false 2054 41 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. 998106 1953 The Long Goodbye (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) total:2923|5:1226|4:1156|3:482|2:50|1:9| 2923 12309 3991 269 5 4 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 13:42:09 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 15:07:19 -0700 2008
So are you familiar already with the "One Book One Chicago" (OBOC) program? We'...more...]]> 5 5 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1973 Thu Sep 13 19:29:14 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 04:08:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 3 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 03 08:45:10 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 18 11:24:19 -0700 2007 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 romanti...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Jun 07 03:07:41 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 15 20:55:38 -0700 2007
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 r...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1987 Sat Jan 10 03:49:30 -0800 2009 Sun May 31 07:13:50 -0700 2009 2 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1994 Wed Jul 25 06:53:31 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 25 06:57:55 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Oct 23 21:38:35 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 09 08:12:53 -0800 2008 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 w...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Aug 03 08:30:44 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 08:04:59 -0700 2007
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...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1989 Sun May 18 19:15:25 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 19:23:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jun 05 18:54:01 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 18:59:41 -0700 2007 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 l...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 11:18:32 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 11:24:13 -0800 2008 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...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Sep 30 10:45:13 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 12:08:55 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 21:25:08 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 21:26:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 23:30:30 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 23:12:26 -0700 2009
First of all, I thought I had the plot all figured out, but then Chandler fooled me - o...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 21:03:13 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 21:42:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Fri Jul 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 18:37:06 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 16:18:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 4 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 11:31:40 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 12:14:20 -0700 2009
This line, near the end, made me laugh in my chair, and threw into focus Chandler's mastery (as if there were any question). It's the lightest moment in the book, like a quick gulp above the turbid waters of filthy wealth, p...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 12:31:55 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 07:30:56 -0700 2009 i re-read this after a number of yeras and it still sizzles . the dialogue and cynicism are still whip sharp . down these mean streets marlowe still wearily upholds his warped self styled integrity in a ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 12:19:56 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 12:25:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 28 10:45:24 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 10:52:53 -0700 2009 more...]]>