Rating: 
Summary: Genre Defining Classic
Review: The first book of Chandler's Philip Marlowe series is an especially interesting read for those who've seen the classic film with Bogey and Bacall. The film is actually a fairly faithful adaptation of the book, with all references to pornography removed. This is odd, because the story is about blackmail and pornography. Cinemaphiles will read the book and at key points think "oh, that's what it was about."Be warned: when you start reading Chandler, you're going to read two or three in a row.
Rating: 
Summary: What is the point?
Review: This is the place to start if you like noir writing. If you like Parker, MacDonald, Connelly, or Burke, this is the book will be for you. Warning that it is a little hard to read, and may take awhile to get into it. The story will confuse and befuddle, but it is ultimately rewarding. The great thing about it is not only do you enjoy reading a great story, but you get a glimpse into a Los Angles of the past and a different cultural era. The darkside of the glamour city. Must read and the place to start for a study of noir mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: big up da raymond chandler
Review: Up until Big Sleep, detective stories were Agatha Christie, Sherlock Homsian two-dimensional curiosities. They were books to while away half an hour at a time. Nothing you could really engage with, due to a lack of depth on the part of the characters and the story, sometimes even the storytelling. But Chandler took this concept and farted on it.
The Big Sleep concerns a believable, engaging character, a convoluted plot (which is incredibly hard to follow) and a sleazy underworld. Where Hercule Poirot was a virtuous do-gooder, where Sherlock Holmes was a mastermind gentlman, Phillip Marlowe is just about as seedy and bent as the villains he's following. Welcome to the father of modern crime fiction.
Although the language might be a little hard to grasp for the younger generation, the slang sort of works itself out, very much a la Clockwork Orange. After the first few pages, you get into the swing of the language and the style.
The cinematic Film Noir classic adaptation is definitely worth seeing after reading this weighty novel; although it removes some of the more nit-picky plot points, it's not for the worse. The Big Sleep is a landmark novel, and one worth reading if at least to say you've read it.
| 
