The Maltese Falcon in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 16, 2009 Laura rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, 2014, crime-thriller-suspense, classics, download-library, lib-has-audio, hated

I love detective fiction. This was a horrible, horrible book. I can think of no redeeming qualities in it to recommend it to a single soul. Hmm....perhaps if you're suffering from insomnia, and find yourself awake at 3am, and you've already counted a couple of thousand sheep, and you're losing hope of ever seeing Mr. Sandman again? You might consider it.

Or, if you're a weak, ineffectual man who's never had a date in his life, and enjoys acting out his hopelessly unrealized fantasies in which he ...more

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Feb 06, 2016 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery-noir, fiction

Good stuff. I can't believe it's taken me this long to read The Maltese Falcon. I guess part of the problem was the movie. I've seen it a zillion times -- and I'm not necessarily a Falcon junkie. It's a great flick. Bogart and rest of the cast are terrific, and it's fairly faithful to the book. But with that kind of saturation, I found as I attempted to read it the past, that everything in the book seemed too familiar, and I would usually set it down 20 or 30 pages in. And then, just now, along Good stuff. I can't believe it's taken me this long to read The Maltese Falcon. I guess part of the problem was the movie. I've seen it a zillion times -- and I'm not necessarily a Falcon junkie. It's a great flick. Bogart and rest of the cast are terrific, and it's fairly faithful to the book. But with that kind of saturation, I found as I attempted to read it the past, that everything in the book seemed too familiar, and I would usually set it down 20 or 30 pages in. And then, just now, along came a dense Henry James novel. After several attempts to finish that beast, I finally gave up and picked The Maltese Falcon. Immediately, with Hammett's crisp, clear sentences, I felt myself being extricated from the Jamesian word swamp. (Yeah!) I also had the extra attraction of reading the "Black Mask" (The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Storiesversion of The Maltese Falcon, which is supposed to be (according to some GR reviewers) "meaner" than the later novel version.

I have no idea what those differences might be, but the version I read is (good news) different than the movie. Oh, the story is structurally the same, but there are intriguing differences that shade the story and add greater depth. For one, you never really know what Sam Spade is thinking. A lot of it is acting on his part, but on two occasions we're told that his hands are shaking! Not quite the cool customer that Bogie portrays. I love Bogie's version, but I also like how Hammett portray's Spade as a man caught in a chess match, who doesn't how many pieces he has to play with, and with distinct knowledge that the clock is running. Right from the start, when his partner Miles Archer is murdered, Spade knows he's in danger. He's been having an affair with Archer's wife, which is going to at some point make him a suspect. He doesn't know the Why of Archer's death, though he does have a link through the mysterious and overpaying client "Miss Wonderly."

What follows is familiar stuff, but the characters of Gutman (the "Fat Man"), Joel Cairo, Wilmer Cook (the gun man), and Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Miss Wonderly), in Hammett's hands seem to possess a greater history than what is suggested in the book. Definitely so in Cairo's case, as it turns out that he and Wilmer Cook (the "tiny fisted boy") are lovers. That certainly wouldn't have sailed in a 1941 film. But I was also left wondering if Cook is in fact Gutman's illegitimate son. Given the betrayals and various fates of certain characters in the book, that's a dark wrinkle (among others) that made this read worthwhile. Both book and movie are great, but they are different.
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Oct 22, 2008 Rachel N. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A good example of the noir type of mystery. Sam Spade definitely depicts the hard boiled detective of this era. Sam's partner is murdered and he becomes involved with a group of people searching for the elusive falcon. ...more

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