I must admit that I am generally not an aficianado of fiction, but a friend recommended that I read Chandler because being originally from Southern California, I could relate to the locales that he describes, and I am a fan of "The Rockford Files" television series whose protagonist and style of writing were strongly influenced by Chandler (although Jim Rockford is different that Philip Marlowe in some ways, not being as tough or as quick to resort to his fists in the event of receiving some insult.).
Chandler came from an era in which a man's character was considered important and Marlowe is always looking for character. Chandler himself saw the horrors of World War I so we must understand this in seeing why Marlowe puts himself out for Terry Lennox (a World War II commando), a man he barely knows, which I frankly think is inexplicable to someone raised in our post-Modern era. I looked up Chandler in the Encylopedia
Britannica and they stated there that opinions are divided on whether this particular novel is one of his best or not, because many critics find that Marlowe's passivity and seeming disinterest in the monetary aspects of his work are not realistic for a private investigator, but as other reviewers have pointed out, that is not the main part of the story. I would not classify this work as a "page turner" because the plot is not the most engrossing part of the story and is actually somewhat confusing. It is Marlowe's (and Chandler's) observations and descriptions of the "Sun-Baked Sodom" of Southern California (many of whose locales I am familiar with) and its denizens that make the book interesting, in addition to his barbs and humor. A good example is Marlowe replaying a famous chess-match from a book which he describes as "a bloodless battle and the biggest waste of human intelligence since the invention of the advertising agency". Chandler's jaundiced view of the society around him: television (which by the time the book was written in 1953 had become a major pastime for most people), advertising, novelists, the police, the media, the wealthy, the politicians and other "movers and shakers" still holds more than a half-century later and speak strongly to me (although we can be grateful to the "Warren Court" of the 1960's for curbing a lot of the violence and abuses of the police) telling me that Chandler is an astute observer of the human condition and the society around him. But not only this, we see that he is an honest critic of himself, as portrayed in the alcoholic pulp fiction writer Roger Wade character. This encourages me to read more of his books, which I can't wait to do, even though as I said, I am not a big fan of fiction.

"The Long Goodbye" is the kind of book that can set you on a new path. The prose is good enough to make you jerk back your head and stop and wonder but that isn't it. It's that Philip Marlowe - the private dick, the lone wolf, the narrator - is so serious about life that it's heroic. This seems at odds with his wise-cracking persona, but he never just cracks wise. As Chandler writes in a letter, Marlowe's witty attacks are "jerked out of him emotionally." Where the corrupted see a blur of status symbols, masks, and habits, Marlowe sees souls, souls, souls - some good, some rotten, and the enigma of his own. His honesty is the kind that makes your draw drop, that makes you realize that truth is audacity (and humor) and never plain journalism. Good art colonizes new space for this kind of truth, and you'll really learn something if you can rise to meet it. No wonder it's so devastating that Marlowe is sad.

I have about 3 Chandler books to go, and this is the best so far. I'm told it's the best of all. But start with "The Big Sleep," and if you, like me, set off to read them all, I recommend reading Chandler's letters along the way. They're so good it's almost discouraging.

Private eye Philip Marlowe is asked for help to get to Mexico by Terry Lennox. Marlowe likes Lennox and agrees to help him, but later Lennox commits suicide in the small Mexican town of Otatoclan. But why was Lennox driven to such extremes?

Later on, Marlowe is asked for his assistance in keeping the alcoholic writer Roger Wade on the staight-and-narrow. This is not really Marlowe's line of work, but he becomes entangled in the case especially as connections with Lennox begin slowly to emerge.

This is a longer, more ambitious novel by Chandler albeit displaying the same cynical, tough edge as the other Marlowe novels I've read. The greater length allows Chandler more space for character development and reflection. The danger of this is that the novel could have felt over-extended, but for me it didn't. The ending did not come as a total surprise, but as with every other Chandler novel I've read, enjoyment of the journey rather than satisfaction at the quality of the destination is the important thing.

G Rodgers

Raymond Chandler is a great and unique American writer. "The Long Goodbye" is his finest work. He is most brilliant in his wonderful use of creative metaphor. Just singular! This book hooks you within the first few pages, then takes you on a winding, devious path through a mysterious episode in private eye Phillip Marlowe's life. Just when you think the story is ending, and you've figured it out, the author takes another twist, and off you go again, toward another dramatic, fascinating turn of the story.

Reading this book is like watching a fine old movie. Part great entertainment and part time machine!

Terry Lennox started out as a puzzle. Marlowe solves puzzles. It's what he does for a living, maybe even a compulsion. Over the next few weeks, more pieces appeared in the puzzle, then disappeared. The next to appear was his on-and-off wife, but then she was taken out of the scene, brutally murdered. Then the first piece, Terry disappeared into Mexico, then into a police report labeled "suicide." Police appeared and disappeared, the wife's wealthy father appeared and disappeared for a moment then vanished again, a writer and his wife - well, lots more, too.

And somehow, a stench hangs over everything. Not just the usual smog, or the misma of cigarettes and alcohol, but everyone he meets. Dirty cops, doctors handing out Demerol and downers, drunks, and all the rest. Marlowe is no angel, but it doesn't take much to outclass even the "classiest" of Hollywood's stars.

This is noir at its best. It's dirty, it's violent, and its morality has a very strange look to it. It also opens a window into the post-WWII era, when all the old rules were being broken, and the new ones weren't too certain. Philip Marlowe is truly an American classic.

//wiredweird