Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe #1)

4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 · rating details · 38,628 ratings · 1,698 reviews

When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, 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.

“Chandler [writes] like a slumming angel and invest[s] the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a...more

Paperback, 231 pages

Published July 12th 1988 by Vintage Crime (first published 1939)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Best Crime & Mystery Books

15th out of 3,368 books — 7,797 voters

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Detective Fiction

2nd out of 581 books — 508 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 15, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, crime, hardboiled-and-noir

4.0 stars. This was the first noir crime fiction book that I ever read and I don't think I could have found a much better place to start. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the genre, but decided to test the waters with this classic that introduced the world to the iconic private detective Philip Marlowe. I am very glad I did.

This is a fun, fast read and I was immediately sucked in by the superb dialogue, which was both politically incorrect and just slid off the page and into your head.

The...more

like 47 likes · see review

Jan 04, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulp, crime-and-mystery, reread-in-2011, 2012, favorites

The 2011-2012 re-read...
A paralyzed millionaire, General Sternwood, hires Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe to have a talk with a blackmailer with his hooks in his daughter. But what does his daughter's missing husband, Rusty Regan, have to do with it? Marlowe's case will get him entangled in a web of pornography and gambling from which he may never escape...

For the last few years, me and noir detective fiction have gone together as well as strippers and c-section scars. When the Pulp Ficti ...more

like 53 likes · see review

Sep 14, 2012 Kat Lowe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

This book was written over a decade before Ian Fleming thought up James Bond. So perhaps Bond inherited his cynicism, woman-hating, and emotive repression from Philip Marlowe. Strangely, I didn't hate either of those characters, despite those faults. Maybe they both had enough strengths to make up for them.

For me, the thing that lifted this story above the level of a Fleming work was the dialogue. I love dialogue. I love the way it can reveal character and plot points without pausing the storyli...more

like 20 likes · see review

Aug 22, 2008 Kirk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sentimental-faves

She was the first thing I saw when I walked into the bookstore. Such a looker I damn near tripped over a stack of calf-high hardbacks set next to a stand of morning papers.
"I'm sorry," she said. "We're not quite open yet."
"That's okay," I told her. "Neither are my eyes."
I could tell right away I wasn't going to win any hosannas by being a smart-aleck.
"I need a book," I continued by way of apology. "Something fun but dark. I'm looking at five hundred miles today, but I'm not in the mood for...more

like 111 likes · see review

Apr 07, 2011 Kemper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, 100, noir, detectives, classic-lit, favorites, 2011-r

There’s a story regarding the movie version of The Big Sleep that I love, and if it isn’t true, it should be. Supposedly, while working on adapting the book the screenwriters (William Faulkner & Leigh Brackett) couldn’t figure out who killed one of the characters. So they called Raymond Chandler, and after thinking about it for a while, Chandler admitted that he’d completely forgotten to identify the killer of this person in the book and had no idea who did it. Since no one complained about...more

like 32 likes · see review

Dec 04, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

This isn’t really a review so much as a quick word of appreciation for a book I read decades ago. I suspect before Chandler and his ilk came along, crime fiction was much softer boiled. It also seems to have been a precursor for some excellent contemporary crime drama. Might The Sopranos, The Wire, and countless others owe a debt of gratitude to books like this for their intricate plotting, their colorful language, their stylized writing, and that definitive noir feel?

Over time I seem to have fu...more

like 26 likes · see review

Apr 08, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been edited. It can now be seen at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud!

like 12 likes · see review

Sep 22, 2010 Madeline rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: assigned-reading, the-list, detective-fiction

Okay, so it wasn't bad. There's lots of fistfights and shooting and dames, and our detective hero is appropriately jaded and tight-lipped. The bad guys are crazy, the women are freaks in both the streets and the sheets, and there's a subplot involving a pornography racket. Everyone talks in 30's-tastic slang and usually the reader has no idea what everyone keeps yelling about. It's a violent, fast-paced, garter-snapping (the Depression equivalent of bodice-ripping, I imagine) detective thriller,...more Okay, so it wasn't bad. There's lots of fistfights and shooting and dames, and our detective hero is appropriately jaded and tight-lipped. The bad guys are crazy, the women are freaks in both the streets and the sheets, and there's a subplot involving a pornography racket. Everyone talks in 30's-tastic slang and usually the reader has no idea what everyone keeps yelling about. It's a violent, fast-paced, garter-snapping (the Depression equivalent of bodice-ripping, I imagine) detective thriller, and you could do a lot worse. Chandler, like his contemporary Dashiel Hammett, has a gift for gorgeous description and atmosphere, and uses it well. But I just can't stomach giving this more than 2 stars.

