nicanical
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep is a cornerstone of the hardboiled school, and the quintessential Philip Marlowe novel.
The story starts simply: frail fossil General Sternwood hires Marlowe to deal with a pornographer blackmailing daughter Carmen; older daughter Vivian thinks Marlowe's on the trail of her missing bootlegger husband, Rusty Regan. From there, the story quickly tangles upon itself, hitting memorable notes as it saunters along: stylish, polished scenes; repartees and wisecracks; whisky, cigarettes, heads sapped and gritted teeth. All in Chandler's wonderfully-styled prose.
While I like Chandler's later novels better—Farewell My Lovely, The Lady in the Lake, Playback are more cohesive in all facets of their composition—The Big Sleep will always have my favorite Chandlerism: Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep is a cornerstone of the hardboiled school, and the quintessential Philip Marlowe novel.
The story starts simply: frail fossil General Sternwood hires Marlowe to deal with a pornographer blackmailing daughter Carmen; older daughter Vivian thinks Marlowe's on the trail of her missing bootlegger husband, Rusty Regan. From there, the story quickly tangles upon itself, hitting memorable notes as it saunters along: stylish, polished scenes; repartees and wisecracks; whisky, cigarettes, heads sapped and gritted teeth. All in Chandler's wonderfully-styled prose.
While I like Chandler's later novels better—Farewell My Lovely, The Lady in the Lake, Playback are more cohesive in all facets of their composition—The Big Sleep will always have my favorite Chandlerism: Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.