Jon Nixon reviewed The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Review of 'The Long Goodbye' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
I binged the Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye without any gaps. I loved them all but think I may have to take a break before moving on to the other Chandler novels.
By now I’ve picked up the tropes and structures of these stories. There’s always pleanty of gangsters, crooked cops and beautiful women. One of the beautiful women is a murderer (but not the only murderer). There’s often a rich old man with two spoiled daughters. There’s always a double case; one in the first half which you think is solved, then another in the second half which turns out to be linked to the first one. There’s always an unsettling early twentieth century undercurrent of racism and homophobia which you have to hold your nose through.
The Long Goodbye is probably my least favourite of the three so far but it’s still a great …
I binged the Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye without any gaps. I loved them all but think I may have to take a break before moving on to the other Chandler novels.
By now I’ve picked up the tropes and structures of these stories. There’s always pleanty of gangsters, crooked cops and beautiful women. One of the beautiful women is a murderer (but not the only murderer). There’s often a rich old man with two spoiled daughters. There’s always a double case; one in the first half which you think is solved, then another in the second half which turns out to be linked to the first one. There’s always an unsettling early twentieth century undercurrent of racism and homophobia which you have to hold your nose through.
The Long Goodbye is probably my least favourite of the three so far but it’s still a great read. The descriptions, dialogue and one liners are always wonderful. I found the switch between the two cases more jarring in this one as the second case wasn’t very interesting at first (it gets better). Also, after the second case is solved there is a lot of loose end tying which drags a bit, but the last chapter is great.
