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Jan 14, 2011

Madeline rated it:

Honestly? I think the awesomeness of Nick and Nora Charles got built up a little too much for me before I read this, because I was expecting 200 pages of nonstop witty banter between the two, and was mildly disappointed. Sure, Nick is funny in a dry sarcastic way, and Nora is the sassy drunken aunt you never knew you always wanted, but their banter and witticisms only caused the occasional chuckle.

But lucky for me, the book has a lot more going for it than just the banter. It's a fun More...

7 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2011

Sandybanks rated it:

What I learned from this book (in no particular order):

1. A speakeasy is the proper place for a man to wait for his wife to finish her shopping.

2. A Schnauzer is NOT a cross between a Scottie and an Irish terrier.

3. “I hit Nora with my left hand, knocking her down across the room.” If a bad guy points a gun at you and your wife, the standard operating procedure is to knock her out to prevent her from becoming hysterical over such a potentially distressing situ More...

11 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 28, 2008

Nicholas rated it:

I wasn't aware of this previously, but apparently you just gotta slap a dame when they get hysterical. The things you learn when you read hard-boiled fiction.

"The Thin Man" was read as an attempt to get into the mindset of noir, since a friend of mine is asking me to write him a script in the style. It's one of my first encounters with crime fiction from that era, and I came away generally amused.

Nick Charles is on vacation with his wife Nora. He doesn't want to More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2007

Willis rated it:

My favorite Hammett book. Written with the same economical and sparse style of his other novels, the tone couldn't be more different. Nick & Nora Charles are fun characters who come off much more 3 dimensional - as opposed to archetypcal - than either Sam Spade or the Continental Op.

Plot is almost a secondary concern here which is rare for a mystery. Instead the almost constant drinking and flirting the two main characters engage in (with each other and whomever else is around) More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2007

Sarah rated it:

Somehow I never saw this movie or read this book during my six-month crime noir kick in ninth grade (though I did read Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key aroud that time). But, boy, I'm glad that I've read it now.

The Thin Man is the last novel Hammett completed (though he started or pretended to start a half-dozen others) and it has the feel of being a parady of his other novellas and the 1930s crime genre in general. It is fabulously funny - as in, I couldn't go two pag More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Kim rated it:

This is the first Hammett novel I've read. I don't know why I haven't made the effort to read such an iconic writer before, particularly as I am a long-time crime fiction reader and a fan of "classic" mysteries. It may be my first Hammett, but I'm pretty sure it won't be my last.

I've just finished re-reading all of the novels of Dorothy L Sayers, who is without doubt my favourite writer of "Golden Age" mysteries. It was interesting to compare The Thin Man with Say More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2011

Mahlon rated it:

Dashiell Hammett has been called a master of the genre, I'm not sure about that. What I do know is that The Thin Man was short, entertaining, and kept me reading (and guessing) until the very end.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2010

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

Okay...if you're into "hard-boiled" detective fiction or mystery fiction I'm sure you'd rate this book higher. Maybe for me it would even be a 3.5 if I could go there.

The dialogue held me here, the by play and banter between Nick, Nora, and then the entire cast of characters. It was well written and well characterized. I suppose it was also well plotted only, I just don't seem to be a mystery fan. I had to keep dragging my interest back to the book. Maybe the fact that I lo More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2008

Chaz rated it:

Nick and Nora Charles are debonair couple who bring the reader through a maze of speakeasies, dark alleyways and meetings with well chiseled characters. I have been recently on a Hammett kick and the last two novels I felt like I had a good idea how the crimes were committed and who they were committed by -- this one I was lost kind of like that 'haze' in a dream. I couldn't quite pinpoint where things were going or why... and let the story and the author tell me for once and I gave up guessi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2008

Alison rated it:

"I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me. She was small and blonde, and whether you looked at her face or at her body in powder-blue sports clothes, the result was satisfactory. "Aren't you Nick Charles?" she asked."

