The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
1953
e-book/ Black Lizard Vintage Books
53 chapters
Summary (from inside book): Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
My review: First I have to tell you that Raymond Chandler was on of the reasons I wanted to be a writer. Does this mean that I think everything he wrote was gold? No, but this book is. Raymond Chandler is on the founding fathers of the noir genre. His writing is fluid and yet retains a certain grit to it. There are passages where you can see his writing ability in full bloom (ther's a passage where he describes the different types of blondes). His characters will seem to have a bit of the caricature to them but they still allow us to believe in their realness. Philip Marlowe is a man who is tough but compassionate, as familar with literature as he is with gangsters. And in him Chandler has made a hero who is both everyman and larger than life.
The story combines that of Terry Lennox and his fate with Roger Wade and his fate. It is something that Marlowe takes personal. And it will allow Chandler to take through a world of the rich and poor, through betrayal, murder, and various twists and bring us to an ending that will make us feel for Marlowe. I think this book should definitely be on the 1001 books to read before you die list. And even if it wasn't I would still give it a 5 out of 5.