Here's my problem: while I understand that the 1930's were a very homophobic and sexist time and that books written during that era are bound to include some stuff that makes me uncomfortable, that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy reading a book where the hero is homophobic and misogynist. Philip Marlowe, the hard-boiled detective of The Big Sleep, makes Sam Spade look like a refined gentleman in comparison. And I guess he is - Spade has pimp-slapped his share of the ladies, but never tried to assure the reader that "she didn't mind the slap...Probably all her boy friends got around to slapping her sooner or later. I could understand how they might." Spade never described a room's decor as having "a stealthy nastiness, like a fag party." Also, the female characters in this book are all loathsome. There's no Brigid O'Shaunessy, who was violent and evil and awesome; and there's no Effie Perine. Only a couple of psycho rich girls who Marlowe sneers at while rolling his eyes at their repeated attempts to sleep with him, the stupid whores.

I'll admit, there can be certain guilty pleasure to be had from reading the perspective of such an unashamedly bigoted character. But it gets old fast, and eventually just left a bad taste in my mouth. Thank you for your time, Mr. Marlowe, but I'm casting my lot with Mr. Spade. He knows how to treat a lady.

Read for: Social Forces in the Detective Novel(less)

like 24 likes · see review

Nov 12, 2007 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mystery/noir fans

Shelves: 20th-century-early-to-mid, fiction

Well. There are rare occasions when my friends are right. This is one of them. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed The Big Sleep. I didn't think I was going to, but it really drew me in. I read it in two days, between classes and skipping work to do it, the way I used to read in high school. I haven't done that for awhile. This book came at exactly the right time to encourage me to remember what it's like to flip pages like that, so I thank it for that.

I think the thing I liked best about it (aside f...more

like 7 likes · see review

Jun 22, 2009 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery, read-in-my-40s

My first foray into the crime fiction genre. I liked private investigator Philip Marlowe. An intelligent, patient, witty guy treading water in the morass of 1930s Los Angeles society, both high and low. Amazing how closely connected the upper and lower strata actually are.

Marlowe accepted a job from a very wealthy elderly General, to investigate and thwart a blackmail attempt concerning his daughter. But blackmail wasn't what was on everyone's mind.

It's hard to review mysteries, or crime, fict...more

like 7 likes · see review

May 07, 2013 Emma rated it 3 of 5 stars

I’ve often thought that 1930s America - the setting of The Big Sleep - is a place I’d like to be. Swing bands, dance halls, jitter bugs, the developing tenor saxophone and the gutsy blues rifts that came from the burgeoning soloists ....a time when Jazz was important and influential on society. Amazing. I’ve had tons of daydreams about this era, of jamming with Coleman Hawkins or Lester Young or Ben Webster, feathers in hair, drinking illegal beverage in a Blind Pig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch ...more

like 10 likes · see review

Oct 09, 2011 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-person-narration

Hmmmm. Since reading this on holiday a fortnight ago my mind has been revolving like a cat in a washing machine. i have been wondering in the way a brunette eyes up that green number worrying whether it makes sense to lay out the money for it. It hasn't kept me awake at nights you understand, no more than any solitary tom cat as he strains and worries over that fine sister who never quite turns his way but something, something is there and I can't quite put my finger on it; like when you hold a...more

like 5 likes · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Cathy DuPont rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: noir-favorites

Loving mysteries, I've read many times, 'this character reminds readers of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, known as the basis of the modern P. I.' Read many books which refer to Chandler or Marlowe, but up until now, never read him. Those days are past, thank goodness, because I've discovered an author I love.

Published in 1939, the book was as fresh to me as if it was published last week. Can't recall one time when I thought, hum, he wouldn't do that because of such and such. My favorite bookseller...more Loving mysteries, I've read many times, 'this character reminds readers of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, known as the basis of the modern P. I.' Read many books which refer to Chandler or Marlowe, but up until now, never read him. Those days are past, thank goodness, because I've discovered an author I love.

