Despite loving hard-boiled detective stories, I didn't read a Raymond Chandler novel until last week. I had always assumed that the novels would be great from a historical perspective, but would feel creakily out of date. That was my experience with Erksine Childers Riddle of the Sands, which probably launched the thriller as a genre.
Man, was I wrong. Farewell My Lovely stands up next to any crime novel written, today or sixty years ago. After reading it, I see that nearly every PI crime writer has tried, and few have mastered, the cynical voice and outlook of Chandler.
His wonderful style allows you to look past some issues with his plots. While the book's overarching narrative made sense at the end, a lot of the detail was bizarre. At one point, PI Phillip Marlowe puts himself in a extremely dangerous position merely to pass on a note. Part of Marlowe's character is his dubious decision-making, but what started as an evocative scene fell a little flat.
I now think back on all the second-rate novels I read instead of Chandler and wonder at my book selection process. On the upside I still have a number of great books ahead of me.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
I could have had a Chandler!
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2 comments:
The crazy thing is, that is only his third or fourth best book. The Long Goodbye may be the best detective novel ever, and The Big Sleep and The Little Sister are both fantastic. Yeah, you have a lot of good reading ahead. Steve
p.s. Dashiell Hammett (mostly) and Ross MacDonald also stand up to the test of time. Of MacDonald's stuff, "The Far Side of the Dollar" is particularly worth tracking down.
I think I have the Far Side of the Dollar lying around here somewhere amongst the 300 unread books.
I also think Red Harvest is around too, which I understand is a must read.
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