The Maltese Falcon in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 20, 2016 Stil de scriitor rated it really liked it

Tema cărții este reprezentată de spionaj, fapt ce are la bază găsirea unei statuete îmbrăcată în aur, un șoim căutat de mai multe personaje. În ceea ce privește titlul cărții, acesta oferă suficiente informații despre mărul discordiei prezentat în roman care este, cum am mai spus, un șoim maltez din aur extrem de râvnit.

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May 01, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: oh-unlikeable-you, hard-boiled, detective-mystery, mystery, dick-lit, classic, 1001-books, noir

I didn't really love this, I found it tedious, and Sam Spade is an ass, even to his friends. I assume that must be part of his appeal, but it doesn't appeal to me. I can't help comparing this to Chandler's The Big Sleep, which I read recently. Chandler's book dazzled me. I'm clearly a Chandler gal, not a Hammett gal!

Hammet's style makes me irritable and restless. This is wordy, heavy on the descriptive. I don't care exactly what everyone looks like and what they're wearing. Every time Spade rol I didn't really love this, I found it tedious, and Sam Spade is an ass, even to his friends. I assume that must be part of his appeal, but it doesn't appeal to me. I can't help comparing this to Chandler's The Big Sleep, which I read recently. Chandler's book dazzled me. I'm clearly a Chandler gal, not a Hammett gal!

Hammet's style makes me irritable and restless. This is wordy, heavy on the descriptive. I don't care exactly what everyone looks like and what they're wearing. Every time Spade rolls a cigarette or drinks a whiskey or brandy or coffee, we read about it. In detail. My god I Do Not Care! What does it matter how many cups of coffee everyone drinks? I feel like I'm reading a movie script.

Things I had to look up:
chypre - a non-alcoholic perfume made from sandalwood with citrus top notes and mossy, woodsy undertone
Levantine - Syrian? I was unsure if there was a double meaning here that I missed.
Baumes rush - Senator Caleb H. Baumes sponsored a New York law (the Baumes Law) which called for automatic life imprisonment of any criminal convicted more than three times. Some criminals would move to a state that didn’t have this law in order to avoid its penalty should they be caught again, and this was known as a “Baumes rush,” because of the similarity to “bum’s rush.”
Romeville - I looked this up and it is thieves' slang for London, but the context of Spade's comment makes it seem like he means NYC.
Gunsel - from Yiddish gendzl (gosling), a boy kept for homosexual purposes. Per William Safire: "misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (which survived in a popular 1941 film adaptation). The novel was originally serialized in a magazine, Black Mask, whose editor refused to allow vulgarities. Hammett used the word gunsel knowing that the editor would likely misunderstand it as relating to gun, and therefore allow it." (Thus, gunsel is sometimes used now to mean "criminal carrying a gun.")
Gooseberry lay - tramp slang for stealing laundry from clotheslines
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Apr 06, 2015 Ryan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, 2015, kindle-kobo-ipad

Funny story...

This little piece of pulp fiction is just "pretty good" - which is to say that it's nothing to really put on the top of the 'to-read' pile. However, I decided to make it my literary companion for my trip to San Francisco, the city where the story is set. That gave the experience of reading it a little extra kick. Catching mentions of streets and neighbourhoods I was wandering around...sometimes even coming across those passages while I was sitting in said neighbourhoods. It brought ...more

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Oct 23, 2007 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fiction, murders-mysteries-thrills, california

I read this for a continuing ed class I took on the detective fiction genre. The book is absolutely perfect. Of course I heard Bogart's voice in my head the whole time, but that's better than hearing, say, Bobcat Goldthwait's voice. ...more

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May 22, 2020 Pam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, crime-fiction, 2020-books-read, california

AUTHOR Hammett, Dashiell
TITLE The Maltese Falcon
DATE READ 05/19/20
RATING 4.5/B+
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF Crime Fiction/1930/hoopla audio / 7 hr 8 min
SERIES/STAND-ALONE SA
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal 96/120;
GROUP READ Good Reads Mys/Susp
TIME/PLACE late 1920's / San Francisco CA
CHARACTERS Sam Spade detective
COMMENTS Classic Noir -- with the iconic Sam Spade.
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