Published in 1939, the book was as fresh to me as if it was published last week. Can't recall one time when I thought, hum, he wouldn't do that because of such and such. My favorite bookseller Vanessa said that is an indication of a good writer, one whose writing is timeless and I agree.

The story grabbed me from page one to the end with some convoluted twists and turns. I read the ending a couple of times after I finished since it was a time for reflection by Marlowe, a time to be a little philosophical. Marlowe really is thoughtful, moral and really tries to do what's right. And with the number of mysteries I've read, I can see threads of this character in other characters. Some have said that Chandler changed the genre of the modern P.I.

It's great to read a great book, one which other writers aspire to, Robert B. Parker, for one. Parker said Marlowe was "wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious." I would never disagree with Robert B. Parker!

Thinking about how sparse and descriptive Chandler's writing is, I noted one line that I saved to go back to: "He wore a blue uniform coat that fitted him the way a stall fits a horse." That's visualization if I've ever read it.

Clear, clean, precise and to the point, Chandler must have read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. They were (and still are, I hope) the prophets of omitting needless words in writing. I would say there's not one needless word in this book. Well, maybe one, but no more!

******
Update on influence on Chandler on present day mystery writers, in this case Michael Connelly and from his Website:

"Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12-years-old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews."

(less)

like 8 likes · see review

Apr 09, 2011 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, mystery, detective, review

Review from Badelynge
The Big Sleep is Raymond Chandler's debut novel published in 1939 and it's a corker featuring Chandler's now iconic hard boiled private detective Philip Marlowe. It's filled with memorable characters; tough guys, wise guys, grifters and chancers all playing their roles in the tangled web of a plot. Although complex I really like how much of the detail in the book actually turns out to be connected with everything else. There is no hiding the answers behind piles of irrelevan...more

like 11 likes · see review

Jan 05, 2009 Zinta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm no fan of mysteries, except perhaps the general mystery surrounding life, and I see crime enough in the every day without feeling the need to return to it for entertainment, and I'm not at all a fan of the hard-boiled detective with his hard-to-stomach arrogance (and what an apt adjective, this "hard-boiled," the golden yolk turned gray and flavorless when held over the flame too long). But I'm always a fan of a well written book, no matter what the genre. And Chandler's book qualifies.

It i...more I'm no fan of mysteries, except perhaps the general mystery surrounding life, and I see crime enough in the every day without feeling the need to return to it for entertainment, and I'm not at all a fan of the hard-boiled detective with his hard-to-stomach arrogance (and what an apt adjective, this "hard-boiled," the golden yolk turned gray and flavorless when held over the flame too long). But I'm always a fan of a well written book, no matter what the genre. And Chandler's book qualifies.

It intrigued me to read this, one of the classic firsts, literary birthing grounds for the nearly, by now, cliche persona (Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade being perhaps the very first, followed closely by Chandler's Phillip Marlowe, then variations on a theme with Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer, and a long string of others, the most recent contemporary rendering of which I've come across being the character of Joe January in J. Conrad Guest's "January's Paradigm."). Humphrey Bogart brought several of these to the silver screen, and the character, by whatever name, is now so well known that we can all imitate him at a drop of a fedora, cigarette hanging loose in the corner of our mouths, gal Friday awaiting our command.

As usual, the persona is done arguably best by its inventors. And, as usual, the book has added linguistic pleasures surpassing the cheapened Hollywood screen versions (for example, I noted that the book version of Marlowe isn't nearly the womanizer that Bogart's film version is as he romances Lauren Bacall, a romance that never really happens on the written page, and in his literary version, he even exhibits ethics in the bedroom that any woman can cheer). We get the language -- hard, crisp, fresh, even today. Chandler's spare style might even at moments find comparison in Hemingway. His metaphors delight.

"Dead men are heavier than broken hearts."

"The minutes passed on tiptoe... The light hit pencils of rain and made silver wires of them."

"He had tight brilliant eyes that wanted to look hard, and looked hard as oysters on the half shell."

"The gentle-eyed, horse-faced maid let me into the long gray and white upstairs sitting room with the ivory drapes tumbled extravagantly on the floor and the white carpet from wall to wall. A screen star's boudoir, a place of charm and seduction, artificial as a wooden leg."

