THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler

I read my first Raymond Chandler book this week – THE BIG SLEEP, the first of Chandler’s books featuring private investigator Philip Marlowe. In the book, set in 1930s-era Los Angeles, Marlowe is hired by an elderly man to investigate (and possibly deal with) a blackmail attempt against his youngest daughter. Mayhem ensues.

It is interesting to read a book set in the 1930s – everyone smokes and drinks constantly, which is definitely not the case in contemporary America. In one scene Marlowe goes into a drug store to buy a bottle of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes, which you definitely could not do today.

It was almost interesting to see the effect this book had on later fiction – I believe THE BIG SLEEP and its film adaptation created the popular image of the hard-drinking, chain-smoking, world-weary yet clever private eye in trench coat and fedora. I’ve read all fifteen of the Harry Dresden books, and Marlowe had a strong influence on Dresden. In fact, I suspect Marlowe is the kind of man Harry Dresden would be if Harry a.) wasn’t a wizard, and b.) wasn’t so flustered by women.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to watching the film version when time permits. I’m curious to see how the movie would soften some of the book’s harsher scenes, several of which definitely would not pass muster in the standards of 1940s-era cinema. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – the film version of THE MALTESE FALCON made the Sam Spade character into a more heroic man than he was in the book, and I don’t think the story was hurt by the change.

-JM