The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 13, 2010 Suvi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900-1939, novels, cities_los-angeles, _north-america, crime-mystery, _book-shelf

"What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? - - You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now."

Endless rain, the oppressive smell of orchids, shadows on the walls, cigarette smoke, orange groves, oil fields, guns, and beautiful women fluttering their eyelas ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, hard-boiled, detective-mystery, classic, 1001-books, noir

Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.

This was really great, and so well-written, filled with hard boiled metaphors and slang so picturesque that I wondered if Chandler was inventing some of it himself.

Marlowe is hired for a fairly innocuous task, which is (accidentally) resolved quickly, but leads to a string of murders building one on another like the house that Jack built. But Marlowe never backs down, he laughs in the face of danger (literally).

Chandler doesn't care for orchids:

The

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Dec 25, 2015 Ryan rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016, fiction, classics

...no seriously, who hid my bourbon?

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Jun 18, 2010 Jen rated it really liked it

Shelves: crazy-families, murders-mysteries-thrills, fiction, california, rich-folk

Plot is pretty convoluted, but fantastic characters, dialogue, pacing, and prose style.

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Oct 26, 2007 Pam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: california, crime-fiction

Read this one again, after may a 30-yr interval, so maybe it could be considered a "new" read. Some of the verbiage is dated and not quite so politically correct but it was written in 1939 so take that into consideration. The story/plot is terrific! I read this w/ a group (4MA) and came to some "new-to-me" insights. Marlowe as the Knight -- the codee of ethics he upholds. There are several references (opening w/ the knight in stained glass & knights on the chess board in his room) that would hav ...more

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Sep 17, 2007 Doina rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

if anyone has seen the movie based on this book, it is very easy to see that bogart and bacall were the only reason that the movie was even remotely interesting. the book is so much better. i highly recommend it to anyone interested in that time period, and who enjoys good detective stories.

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