Hey, now that's fine writing. It hits the mark with no side trips. I may change my mind about the hard-boiled detective, especially in his softer-boiled moments. (less)

like 8 likes · see review

Apr 26, 2008 Tosh rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a teenager I couldn't get enough of Raymond Chandler. His prose really hit me between the eyes and to this day i think he's such a remarkable talent. Maybe by now there are others in the crime lit that can out-master the master, and you can imitate his 'voice' but the poetry is his and his alone.

And to be honest I have no strong memory of the plot - except for 'The Long Goodbye' which to me is an extremely sad book. But The Big Sleep, even by its title has a dream state, and I almost want to...more

like 6 likes · see review

Aug 15, 2011 Henry Avila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Philip Marlowe here,I'm going to tell you a little story of my last caper.Listen good, rich, sick, General Sternwood hired me to help him resolve a blackmail attempt. One of his two wacky daughters, Carmen, got in a pickle.I'll not go into details, but say it's kind of a smutty affair.You'll need a fireman's hose to clean up the slime. After a few killings and a suicide, people that nobody will miss. (I earned my 500 bucks) They kicked hard but I kicked harder.A shamus uses a raincoat not just t...more

like 6 likes · see review

Jan 13, 2012 Alberto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

For the first third of the novel the writing is superb. Pure poetry in the voice of the tough cynic narrator, Philip Marlowe. But then Chandler starts trying to tie all the loose ends and pays more attention to arrange the plot than to the style, which is great but not as good as when the story just flows. When the first part of the case is solved the author rests and the writing recovers itself, but then things go messy again until the end.

About this specific edition I must say it's a nice one...more

like 8 likes · see review

Feb 25, 2013 Jessica Donaghy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, whodunit, classics

I'm a bit torn on this rating of a classic. Marlowe is an enjoyably grumpy gus, but the mystery itself didn't grab me. If Raymond Chandler is more about character than plot, then why does Marlowe stand alone as the only robust personality in the book? No wonder he's grumpy. He must be painfully lonely with no one in all of Los Angeles to talk to with any sense. (Speaking of L.A., it rained more in this book than it did during my many years living in the City of Angels.)

Where Chandler shines is s...more

like 3 likes · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Sean rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-century, mystery, read-in-2012

All you hardboiled crime fiction fans out there are going to kill me. I wanted to say I liked this book and give it 3 stars but I really did not like it that much. There was just something missing from this. This is the first time I have read one of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe books and I just couldn’t really get into it. It's not that I don’t like crime fiction or early 20th century noir, it’s just that perhaps Chandlers writing style isn’t really for me. I suspect the reason for this is perhaps...more

like 5 likes · see review

Jan 24, 2011 matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: america-f-k-yeah, fictions-of-the-big-it, re-readers, favorites

I'm usually a plot-challenged person. It takes me awhile to be able to figure out what's going on when a movie or book plot gets too complicated, with the double-crosses and the lies and the reversals...the chess game is usually too much for me.

I don't usually hold that against the story I'm being told, I just figure it wasn't my cup of tea and let it go.

This one, though, I loved every minute of and will absolutely have to reread someday. Just to re-savor all the little crackling asides, poetic...more

like 10 likes · see review

Feb 02, 2008 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

About 80 pages in, I realized I had lost the plot, but didn't really care because of how amazingly "rich" the inner and outer dialogue of Phillip Marlowe, Chandler's hero private detective, is. It was hard to keep track of all the characters and murders, but if you can get 70%, it's worth it for all the golden tossed-off simile/metaphors that make up the narrative voice that we now think of as noir cliche. One cool thing is that in Stephen King's "On Writing," he mentions how during the filming...more

like 11 likes · see review

Sep 04, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: international-crime-fiction

This Raymond Chandler novel was originally written in 1939 and introduced us to one of the world's better known fictional Private Investigators in Philip Marlowe. And what a great character. Marlowe was completely different to those his contemporaries were writing about. There was none of the prim prissiness associated with the English authors of the time such as Agatha Christie. Marlowe was tough, dirty, gritty and seedy. People drank, smoked, gambled and women were loose and flirtatious. Quite...more

like 2 likes · see review

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

Shelves: own-in-kindle

Well, this would be a tough review to do since I have absolutely no clue of where to even start.

