Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chandler is, quite simply, The Don, 17 May 2002
By A Customer
Having picked up by chance, and really enjoyed "The Big Sleep" I subsequently bought "The Last Goodbye" - and suffice to say it absolutely blew me away. Make absolutely no mistake about it, this is a superb book. It is as dense and complex as other comments on this page suggest. This was absolutely without question Chandlers finest hour - Marlowe was never more bitter, caustic and cynical than in this book, and Chandler finally reached his peak with his most brutal writing, which was as sparse and unadorned as you could possible wish for. He'd saved every plot twist and every scathing, bitter Marlowe put down for this, and the end result, which stinks of cigarette smoke and whiskey, is glorious. Frankly, this is the absolute epitome of "Noir" - ice cool, dangerous and moody, and Marlowe is the finest 'anti-hero' around. Every American crime writer to this day is still left flapping in comparison. Buy without hesitation!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard-boiled brilliance from the master of noir, 5 Dec 2001
By A Customer
As the last novel about the immortal PI Philip Marlowe, "The Long Good-bye" has a lot to live up to. It delivers superbly. The story, a complex web of high society scandal and dark secrets which leads to murder and suicide, is confidently handled and plotted to perfection. Marlowe begins by helping a young drunk out of a car but events soon begin to spiral out of control. As the novel progresses, Marlowe tries to act decently in a world that refuses to play fair. However, what raises this, and most of Chandler's work, above the pulp thriller genre, is the concise and relaxed brilliance of the style and the central character. Reading the novel is a joy: a sardonic smile or bitter laugh a constant companion. Every sentence is steeped in cool and dark humour; every page contains a witty aphorism or observation. The descriptions are economical and precise, but spiced with a spin of disappointed intelligence: more often than not Marlowe describes something as "not" like something else. This clever use of negative simile reflects the tone of the novel: dark and uncompromising about society with a pitch black sense of humour. One interesting fact is that Chandler's observations about society, and particularly American society, are as devastatingly accurate as ever. The message is clear: corruption, whether personal, social or political, is timeless. The character of Marlowe is similarly timeless: his dry wit and bruised idealism still sympathetic and engaging. He has lost none of his appeal despite being reimagined and reivented so many times by so many writers in the last fifty years. Marlowe remains the most important and impressive protagonist in noir, and in "The Long Good-bye" Chandler confirms that he doesn't just easily attain the accolade of king of noir, he also makes a strong case to be considered among the greats of mid 20th century American literature.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless Classic Noir - A Great Book For Reluctant Readers, 3 Feb 2006
A murder mystery, seen through the eyes of Phillip Marlowe a private detective. The only thing is, the murder is solved, the husband did it and then killed himself. Marlowe's not happy with this outcome though, and he plunges into the case on behalf of a friend; managing to make ememies at every turn.
Without revealing the plot, there are many twists and turns that will satisfy the mystery fans, but it is Chandler's deft and sympathetic handling of all the charaters (even minor ones) that makes this book so enjoyable to read. Even when you don't like a character, all their actions are so believable that you end up enjoying these feelings of dislike.
This book is stylistically simple, which would make it a perfect book for a teenage boy, who might need some encouragement to start reading. Also, despite that fact that it was written in the 50's it has not dated at all, so young readers won't feel isolated from the story. I cannot recommend this book enough, and as it is my first Chandler I am looking forward to reading all his others.
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