The Long Goodbye
#39 in my 2007 book challenge was Raymond Chandler’s Long Goodbye. I’ve meant to read Chandler for a long time, and it’s the kind of book that slaps me upside the head as I read it for taking my time to get to it.
What is there to say about private detective Philip Marlowe that hasn’t been said before? He’s ethical, lonely, jaded, and yet a romantic. He doggedly pursues a friend’s case even after gangsters and a billionaire warn him to stop. He tries to help a Hemingway-esque writer (whose novels sound more like Michener’s) stay away from the bottle. In each case, he’s a man on a mission, and Chandler’s cutting prose paints him in shades of noir:
I drove back to Hollywood feeling like a short length of chewed string. It was too early to eat and too hot. I turned on the fan in my office. It didn’t make the air any cooler, just a little more lively. Outside on the boulevard the traffic brawled endlessly. Inside my head thought stuck together like flies on flypaper.
The “b” in “brawled” could be a typo; I found a few in my upscale Vintage Crime trade paperback. I find that irritating in a $13.95 edition. Nonetheless, this is a great story and one I’ve taken too long to get to. I look forward to re-watching the Altman film, and reading more of Chandler and Marlowe.
September 13th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I haven’t read Chandler in such a long time. Thanks for a nice reminder of how much I enjoyed these books.