You know by now that I adore Raymond Chandler's books. I try to read one a year (I have all seven of his novels, plus two collections of his other writings, like short stories and essays), which means it's about nine years between readings, and that lets me forget a lot of what the plots involve. Keeps them fresher, you know? Works for all of them except The Big Sleep, cuz I've watched the movie half a dozen times and know the story really well by now.
Anyway. I really think The Lady in the Lake is my favorite of Chandler's novels. Maybe it's that part of it is set away from the grimy city. Maybe it's that a down-home country sheriff plays a substantial, heroic part that I thoroughly enjoy. Maybe it's that Marlowe is just a little sweeter in it than some others. I don't know. But wow, I dig it to pieces.
Philip Marlowe gets hired to find a rich man's missing wife. Not to bring her back, just to be sure she's okay. Body after body piles up, starting with the titular drowned woman, and Marlowe has to do some pretty fast thinking to stay alive, much less ahead of the bad guys.
Particularly Good Bits:
I like a drink, but not when people are using me for a diary (p. 41).
"However hard I try to be nice I always end up with my nose in the dirt and my thumb feeling for somebody's eye" (p. 137).
"I'm all done with hating you," I said. "It's all washed out of me. I hate people hard, but I don't hate them very long" (p. 243).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence, bad language, and much discussion of people having extramarital affairs. As usual, Chandler manages to handle tasteless subjects in a surprisingly tasteful manner.
This is my 28th book read and reviewed for my second time around with the Classics Club.
I remember reading at least a Chandler short story with that premise but I can't remember if I read that same one (or just the short story elements he put together to make the novel).
ReplyDelete