the way Crawford Killian http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.ph... describes the writing of Raymond Chandler:

"Dashiell Hammett and other 1930s writers used Hemingway’s style to create hardboiled crime fiction, which was really contemptuous of its characters’ thoughts and feelings. That in turn changed into the sadism of Mickey Spillaine and the self-conscious similes of Raymond Chandler — similes that piled up like glittering poker chips in some crooked game where Death himself was the dealer." (less)

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Aug 17, 2007 Krissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Stuart, Conrad

[borrowed from the kate]

Oh, GODS, goodreads! You shouldn't let me write a 500 word review and then lose it because i clicked "edit shelves" expecting a pop-up window.

Excuse me while I mourn. So, what was I saying? Oh. The Long Goodbye, well, you will be forgiven for standing in the middle third of the book wondering if all these threads that Chandler gave you to hold, three or four of them, if he'd mind if you put them down for a few minutes? As he doesn't seem to be busy with them?

He really tak...more

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May 18, 2008 Daniel McCaffrey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery & Crime Readers

Recommended to Daniel by: Bill Reight

A phenomenal piece of writing, a veritable tour-de-force of Crime. This is something that no one has the guts to do, usually in genre fiction: Write the definitive, last story of a popular, iconic character and live with the results. I won't spoil anything for newbies, but let's just say that Chandler both advanced the age and status of his alter-ego, Philip Marlowe - and also radically matured the entire Crime genre in general and Detective Fiction in particular with this stunning, poignant and...more

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Jun 05, 2007 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can't say enough good things about Raymond Chandler. He took one of the lowest, scummiest, quick cash-in forms of writing, the private eye novel, and turned it into legitimate literature. Every paragraph boils over with some kind of allusion, metaphor, or analogy that you'd never imagine in your life, yet afterwards you don't know how you looked at the world in any other way. His cynicism is note-perfect- bitter and sad, but with plenty of humor and just the slightest hint of hope for human de...more

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Feb 20, 2008 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One autumn in my early 20s, I read all of Chandler in two months. His first four novels -- The Big Sleep, Lady in the Lake, Farewell My Lovely, and The High Window -- were my favorites: they were shot out of a gun, bristling with energy and wisecracks. The later ones seemed lethargic by comparison. Now that I'm older and a little wiser, the early novels seem a bit cartoonish, but this later one seems better than ever: full of observations of people, life, and Los Angeles that are alternately wis...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Cathy DuPont rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh, my, one series down, eight to go. Glad I saved this to last since it was the best of all. Well, there's The Big Sleep. Gave that Marlowe five stars as well.

He can't be beat and now know why he's mentioned so frequently as an influence by writers who followed him.

Philip Marlowe: Adult male, early 40's, tall, attractive, professional private investigator. He's all that and more.

Just posted this and turned on streaming music, and what comes up but The Long Goodbye, David Lanz, Sacred Road (a...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Sarah Sammis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pc, challenge, read-in-2009

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler is the last of seven mysteries featuring Philip Marlowe. I decided to give Raymond Chandler a try since I had one of his books on hand.

Marlowe tries to do the right thing by helping Terry Lennox whom he found falling down drunk. Lennox though after a brief friendship flees the country leaving Marlowe fingered as an accomplice in the murder of his wife.

The book is set in 1950s Los Angeles. It's a grittier, lonelier and more pessimistic view of the city than th...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Tony61 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first book I've read by the iconic Raymond Chandler and I wonder how I have missed the pleasure all these years. The Long Goodbye is actually Chandler's final Phillip Marlowe novel which is a sprawling tract that covers a couple murders and the intervening years. These books were written in the 1930's to the 1950's and all made into moves starring Humphrey Bogart as the protagonist sleuth.

What Elmore Leonard has done for writing dialog, Chandler has done for writing character and sce...more This is the first book I've read by the iconic Raymond Chandler and I wonder how I have missed the pleasure all these years. The Long Goodbye is actually Chandler's final Phillip Marlowe novel which is a sprawling tract that covers a couple murders and the intervening years. These books were written in the 1930's to the 1950's and all made into moves starring Humphrey Bogart as the protagonist sleuth.

What Elmore Leonard has done for writing dialog, Chandler has done for writing character and scene descriptions: “The living room was still dark, because of the heavy growth of the shrubbery the owner had allowed to mask the windows. I put a lamp on and mooched a cigarette. I lit it. I stared down at him. I rumpled my hair which was already rumpled. I put the old tired grin on my face.”