The Thin Man by Dashielle Hammett was the only book containing t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Nora rated it:

I have been on a bit of a noir/ crime kick lately... Perhaps it's a longing to be a femme fatale, or maybe I just covet their clothes and the furniture? Maybe both. Anyhow, this is where my kick led me, to Hammett, bien sur, and soon, Chandler. The dialogue is fantastic, the pace is perfect, and the MOVIE! Such fun, I was practically foaming for a martini while watching it, much like my experience with Mad Men episodes and my strong urge for the drink. I only wish themes from The Thin Man we More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Vicki rated it:

This was a big disappointment after having read The Maltese Falcon, in all its stark, atmospheric glory. If this is all Hammett had left to give in his later writing life, it's probably for the best that he gave it up. The main characters are so shallow and have such drunken and meaningless lives, I kept wanting to slap them upside the heads. But next to the completely dysfunctional family of the title character, they come off like Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa.

On the plus More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2011

Kirk rated it:

If I weren't the mean teacher I am I'd cut Hammett slack and round up to four stars because this---the last of his novels---is a solid 3-1/2. And that's only because it pales in comparison to every one of his other novels except THE DAIN CURSE, which is the true 3-star.

The main knock on THIN is that Hammett was pretty much bored with fiction by this point in his career, having lost his bearings to booze, broads, and just about any other indulgence that began with a B except Billy Ba More...

4 comments like (12 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This book didn’t get a fair chance with me, I’ll be honest. I love the movie version of this book so much that it’d be nearly impossible for it to match up. In defense of the book, however, there are scenes and dialogue taken directly from the book and put into the movie. Nick’s spirit is captured wonderfully on the screen, although the book makes him out to be a little harder of a character than the movie. Nick, Nora, Mimi, and Guild are pretty much the only characters exactly realized from the More...

0 comments like

Aug 20, 2011

Margaret added it

Reading this book made me want to see the old movies with Myrna Loy and ?? (can't remember the leading man) ... it's written in a 1930's film noir first person style - for example:
"She asked me if I was asleep. I said that I was."

I think I was more taken with the time-period of the story than the actual mystery itself (which turned out to be a little complicated in the end). It must have been written just after prohibition because everyone constantly drinks (Nick & Nora More...

0 comments like

Apr 10, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

I thought I was through with sleuthing until this number walked into the bar. My good friend Chuckles warned me about Hammett. Thought he was doing me a favor after I turned him on to a tall blond named Cookie who as looking for an easy buck. Turns out I was wrong about Cookie, but Chucky was right about Hammett. From the first line to the last, I was hooked like a lazy hooker to bourbon and slots. While it may not be the type of noir I usually use to cut the phlegm in the morning, it did the tr More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2011

Cori rated it:

Ah, Nick and Nora. I absolutely love the relationship between these two — the witty banter, the backward compliments, the fact that she’s just as smart and capable as him. It’s all so delightful to read. Hammett is a master of dialogue and setting. His writing is somehow tight and loose at the same time. I love it.

Yet good lord — there is a LOT of alcohol in this book. Nick and Nora are pouring drinks at all hours of the day. They attend parties and drink alone. I think even the dog More...

0 comments like

Oct 16, 2010

Ian rated it:

If you've ever wondered what it might have been like if F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald solved murders in their spare time -- rather than having scorching, bitter, booze-fueled arguments -- it's worth taking a look at this novel.

I genuinely enjoyed this. Quite a bit more than I enjoyed The Maltese Falcon.

Although this is told in 1st rather than 3rd person, Hammett employs the same objective style here, so we never get inside Nick Charles's head. But where that approach se More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2010

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE rated it:

Hammett is probably still my favorite mystery writer. Somewhere along the line I probably had the misunderstanding that this was only a series of movies & wasn't in bk form. How foolish of me. It's Hammett, it's great. Even having seen the movie, probably at least twice, didn't quite ruin it for me. Do have to say, though, that William Powell as Nick Charles & Myrna Loy as Nora Charles is as perfect a casting as I've ever witnessed. If there're any Hammett buffs out there who have 'suffere More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2010

Victoria rated it:

One of the greatest mysteries of all time, it's neither the genre nor the plot nor the characters---it's the wonderful, fluid, witty language that makes this book more than a mystery, more than a movie tie-in, more than the vehicle that saved William Powell's and Myrna Loy's careers. It's a literary landmark.

