The Long Goodbye
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season320 pages, about 6 hours: about the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbOne reader reports being surprised by a slow start, unusual for hardboiled fiction.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 10 reviews from critics and book blogs, 3 credit the plot and 4 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesTwo reviewers call The Big Sleep, on the shelf at 229 pages, tighter and faster than this one.
The case for it
on the scenes
“His scenes never drag and there’s precious little flab to be found.”
a book blog on the prose
“Brisk, acidic prose that spares no one, including himself.”
four stars · a book blog on Philip Marlowe
“Philip Marlowe hobnobs with the rich and crazy and spars verbally with cops and gangsters.”
a book blog on the 1950s atmosphere
“skilful enough to immerse you in the cynical atmosphere of the 1950s”
four stars · a book blog
The case against
on the digressions
“feels at times like your best friend waking up and telling you about her dream.”
Matt Matros · Ploughshares, 2016 on the padding
“rather pointless padding, repetitive dialogue and occasional mini-essays”
two stars · a book blog on the pacing
“this novel is tedious, long-winded and markedly off balance in terms of dramatic action.”
a Substack review on the gimlet recipe
“a bloated, meandering and sentimental book containing the world’s worst gimlet recipe.”
a Substack review