Attitudes towards women are vintage: "There are blonde and blondes and it is almost a joke word nowadays. All blondes have their points, except perhaps the metallic ones who are as blonde as a Zulu under the bleach and as to disposition as soft as a sidewalk. There is the small cute blonde who cheeps and twitters, and the big statuesque blonde who straight-arms you with an ice-blue glare. There is the blonde who gives you the up-from-under look and smells lovely and shimmers and hangs on your arm and is always very, very tired when you take her home. She makes that helpless gesture and has that goddamned headache and you would like to slug her except that you found about the headache before you invested too much time and money and hope in her. Because the headache will always be there, a weapon that never wears out and is as deadly as the bravo’s rapier or Lucrezia’s poison vial...."

He's a philosopher: “Man has always been a venal animal. The growth of populations, the huge costs of war, the incessant pressure of confiscatory taxation – all these things make him more and more venal. The average man is tired and scared, and a tired, scared man can’t afford ideals. He has to buy food for his family. In our time we have seen a shocking decline in both public and private morals. You can’t expect quality from people whose lives are a subjection to a lack of quality. You can’t have quality with mass production. You don’t want it because it lasts too long. So you substitute styling, which is a commercial swindle intended to produce artificial obsolescence."

He's the master of simile: "He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway.” And, "I belonged in Idle Valley like a pearl onion on a banana split.”

Read this book. It will make life just a little bit more worth living.(less)

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Apr 01, 2013 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel took me a while to get through and at 320 pages it is a bit longer than I would like my "pulp detective" novels. Which is probably why I appreciate the brevity of the Parker novels so much. I had read the Big Sleep (also by Chandler) a long time ago and remember not being thrilled with it but after reading The Chill by Ross Macdonald I wanted to take another crack at the writer many put up there as being the best in this genre. One thing Chandler does better is to take time to help us...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Arup Ratan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Categorizing literary works has its own set of redundant consequences. It certainly makes the job easy for a librarian, but at the same time, it tends to plant an imaginary bridle on the scope and span of an author’s work, especially his moments of transcendence. The other flip side of the same leads to a hierarchy; novels revered as masterpieces with serious thematic nuances to be read and reread in classrooms for generations while others branded as ‘popular’ , often meaning sleazy or sensation...more Categorizing literary works has its own set of redundant consequences. It certainly makes the job easy for a librarian, but at the same time, it tends to plant an imaginary bridle on the scope and span of an author’s work, especially his moments of transcendence. The other flip side of the same leads to a hierarchy; novels revered as masterpieces with serious thematic nuances to be read and reread in classrooms for generations while others branded as ‘popular’ , often meaning sleazy or sensational, thus rendered a shelf life of a pulp magazine. American Crime Fiction, perhaps along with works of sci-fi as well, has been a perpetual victim of such academic machinery. Some of the most original expressions, elemental descriptions, memorable characters and unforgettable lines have been denied recognition simply because the content of these works were deemed unrefined by some vague and obscure Victorian standards of morality and notion of art. While there are several individuals from different domains whose name might seem relevant in this issue, but if there is one name and one face to be attached to this chronicle of bias and prejudice, it has to be Raymond Chandler.

Often referred to, and quite accurately, as one of the pioneers of hard-boiled detective fiction along with his predecessor Dashiell Hammett, applying this descriptive phrase for Chandler’s works is a long way even from the tip of the iceberg. Neither does it justify the visible portion where Chandler narrates with an unprecedented fluidity and economy, nor can it even comprehend the submerged section, which would be his keen observations of a socioeconomic system basking in the shadows of yesterday’s glory. In Philip Marlowe, Chandler created an icon of paradox. A wise cracking, hard drinking and yet hard thinking private investigator, Marlowe remains an epitome of cynicism, the most tangible symptom of post WW II America. Steered by a sense of honor and morality, which even he realizes to be in the process of turning from archaic to obsolete at an alarming rate, Marlowe belongs to the space surrounding him and is very much a part of the all-engulfing social apparatus unlike other fictional detectives, who are transcendental beings possessing a superior intelligence inaccessible from the point-of-view of the third person narrators such as Dr. Watson or Captain Hastings.

Admirers of Chandler’s works usually point towards THE BIG SLEEP or FAREWELL MY LOVELY while arguing about the author’s finest work. Although it is indeed a difficult task to argue against the merits of the aforementioned novels, especially with the former’s enchanting plot and the latter’s lyricism, THE LONG GOODBYE was the one that succeeded in terms of bearing every possible hallmarks of Chandler’s skill and consciousness. Less popular than either of the two novels mentioned above and evidently far more ambitious than his entire body of work put together, THE LONG GOODBYE resonates with a multidimensional plot, a symptomatic assortment of characters, a leisurely Hemingwayesque style of pacing and a sharp critique directed at the moral depravity of American life. In other words, it is perhaps the most representative work of Raymond Chandler and a truly American novel in every sense. The novel, incidentally, also echoes with an autobiographical ring with the introduction of the character Roger Wade, a popular writer fighting his own demons. While Marlowe reflects the bitter romanticism of the author’s younger self, Wade is invested with the redundancy and self doubt, a reflection of Chandler’s older, exhausted facade. Engaging these two characters in extensive scenes with exchange of poignant lines between them, Chandler succeeds in painting the resentment of a dream of a promised land gone horribly wrong.

