nicanical
Playback is tied with Farewell, My Lovely for my favorite Raymond Chandler novel.
Playback has been panned as the his weakest, with the simplest plot and fewest challenges for Marlowe. But I think Playback deals in highly distilled examples of Chandler's style, featuring some of the most memorable scenes of the series. Like when Marlowe parrots Mitchell to Betty about spotting him a few dollars until his "check comes in." Imagining Betty slack-jawed at that gets me every time. Or when Marlowe stakes out the iconic Super Chief. Or Marlowe working the cabbies to tail Betty. Or dinner with hick dick Gobel (and the waiter's reactions). Or Betty's clumsy attempts to buy Marlowe with dreams of Rio.
Playback closely follows The Long Good-bye (taking place roughly one year after the latter) and in this context, I see Playback's simple plot and softball obstacles as Chandler communing with Marlowe and giving him some reprieve from the events of The Long Good-bye.
Chandler would pass away the year after Playback was published so this is about as close to a happy ever after Marlowe will get.
Playback is tied with Farewell, My Lovely for my favorite Raymond Chandler novel.
Playback has been panned as the his weakest, with the simplest plot and fewest challenges for Marlowe. But I think Playback deals in highly distilled examples of Chandler's style, featuring some of the most memorable scenes of the series. Like when Marlowe parrots Mitchell to Betty about spotting him a few dollars until his "check comes in." Imagining Betty slack-jawed at that gets me every time. Or when Marlowe stakes out the iconic Super Chief. Or Marlowe working the cabbies to tail Betty. Or dinner with hick dick Gobel (and the waiter's reactions). Or Betty's clumsy attempts to buy Marlowe with dreams of Rio.
Playback closely follows The Long Good-bye (taking place roughly one year after the latter) and in this context, I see Playback's simple plot and softball obstacles as Chandler communing with Marlowe and giving him some reprieve from the events of The Long Good-bye.
Chandler would pass away the year after Playback was published so this is about as close to a happy ever after Marlowe will get.