"Dead men are heavier than broken hearts."
It's pulp fiction, a hard-boiled detective/noir that set the standard for a genre. What's notable is that in this case, the movie was better than the book. The dialogue is chock full of slang from the 30's, not all of which has aged well. Some lines were so ridiculous that I laughed out loud:
"My God, you big dark handsome brute! I ought to throw a Buik at you!"
As characters go, neither of the Sternwood daughters "has any more moral sense than a cat." They aren't fully developed and their misadventures are never fully explained,and the book leaves some of the murders unsolved, unfortunately. ( )

It's still quite good. Of course it is quite sexist a times, but the plot is very strong and Marlowe a delicious narrator. ( )

A classic crime mystery. Plotting, characters, atmosphere and language were top notch. I know TV and movies have poked at the language Chandler used with Marlowe, but it was so unique and wonderful that you want to join Picard on the Holodeck and experience yourself. This is a must read. ( )

A little hard to follow what was going on given the smart arse dialogue and the off-centre characters, but Chandler does help us recollect where we are with the story in a few places. The story is a sitter for the cinema and so it proved to be. Great to read a story about Los Angeles wherein the weather is so often wet.

The Big Sleep introduces Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private detective. Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood who is blackmailed by one Arthur Geiger, but does not want to give in to it. The cause of Sternwood's trouble is always always one of his daughters, as Marlowe is soon to find out. The daughters are quite careless and while one has an alcohol problem the other gambles away the old man Sternwood's fortune. In his investigation of Geiger, Marlowe soon finds people getting murdered. A name that frequently surfaces is Rusty Regan, one of the daughters' husbands who is missing. Although it is not his job, Marlowe investigates his disappearance on the side. The plot develops into an interesting web of connections that Marlowe tries to uncover.

What I liked most about this novel is Chandler's writing style. Chandler is very descriptive and witty ("I didn't know whether it was any good, not being a collector of antiques, except unpaid bills.", p. 22). He constantly uses comparison to create a more vivid picture for his readers and set the scenes in LA in rich detail. Apart from creating an authentic atmosphere the comparisons also provide funny quips and had me laughing time and again ("Blood began to move around in me, like a prospective tenant looking over a house.", p. 209). To me, the book was not so much about the plot itself, although I did not dislike it, but rather about Marlowe ("I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it.", p. 1) and how he deals with the situations he finds himself in. Chandler has done a truly amazing job in crafting his protagonist. I am happy that this is only the first in a series of novels centered around Marlowe and I will surely be reading more of the series. 5 stars. ( )