Unlike Marlowe’s usual outings, THE LONG GOODBYE unfolds in the sunlit Idle Valley; the abode of LA’s super rich and the narrative is further garnished with Marlowe’s occasional experiences with the wide cross section of social system including cops, lawyers, mob bosses and even bartenders with home spun philosophies or chauffeur quoting TS Eliot. And each of these episodes collectively contribute in making the novel what it is; a fearless leap into a sordid world accompanied with a disguised lament for the erosion of character, honor, integrity and fidelity ("Money tends to have a life of its own, even a conscience of its own"). The elegiac mode of the novel becomes quite evident right from the title or even with the memoir like style adapted in some of the pages (“So passed a day in the life of a P.I. Not exactly a typical day, but not totally untypical either”). The street smart private eye with clever lines of the early novels has turned in to a man in his 40s staring into a lonely old age with a sheer spiritual and moral bankruptcy to keep him company. The remote toughness has been replaced by a disappointed acceptance. Disillusionment is like everyday reality in his profession and yet in the end he finds it hard to let go (“To say goodbye is to die a little”). The bitterness towards notions such as loyalty, respect, everyday life, love, friendship, duty cannot simply be interpreted as misanthropy or a scathing hatred for the human race without cause; it is rather a sense of realization that dawn upon slowly and then displaces the very foundations of one’s consciousness. The novel also witnesses Chandler finally succeeding in identifying and locating the nature of the crisis as an economic one; Big money’s exploitation of values and institutions of Democracy that made possible the Nation in the first place. Most of the novel gathers its strength from the insightful scrutiny of the sociopolitical structure of the urban life from the aforementioned standpoint. Finally, THE LONG GOODBYE is about the metaphor of bidding farewell. From the narrative angle, it is about Marlowe parting with a woman and a woman parting with her life. However, casting a more detailed gaze, it might be said that the farewell is bade to the Marlowe way of life, his despair at the ruin of his beliefs, his regret on encountering the emptiness of the values he believed in and the almost acknowledgement of his inability to prevail upon Big Capital. One can almost feel the distress and agony in Marlowe’s voice when he rues, “Most people go through life using up half their energy trying to protect a dignity they never had”.(less)

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Feb 12, 2013 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

The Long Goodbye. It's a title that has entered the lexicon, and can mean any number of things - literal to metaphoric. Same with The Big Sleep. Great titles, and for The Long Goodbye, a great book. I'll be on to The Big Sleep later this year.

I don't understand what it takes to get me to a book. This time it was nothing to read, time on my hands, and spotting the title on my bro-in-law's bookshelf. A "what the hell" read. It was about time, and maybe the perfect time. The Long Goodbye is a book...more The Long Goodbye. It's a title that has entered the lexicon, and can mean any number of things - literal to metaphoric. Same with The Big Sleep. Great titles, and for The Long Goodbye, a great book. I'll be on to The Big Sleep later this year.

I don't understand what it takes to get me to a book. This time it was nothing to read, time on my hands, and spotting the title on my bro-in-law's bookshelf. A "what the hell" read. It was about time, and maybe the perfect time. The Long Goodbye is a book for adults. People call Phillip Marlowe, our protagonist, a cynic, but he's not, he's a humanist and a romantic. His cynicism is a default setting for disappointment. One of the adult parts of this book is understanding Marlowe's struggle with his own humanity - vis a vis humanity in general.

Crime novels have always had to fight for their place on the literary ladder. The Long Goodbye is one of the few, and first crime novels to be recognized as an important literary work. I'd put Chandler right up there with Twain, and Hemingway, and here's a leap - if Shakespeare were a novelist he might have written a few books like Raymond Chandler. The action of this book takes place within a small circle of "friends," a court of sorts. The tension comes from inside and out, but the inside pays as little attention to the out as it can get away with. And Chandler peoples the inside and out with a rich mix of characterizations. The Long Goodbye is about loyalties, and betrayals, power, and wealth, brute force and manipulations, crime, justice, and mercy.

