The Long Goodbye (1954) was Raymond Chandler's last novel before he sunk into a downward spiral of personal tragedy, alcoholism and psychiatric hospitalization until his death in 1959. I know. That's cheerful. But now that's out of the way, we can hit the really good news: this book clocks in at under 400 pages!
I hope everyone's as ready as I am to enjoy some sunny Los Angeles instead of this drizzly half-spring.
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5 comments:
Murder and nymphomania. I can tell this one's going to be a classic! :)
Oh, yeah. Just another day at work for me.
That's actually true for both the day job and the writing gig. I was such a nice young lady--where did my parents go wrong?
If I recall correctly, suzanne, I have only met you once, and that was at a Christmas party with a white elephant exchange, to which you brought a box of bullets. And went home with a body bag. Is that right?
Book fits, I guess.
Okay. I read it. And I'm not sure what to say.
This is definitely not the type of book that I would usually read. I had no idea that film noir came in paperback. And the unfortunate thing is whenever I think of film noir, I think of film noir spoofs. Anyone seen the recent rash of Flonase commercials? Anyway, so I found Marlowe humerous when he wasn't trying to be. I laughed all over this poor book, and I know the laughter was inappropriate. But--really, why did he have to try to pick a fight with everybody he came across? It's so silly. He had a serious chip on his shoulder. And all the girls were...er, "loose." Even the ones who weren't that way ended up being that way. Very, very silly. And the jargon? When I could understand it, that was fine, otherwise it, too, seemed silly to me. And excuse the third-grade humor, but calling an average joe a "dick" was a little too much for me.
I am very sorry. I think my opinion is void, 'cause I'm just not the right...er...audience? for this book? Chandler was NOT writing for the likes of me, that's for sure.
He does have nice prose, doesn't he? *sigh* I'd give my right earlobe to be able to come up with a few of the more original descriptions...
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