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

Oct 22, 2023 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it it was amazing

Shelves: must-read, mystery, fiction

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to look into the gambling debts of his daughter Carmen, and he ends up getting pulled deeper and deeper into the life of the Sternwood family.

I listened to this as an audiobook on a long trip I took last week, and what a delight it was. The characters. The setting. The lingo. Pure delight.

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Mar 17, 2018 Steve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-mystery-noir

Vivian « Well, you do get up »

Wrinkling her nose at the faded red settee, the two odd semi-easy chairs, the net curtains that needed laundering and the boy’s size library table with the venerable magazines on it to give the place a professional touch.

Vivian « I was beginning to think perhaps you worked in bed, like Marcel Proust. »

Marlowe « Who’s he ? »

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Nov 18, 2017 marianne rated it really liked it

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed The Big Sleep. Published in 1939, it was Raymond Chandler’s first novel (at the ripe age of 51) and it later became a hit motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart as main character Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Regan.

Marlowe is an outstanding, well-thought-out character and a truly excellent first person narrator. He’s a tough, loner gumshoe who smokes and drinks, has a talent for reading people, speaks his mind bluntly, can tell a white lie easil I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed The Big Sleep. Published in 1939, it was Raymond Chandler’s first novel (at the ripe age of 51) and it later became a hit motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart as main character Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Regan.

Marlowe is an outstanding, well-thought-out character and a truly excellent first person narrator. He’s a tough, loner gumshoe who smokes and drinks, has a talent for reading people, speaks his mind bluntly, can tell a white lie easily and well, and has a penchant for sticking his nose into places he shouldn’t. At some point it dawned on me that he secretly loves to talk despite perpetually having to hold back with the people he interacts with, as any detective worth a lick must do. So it’s to us, the readers, that he reveals all, and with good detail. He excels at sarcastic, witty one-liners that he throws left and right, no matter if he is narrating or conversing. He’s also very generous in descriptions of details he picks up on ranging from the ashen hands of the old general he is speaking with to the slight scent of perfume hanging in the air of a room. That is not surprising for he is a detective after all, and details are the name of the game. I don’t know if Chandler realized what he was doing with Marlowe’s relationship to words and to his conflicting chatterbox need to tell a story and private-eye need to keep mum on the job, but I really admire him for it. It made me realize that despite his rough outer persona, Marlowe is a bit of a romantic and intellectual inside. He’s lonely on some level; he can’t trust anybody and yet eagerly tells his story to us. It’s genius. Chandler created a classic character.

All this to say that the language in The Big Sleep is highly entertaining. Coupled with Marlowe’s character, these two elements kept me engaged and amused the entire time.

As for the plot, it is complex and I did not follow it as carefully as I should have. The story begins when Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood, an old, wheelchair-bound veteran who lives in a mansion with his two adult and unruly daughters, Vivian and Carmen. Sternwood is being blackmailed, and Marlowe’s job is to figure out the details and presumably put an end to it. Of course, the plot thickens immediately. Without giving anything away, it has all of the elements that you might expect from a 1939 mystery thriller; a casino, beautiful and wild women, car crashes, cigarettes, murders, incessant rain, guns, gunshots, whiskey, coffee, disappearing acts, punches to the face, wads of cash, red lipstick, the LAPD, and, of course, the late 1930s slang to wrap it all up into a classic hardboiled detective story. And it’s truly a delight!
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Aug 03, 2021 Missyjohnson1 rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 03, 2011 jennifer rated it it was amazing

L.A. private detective Phil Marlowe is hired by a very wealthy and very sick old man to see who is trying to blackmail him. But Marlowe quickly figures out that the old man knew Marlowe would be led into a quagmire of rotten people all trying to get their hands on the same money.

This is my first Chandler and I loved it. The writing is excellent, very much along the lines of Dashiell Hammett, so if you liked The Maltese Falcon, you'll probably like Chandler. ...more

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Oct 02, 2017 Mike rated it it was ok

While the writing had some wonderful turns of a phrase, the story progressed with such improbable leaps of faith and logic that there was little credibility or character development to support where the author dragged us kicking and screaming.

I’d been looking forward since was a friend’s recommendation, but in the end I just wanted my time back.

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