I think the reason a book like this lasts - beyond the universality of character and plot - it that it's written in a language all its own. It is old-fashioned, but it's consistent and of a time. You couldn't get away with writing like this any longer, but it's a living thing - it's not preserved in amber, any more than is Shakespeare. To the PC: there are racist bits, homophobic bits, and misogynistic bits - it's of a particular time, the 50's, and the characters contain the flaws of the period. That being said, there's a good laugh on just about every page, and the similes roll like a river. Here are a few of my favorite bits:

"At three a.m. I was walking the floor and listening to Khatchaturyan working in a trailer factory. He called it a violin concerto. I called it a loose fan belt and the hell with it."

"I knew it was going to be one of those crazy days. Everyone has them. Days when nobody rolls in but the loose wheels, the dingoes who park their brains with their gum, the squirrels who can't find their nuts, the mechanics who always have a few gear wheels left over."

"There is something compulsive about a telephone. The gadget ridden man of our age loves it, loathes it, and is afraid of it."

""Goodbye," she said coldly. I always find what I want, but when I find it I don't want it anymore.""

And this one, that totally knocks me to the floor: "He was as calm as an adobe wall in the moonlight."

Five unqualified stars for The Long Goodbye.

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Dec 22, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Iconic private detective Philip Marlowe befriends a down-on-his-luck war veteran who seems to struggle with alcoholism. Marlowe soon finds that Terry Lennox struggles with more than booze, he has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife who ends up murdered. Terry Lennox goes on the lam, but not before involving Marlowe in the whole confusing mess. The harder Marlowe fights to extricate himself from the quicksand of mystery, the deeper he sinks.

For many years I’ve been hearing from writers I respect tha...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is 42 years old and does not exercise. His sport is chess yet he does not play against anybody. He just replays games of chess masters and solves chess puzzles. His brushes with danger and death he just narrates matter-of-factly. In one scene a rich, powerful, mean-spirited guy comes to his office. After some tough guy dialogue Marlowe slugs the visitor which made the latter double up in pain while his bodyguard--certainly armed--is just outside. When Marlowe...more Private investigator Philip Marlowe is 42 years old and does not exercise. His sport is chess yet he does not play against anybody. He just replays games of chess masters and solves chess puzzles. His brushes with danger and death he just narrates matter-of-factly. In one scene a rich, powerful, mean-spirited guy comes to his office. After some tough guy dialogue Marlowe slugs the visitor which made the latter double up in pain while his bodyguard--certainly armed--is just outside. When Marlowe later meets the bodyguard he insults him on his face. Yet they left Marlowe unharmed.

I remember watching an action film. There was a long sequence of running, jumping, fighting, shooting and car chases. Then there was a close-up shot of the handsome face of the same loner-type hero: his face was completely clean, he wasn't even sweating. All throughout the film, even in the scariest situation, his face did not reflect any stress or panic. The most he managed to do was to harden his jaws to reflect grim determination to conquer seemingly impossible odds. Or maybe just to hide his boredom during the film shoot.

Philip Marlowe is such a guy. Calm, stoic, self-assured and fearless. I remember, too, those Arab guys who crashed the planes during 9-11. They accomplished their gruesome task with the same sangfroid as the fictional heroes of films and novels.

Indeed, certitude erases fear completely. Those plane crashers had no doubt that the atomization of their earthly bodies will make them martyrs of the faith and will instantly transport them to Allah's Paradise where they will meet Muhammad with 40 beautiful virgins for each of them ready for distribution. The movie ass-kicking heroes do not sweat or panic because they know, beyond the shadow of doubt, that the director won't kill them no matter how perilous the situation the script puts them in. And Philip Marlowe, like all great characters in fiction, including James Bond himself, knows that in sequel upon sequel, for as long as the books sell, he shall be immortal and indestructible.

Towards the end of this novel, after the crimes had been solved and Marlowe had no more need for macho dialogues, the author finally rewards him naked in bed with a 36-year-old rich, beautiful woman. Then the reader finally realizes that this is not really a detective novel but a religious tract: it teaches that faith works. A firm belief in salvation-no-matter-what can make one live life to the fullest, without fear, and that in the end he shall reap all the pleasures of Paradise.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rereading Chandler's The Long Goodbye was interesting. I enjoy the meandering story, the unexpected twists and connections and micromysteries that link into Marlowe's friend Terry Lennox's disappearance and death. However, I was surprised by just how racist this book is sometimes. Chandler has always been "a product of his times," but the presence of racial tension and the amount of random racism on Marlowe's part seems to loom larger in this book. Of course, it should be said that more than onc...more

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About Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.

In 1932, at age forty-four, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In...more

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Books by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe, #2)

The Lady in the Lake (Philip Marlowe, #4)

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“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.” — 1,700 people liked it

“To say goodbye is to die a little.” — 606 people liked it

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The Long Good-bye (Philip Marlowe #6)

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