Do you know that early episode of Scrubs (yes, I really am going to begin this review with a Scrubs reference) where J.D. is trying to stop his relatiDo you know that early episode of Scrubs (yes, I really am going to begin this review with a Scrubs reference) where J.D. is trying to stop his relationship with Elliot falling into the 'friend zone'? The idea is that after that first flirty moment, you've got 48 hours to seal it with a kiss, or you're stuck forever in the 'friend zone'.
I got given The Big Sleep in the omnibus collection of Marlowe books 1,2 and 6 on a long term loan/gift, from my friend Justin (the same awesome Zimbabwean spy I that mentioned in my Angelmaker review). I was all, like, "Wow, I've heard of this, this sounds amazing!" And I tried to start it and something (I forget what) interrupted me. And I tried to start it again, and something else (a Jehovah's Witness visit, maybe?) interrupted me again. And boom, we were in the friend zone. I got comfortable having this book kick around with me, forever unread. I moved house with it, more than once. I took it to work a few times, like some kind of literary take-your-child-to-work day. My baby son ripped the front cover off in his rambunctious enthusiasm for all things book. But we never took our relationship to the next level. I never slipped between the covers (what was left of them) and gave The Big Sleep that good, hard read it was clearly begging for.
So we drifted along for a couple of years. And then, recently, I opened the question up to the Goodreads feed and asked "What book, on my to-read shelf should I pick up next?" Dan Schwent (a huge Marlowe fan) encouraged me to give Chandler his well overdue chance... and here we are.
I'm clearly a moron. Why did I wait for so long? This was FANTASTIC. I read it at work, on my lunch breaks, and my breaks were never long enough.
I read Neuromancer for the first time recently, and my response was exactly the same. I love cyberpunk inspired work and - you'll never guess - I loved the book that defined cyberpunk! The Big Sleep follows that same winding path of inspiration all the way back to it's noir roots. I've heard that Hammett basically created the noir detective, and Chandler then refined it - if that's true, I should probably read some Hammett because I loved this, especially with Neuromancer still fresh in my mind.
I love noir tinted sci-fi. I love noir tinted urban fantasy. Why does it surprise me that I love straight-up noir?!?!
I think it's because I'm a bit of an era-snob. As a rough rule, I'm sceptical of anything written before 1980. Oh, sure, there are some good books from before that time - from Chandler's era I've read Tolkien, Orwell, Lewis, Peake... but that's about it. If it was written before you could buy a Casio digital watch, I'm sceptical - that's how I feel.
Also, I think my expectations were damaged by cinema. I never fell in love with the classic black and white noir movies - but I love their influence on modern cinema. So if old noir movies didn't sway me, old noir books would leave me cold too, right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Clouds, old chap, you've got to stop making these assumptions!
So yes. I got it very wrong.
I felt right at home from page one. I was swept away on the style, the tone, the dialogue and details. It's a book of mad rich dames giving a snappy talking private eye with ironclad morals the run-around. It's a book of dirty rackets and dirtier blackmail.
It's four cups of coffee (black), a long slug from the office bottle in the bottom drawer then a couple of French cigarettes first thing in the morning.
God DAMN it tasted good.
The omnibus I have is three books, but I'm pacing them out. I read one book at work and one at home. I'm alternating these as my work books, with another title between each one. So my at-work books were: The Big Sleep, Then Hominids (parallel worlds Neanderthal sci-fi), Then the second Marlowe, Farewell my Lovely (which was very nearly as good as this), Then Manhattan in Reverse (sci-fi short stories, which I'm reading now), And then finally I'll be onto The Long Goodbye, the last of my Marlowe omnibus within the next couple of weeks. I can't wait!
The tough call for me now is whether to put the rest of the Marlowe books straight onto my finishing-the-series list. I'm trying to clear that list down, not build it up, but these books are just so good, I don't think I have a choice...
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