The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, author of The Big Sleep – my note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-big-sleep-by-raymond-chandler-10.html where I have a few thousand reviews - 10 out of 10

 

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, author of The Big Sleep – my note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-big-sleep-by-raymond-chandler-10.html where I have a few thousand reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

 

The Long Goodbye is a mesmerizing magnum opus, and I find Philip Marlowe to be absolutely heroic, in that he checks so many of the boxes for Character Strengths, loyalty, courage, resilience, open minded, creative, generous, emotionally intelligent (and otherwise), with great sense of humor, grateful, modest, and it goes on

 

Indeed, the chef d’oeuvre is twenty relevant lists, and you find that from the site of The Greatest books of All Timehttps://thegreatestbooks.org/books/2028 where you get many relevant details, so we have this on the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, Anthony Burgess Best 99 Novels, The Guardian, The Times and other lists

Terry Lennox could be considered the second most important figure in this superb narrative, the two meet and they become friends -at one point, I was musing that they get so intimate, that a gay romance might be assumed – they go out to drink this special drink, speak the same language, and the hero would prove so damn loyal

 

Terry Lennox has a terrible side of his face, with scars presumably made in World War II, premature white hair, he was married to a very wealthy woman, the daughter of the recluse Harlan Potter (so close to Harry Potter, you may wonder if the author JK Rowling did not get her idea from here) but though they re-marry…

It is not for long, since one night (was it night, or I am just making this up, since I do not remember well) Terry Lennox is asking his friend to take him away, because he is in trouble, the detective knows about accessory, so he does not want to know, he would just help, but without being aware of what had happened

 

Which he will find out anyway, once Terry is hiding in Mexico, we can see that Sylivia was found dead, with her face so smashed with a statue, that she could not be identified if they were to use that, and it is even more complex, it was not this statue that was the murder weapon, she had been shot and then disfigured –

A detail that will matter later, in a text book of what Aristotle demanded of a good drama https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html that it has a good reversal and revelation, in Oedipus the two happen at the same time, when the king finds he had killed his father and married his mother

 

Terry commits suicide – or this is what we see at this point, in spite of the suspicion that maybe he was killed – and leaves a confession, stating that he was the killer, and with this, the police investigation, and the story in the papers are stopped, the latter because of the rich dad of the late Sylvia, who was sleeping around, ergo it is assumed that the motive would have been jealousy, the husband caught her and then took revenge

It is not the end, indeed, there would be plenty of reversals, and till the end, you have a full set of surprises, a Las Vegas gangster makes a visit, telling the detective to keep his ‘nose clean’ – when taken in by police hoodlums, the hero does not talk about his dead friend (assumed, actually) and he is behaving like a super hero

 

Howard Spencer is a publisher and he wants the detective to help with a writer, Roger Wade, who is an alcoholic, incidentally, he blacks out when he is drunk and he becomes violent, and needs a ‘male nurse’, somebody to keep an eye on him, and eventually, bring him back to writing one of his bestselling, if not wonderful books

The wife of this author is stunning, Eileen represents one of those details that make the narrative a bit improbable, just like I thought the connections somewhat hard to buy, I mean she just meets this fellow again, in that big country, he arrives in the same circle, maybe, nevertheless, this is a masterpiece, as I said right at the start

 

The Wades have a houseboy, Candy, who is from Chile, he repeats that, and handles a knife, he is very devoted to his boss, so much so that he is ready to engage in violence, and he does not like Marlowe at all, at least in the first stages, things are complicated when at a gathering, doctor Loring threatens Wade and he is jealous

Linda Loring, the wife of the doctor, happens to be the sister of the deceased Sylvia, fortunately for Philip Marlowe, she is different, privileged, yes, she had been raised in a big mansion, they have had tones of money, but her character appears to be much better, albeit there would be some reserves up to the end, and maybe beyond that

 

This will not reveal much of what happens, the dead people mentioned show up early, and in one case, there is still more to be discovered, but I must say that Roger Wade appears to be suicidal, depressive, and then he becomes a sort of suspect, what with his blacking out, and that gruesome killing of Sylvia, the treatment applied to her face

Maybe he just did it, in one of his rages, induced by alcohol – he did try to do something, he even checks in with some disreputable doctor V, to try some sort of detox outfit, illegal and rough – and then he just forgot about it, or he has some anxiety, he fears what he can do when not in control and this is haunting him…

Then there is Eileen, who is so attractive that Marlowe kissed her, then, while he is looking for her husband, who went to bed, she just jumps on the detective and then claims she was dreaming, and thinking of a late lover, it gets so complex, spectacular and thrilling, one of the best books I have read in some time

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”