Ok let's start with the vivid picture of 1940's Los Angeles. "The Big Sleep" clearly shows Mr. Chandler's affinity for the city, in the light of its association with the film industry in a pre-Hollywood era. Though I have not seen the movie yet, the only image that came in my mind of Philip Marlowe is that of Humphrey Bogart.

"The Big Sleep" is written in a superb style of using metaphors and language...more Well, this would be a tough review to do since I have absolutely no clue of where to even start.

Ok let's start with the vivid picture of 1940's Los Angeles. "The Big Sleep" clearly shows Mr. Chandler's affinity for the city, in the light of its association with the film industry in a pre-Hollywood era. Though I have not seen the movie yet, the only image that came in my mind of Philip Marlowe is that of Humphrey Bogart.

"The Big Sleep" is written in a superb style of using metaphors and language that can't really be described to anyone. Mr. Chandler, with "The Big Sleep", more or less invented the detective novel as we know it today. I wonder what kind of impact it might have had on those who read the book when it first came out.

The Big Sleep introduces Philip Marlowe as the private eye who is a man who cannot be corrupted, cannot be bought, cannot be influenced. To add to this, he smoothly stays one step ahead of the others. His characterization is outstanding and that is what singularly drives the story.

The plot is not that complicated. Neither is the suspense that heart stopping. However, Mr. Chandler probably designed the entire plot to be nothing more than a prop or an elaborate set for Marlowe. There are some good plot twists but they come together in a loose manner. But none of that matters, because the main interest is in what Marlowe will do next and how he will react. This book is all about your "Date with Philip Marlowe". And what a first date!!

"The Big Sleep" is an excellent flag-off point for getting acquainted with classic detective fiction. It's a very quick read as well, which helps the suspense build and leaves you wanting more.

This book oozes out attitude left, right and center a really “hard-boiled” one.

This book is, therefore, a must read. You will love Marlowe, you will love the language and style and you will love the 1940s Los Angeles. It’s like that rare bottle of whisky that you have been lusting to have a sip from for a very long time.
(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 31, 2011 Yuki rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Noir

Recommended to Yuki by: RP-5

Shelves: mystery-or-crime, noir, book-to-screen, 1001-books-read, donate, literary-fiction, favorites

Wow! Kicking myself for not reading this as soon as I picked it up on bookswap months ago. I find good noir electrifying! I've been mucking about with some good (and one awful) but not great reads this summer, and this puts me back on track. Chandler's Marlowe had me at: "I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it." First paragraph.

As Richard mentioned, much of the prose reads like poetry: "Under the thinning fog the surf curled and creamed, almost without sound, like a t...more

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 30, 2009 Rauf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: fiction, munchausen_by_proxy, 2009-list, fromthepit, everybody_loves_raymond, shiny, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read this together with The Maltese Falcon. By the time I get to chapters 5, it was obvious that this book was kickin' Maltese Falcon's ass.
The prose in Maltese Falcon was so terse and dry and uninspiring. If it was a person he was like a dad. Big Sleep was more laidback, more flippant, wittier. Like a cool uncle.

I can't tell you why this book was shiny and not giving away the ending. So let me warn you again, SPOILER! ALERT!

In the beginning, an old General named Sternwood hired Philip Marlowe...more

like 2 likes · see review

Nov 16, 2008 J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

What more can be said about Raymond Chandler's first novel, published in 1939? Dashiell Hammett may have preceded Chandler with Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, but Chandler's style, as well as protagonist Phillip Marlowe, stand on their own.

Both Hammett and Chandler can be credited with creating this genre, from which the work the likes of Mickey Spillane, Erle Stanley Gardner and Elmore Leonard spawned. While none can perhaps be considered literary art, they are nonetheless art within their g...more

like 2 likes · see review

Oct 11, 2007 Cecilia rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mystery fans

