From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)

Raymond Chandler

Start date: March 1, 2019

Finish date: March 31, 2019

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What Members Thought

Apr 18, 2017 Petre rated it really liked it

Clear and direct narration with lots of carpets contrasting the moral superiority of Philip Marlowe

16 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2019 Sean rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-fiction, one-drive-read, crime-fiction-american

Five stars, one of my all time favourite crime novels.

A book about the seedy side of life - murder, blackmail, crooked cops, drug addicts, double-crossers and pornographers. A notoriously complicated plot that not even the author could fully explain, for example who killed the chauffeur? The protagonist Philip Marlowe is one of the most famous private detectives in crime fiction.

So many great descriptions in this novel, for example -
"The boy stood glaring at him with sharp black eyes in a face ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-books, mysteries-thrillers, suspense, classics, read-in-2019

Raymond Chandler created a genre! What more needs to be said? This man is responsible not just for a great character, but really an entire shift in the detective novel. Now I must find a copy of the Bogey & Bacall movie.

9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2008 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, roman-noir, suspense-thriller, california

PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away...

5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 30, 2017 Tom Britz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This is my first experience of reading Raymond Chandler and I immediately have become a fan. His way of turning a phrase is both entertaining and still be able to convey the meaning of what he wants you to get, sometimes even at more than one level of experience. All while telling a damn fine mystery.
Philip Marlowe is called to the Sternwood mansion for what at first looked to be a simple case of blackmail. General Sternwood looks to be death warmed up just enough to be breathing. He apparently ...more

1 like · Like · see review