Every aspiring writer should read this novel to learn clarity and economy of language, scenic details in place of exposition, and that wonderful cross-purposes dialog for which N More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2010

Ben rated it:

The Thin Man is the original Taoist detective story. The yin and yang - embodied in the husband and wife teamwork of Nick and Nora Charles - saves the day by doing absolutely nothing. This ranks as the most creative, humorous, and in some ways tragic detective story I've ever read. The creativity and humor are both part of the package. The tragedy is that Hammett's life takes a dark turn after The Thin Man, his last novel. He becomes increasingly involved with the Communist Party, a decisio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 02, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

Good: meatier than the movie, with a more complex plot, and sometimes fairly gritty and ugly. Nick and Nora's relationship is actually more enjoyable in the book, although Nick and Nora Charles will always be William Powell and Myrna Loy to me, eternally wisecracking with drinks in hand. The originals are not quite as hilarious, but they are funny and loving--everything they should be.

I was surprised and pleased by the lack of condescension towards Nora in the book; the first and sec More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 03, 2010

Dxmaniac69 rated it:

Instead of just reviewing the book, I'm going to do something I haven't seen on the internet yet and that is compare the book to the movie. Look at me, I'm an innovator.

The Thin Man is a film classic. It's quite funny, and stands up pretty well. However, as an adaptation it pretty far off. While there were parts of the novel I found amusing, it really isn't a comedy. The characters of the novel aren't played for laughs, and the undertones are much darker.

For me Nic More...

2 comments like

Apr 10, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I couldn't help loving this book. I think - no, I know - a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was seeing and hearing William Powell as Nick Charles and Myrna Loy as Nora Charles in my head. What can I say? I saw and loved the movies long before I even knew that they were based on this one book, and it was too much effort to try to distinguish between Hammett's Charles' and Hollywood's Charles'.

This definitely was an easy read, mostly because of Hammett's conversational writing More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2011

Donna rated it:

"This excitement has put us behind in our drinking."

Nick Charles had been a private detective, but he put that behind him after marrying his wealthy wife, Nora. That doesn’t stop him from being drawn in to a murder investigation targeting one of his old clients, an inventor who is suspected of killing his pretty young assistant. Nick and Nora gather information about the case while attending parties and flirting their way across New York, and some of the secrets they uncove More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Platoeatssouls rated it:

"Why don't you stay sober today?"
"We didn't come to New York to stay sober."
(p. 153)

A great book, full of smooth-talking guys and dangerous dames. Nick and Nora Charles, a rich socialite and her ex-detective husband, get sucked into investigating the murder of an old client of Nick's. If Nora wasn't all that I'd hoped, if there are a lot of women who get hysterical and have to go lie down - well, the book was written in 1933, a little early for modern id More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Brittney rated it:

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett is a noir style murder mystery taking place soon after Prohibition in New York City. The book starts out with Nick in a bar, meeting Dorothy (the daughter of an old client). With that meeting Nick is reluctantly dragged into the mess that is the Wynant Family. Clyde Wynant hasn't been seen for a couple monthes, which isn't unusual for the eccentric inventor, but becomes a problem when his mistress ends up dead and he is accused of the murder. This book takes you More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Lori rated it:

I think the only nice female character Hammett ever wrote is Nora Charles. Admittedly, I haven't read all of his books, but Hammett's females are rarely nice people.

I have decided that Mimi is a sociopath who never grew up. She's the type who takes her frustrations and angers out on her children (despite having read this book before and realizing that this is a time period when parents had more power over their children, even 20 year olds [in what would now be considered abusive w More...

0 comments like

Feb 07, 2011

David rated it:

I always enjoyed the early Thin Man Movies and coming off reading The Maltese Falcon I went straight into Hammett's The Thin Man. So far I quite like it but in print the constant drinking is a little less charming than in the movie.

Finished.
A pleasant read and for good and bad it shows it came from a different era. Even if it almost seems Hammett is making a parody of himself. For a while I thought the plot didn't make much sense but sly old Nick tied all the threads together a More...

0 comments like

Feb 15, 2010

Brendan rated it:

I usually suggest books to my mystery book club that make them grumble. I've asked them to read City of Glass and Gun with Occasional Music and Storm Front, none of them a conventional mystery. This time around, I picked The Thin Man, which a few people in the group had read, but many had not. I liked the idea of mixing in classics with these newfangled weird mysteries. Plus, I wanted an excuse to read it myself. Some thoughts (spoilers ahead!):

* The movie (one of my favorites) i More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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