I now see why everyone compares most mystery writers to Raymond Chandler. He’s not only the best, but considering that The Big Sleep was written in 1939, he was one of the first. The novel begins like most detective novels of today…setting the stage for the crime, the criminals, and the intrigue. Philip Marlowe is the detective of all detectives….cool and suave and always knowing just what to say at just the right time…and mostly dark, mysterious and possibly up to no good. What struck me first...more I now see why everyone compares most mystery writers to Raymond Chandler. He’s not only the best, but considering that The Big Sleep was written in 1939, he was one of the first. The novel begins like most detective novels of today…setting the stage for the crime, the criminals, and the intrigue. Philip Marlowe is the detective of all detectives….cool and suave and always knowing just what to say at just the right time…and mostly dark, mysterious and possibly up to no good. What struck me first was Chandler’s OVERLOWING detail. I mean, for a mystery, this book had all of the elaboration of a fine work of literary fiction. He describes EVERYTHING…colors, clothes, ambiance of a room, etc. At first, I was distracted by this…not knowing what to make of it since I don’t usually see this in mysteries. But, soon I got used to it and was able to focuses freely on the plot. And plot is the plot FUN! I mean that a tad sarcastically…since it’s pretty darn complicated. It revolves around Marlowe working for General Sternwood, a wealthy, wheelchair-bound old man whose daughters who enjoy spending his money and living the good life, to say the least. First, Marlowe’s assignment is just to clear up a seemingly “minor” dispute involving one of Sternwood’s daughters, but once uncovers more about the family and their dealings, Marlowe soon finds himself in more trouble than he knows what to do with. The plot was hard to follow at times, but the writing is so solid and the characters so alive that I was able to keep myself entertained until I was able to put things together again. At the most, I would only be lost for a page or two… Concerning the “Noir” or “hard-boiled” elements…well, I feel those stem mostly from Marlowe’s character here. As I said, Marlowe always seems to have an air of “danger” about him…we never actually find out what it is (at least not in this book) but it always seems to be hanging over him. That plus the story having a dark, moody tone all the way through make this one of the quintessential “noir” thrillers. The movie The Big Sleep makes the book seem uncomplicated in comparison. Trying to condense a very convoluted plot into a two hour film must have been nearly impossible and with the way the movie flows (or doesn’t flow), it’s easy to see director Howard Hawks had trouble as well. Not one of my favorite films but one of my most enjoyable and FUN reading experiences of late….

(less)

like 1 like · see review

Aug 02, 2007 Steve Miyamoto rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-timefavorites

The greatest and archetypal noir detective thriller. The plot is secondary to his attempt at characterizing a man who is struggling to be in the world but not of the world.

The plot is famously confusing and it's almost irrelevant who the wrongdoers really are. Some critics have taken this as laziness or a lack of technical skill. While this is a story that fuses some of his previously used plots from his short stories, Chandler had previously laid out what he is attempting to do in his classic...more

like 3 likes · see review

Oct 12, 2009 Leota rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well, I have a crush on the main character. That's a fact. That almost got me up to 5 stars. But, if I'm going to be totally honest, the plot was a bit convoluted for me. This was my first Chandler detective story, and I never got my ah-ha! moment, mainly (I think) because I was so busy trying to keep all the characters straight. That being said, Chandler is a master with language and quick, razor sharp descriptions (that are often funny as well), which I loved.

like 6 likes · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Book Discussion	18	97	May 14, 2013 07:01pm
Indian Bookworms: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler- May Monthly Crime Fiction Challenge	18	21	May 12, 2013 10:38pm
Pulp Fiction: January 2012 - The Big Sleep	34	101	May 03, 2013 10:12pm
Critical Lit: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler SPOILERS	1	9	Apr 03, 2013 09:30pm
Critical Lit: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler S-FREE	1	6	Apr 03, 2013 09:30pm
Bright Young Things: October 2012 - The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler	49	33	Feb 27, 2013 08:10am

combine
Other Editions (19)

More editions...

Videos About This Book

1 comment

Genres

Mystery

958 users

Mystery > Crime

435 users

Classics

321 users

Mystery > Noir

283 users

Mystery > Detective

124 users

Novels

75 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

68 users

Literature

67 users

Literature > American

59 users

Thriller

57 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

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

More about Raymond Chandler...

Books by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe, #2)

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

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Big Sleep

12 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Big Sleep

“Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.” — 116 people liked it

“I don't mind your showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintace. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter nights.” — 78 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Big Sleep
avg rating	preview: The Big Sleep Goodreads rating: 4.08 (38628 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2052.The_Big_Sleep?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327876070l/2052.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2052.The_Big_Sleep?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler[/url]

The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website