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The Long Goodbye (Paperback)

by Raymond Chandler (Author) "The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers..." (more)
Key Phrases: redwood steps, Terry Lennox, Harlan Potter, Roger Wade (more...)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Chandler is not only the best writer of hardboiled PI stories, he's one of the 20th century's top scribes, period. His full canon of novels and short stories is reprinted in trade paper featuring uniform covers in Black Lizard's signature style. A handsome set for a reasonable price.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Raymond Chandler is a master." --The New York Times

?[Chandler] wrote as if pain hurt and life mattered.? --The New Yorker

?Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious.? --Robert B. Parker, The New York Times Book Review

?Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye.? --Los Angeles Times

?Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner. . . . An original. . . . A great artist.? ?The Boston Book Review

?Raymond Chandler was one of the finest prose writers of the twentieth century. . . . Age does not wither Chandler?s prose. . . . He wrote like an angel.? --Literary Review

?[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision.? --Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books

?Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence.? ?Ross Macdonald

?Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude.? --Erle Stanley Gardner

?Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since.? --Paul Auster

?[Chandler]?s the perfect novelist for our times. He takes us into a different world, a world that?s like ours, but isn?t. ? --Carolyn See

-- Review

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Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Vintage (August 12, 1988)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0394757688
ISBN-13: 978-0394757681
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,346 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#4 in	Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Chandler, Raymond
#16 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > 20th Century
#89 in	Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
redwood steps

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Terry Lennox, Harlan Potter, Roger Wade, Eileen Wade, New York, Idle Valley, Howard Spencer, Linda Loring, Lonnie Morgan, Paul Marston, Randy Starr, Philip Marlowe, Big Willie Magoon, Las Vegas, Mendy Menendez, Sheriff Petersen, Sylvia Lennox, The Carne Organization, Captain Hernandez, George Peters, Los Angeles, Sewell Endicott, Artists Rifles, Laurel Canyon, Sepulveda Canyon

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 11 books:

Trouble Is My Business by Raymond Chandler in Front Matter, and Back Matter
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler in Front Matter, and Back Matter
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler in Front Matter, and Back Matter
The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler in Front Matter, and Back Matter

See all 11 books this book cites

100 books cite this book:

Raymond Chandler: A Literary Reference by Robert F. Moss on 43 pages
Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir by Gene D. Phillips on 36 pages
Raymond Chandler by Tom Hiney on 33 pages
The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir by Megan E. Abbott on 17 pages
Hardboiled Mystery Writers: Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Ross Macdonald: A Literary Reference by Matthew J. Bruccoli on 16 pages

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Raymond Chandler by Raymond Chandler

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	78% buy the item featured on this page: The Long Goodbye 4.7 out of 5 stars (62) $10.98
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	6% buy Farewell, My Lovely 4.4 out of 5 stars (47) $10.94
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Customer Reviews

62 Reviews

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (62 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Chandler... his longest, and one of his best..., July 31, 2000

By	Ivan Askwith (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every time I finish reading one of Chandler's Marlowe novels, I end up feeling depressed, because it's one less Chandler novel that I can read for the first time. In my mind, he's that good -- he is one of the only writers that I am consistenly incapable of setting down to go to sleep... I finished the last half of "The Long Goodbye" at about 5:00 am -- I was so wrapped up in it, that I failed to notice the time. Alas. Now, as for that review...

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ANY CHANDLER, you should stop reading this and go take a look at his first Marlowe novel, The Big Sleep. It's worthwhile to read them in order, or at the least, to read that one first... you'll get a good feeling for whether or not you like Marlowe, and you'll learn a bit more about him. Then, if you like that, come back and take another look at this review.

IF YOU HAVE READ OTHER CHANDLER, then you already know, to some degree, what you're in for. You know Chandler's style, and I can promise you that this book offers up more of it, in abundance. I was a little thrown off for the first 50-some pages, because Marlowe has moved out of his trademark apartment and into a small house in a quiet residential neighborhood, and that didn't jive with me... but it works. Marlowe is, in his way, maturing. (If you've read his unfinished final work, Poodle Springs, then you know Marlowe will eventually get married. Perhaps this evolution says as much about Chandler as about his beloved P.I.)

Once the plot starts moving, of course, you're just along for the ride. Like all Marlowe novels, you have that perfect feeling of riding shotgun in the mind and conscience of a fascinating and well-developed character, and it's enough to sustain you through WHATEVER Chandler cares to write about. But, as I said, this is Vintage (no pun intended) Chandler -- some of his best work. Like several other books of his, I would give it more than 5 stars if I could, because nothing he wrote deserves less. The plot develops in three acts, which seem unrelated until he begins to pull them together, and when he does so, it is nothing less than amazing to behold. (I thought I was outguessing him, and knew what was going to happen. Stupid me -- he was still three steps ahead of me, and I had egg all over my face when I was done with the last page. I love him for that.)

If you're a mystery fan, or even a fan of good stylistic writing, this is some of the best stuff you could hope for. Call it pulp if you like, and say that Hammett outsold him if you must, but for my money, Chandler had more style than anyone else who's ever tackled the genre. Marlowe remains one of the best, most complete, and most enjoyable creations of literature that I have ever found, and I only wish that Chandler had left us more of him. *sigh*

BOTTOM LINE: If you haven't read this one yet, I envy you. It's a hell of a ride, and it's got plenty of re-read value. Worth owning, and a must for Chandler fans.

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chandler's very best!, July 28, 1999

By A Customer

This epic Raymond Chandler novel is his most finely crafted and perhaps the best ever of its genre. Featuring Chandler's world-weary private detective, it mixes an intriguing plot with fascinating social comment. The plot concerns Marlowe's dealings with a drunk named Terry Lennox and his role in an escape from a murder charge to Mexico. Most of the novel, however is taken up in the rich suburbs of L.A. It has everything that all the best Chandler/Marlowe books have, clever, poetic, often humourous dialogue, cynicism, characters who seem tired of life and yet so full of it, and the sun-drenched L.A. setting. Those used to the more pacy narrative writings such as 'The Big Sleep' and 'The Lady in the Lake' may be a tad cool on this book as it spends as much time dissecting the lives of its downtrodden characters as it does unfold the plot. The later film version, brilliant though it is, does not even do this book justice. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever? I really think so., April 15, 1998

By A Customer

I first read "The Long Goodbye" in 1976, before I had read any other Raymond Chandler novels. The book practically set off an explosion in my brain -- I have been fascinated by Chandler ever since. No other book by Chandler matches this one's emotional tone.

This isn't a mystery novel, it is a great piece of literature. It is about friendship, love and betrayal. And the plot is complex and satisfying. Marlowe is defeated and in pain, and very, very alone.

I have read "Goodbye" three times since 1977 -- most recently last year -- and every time I am just amazed at the effect the book has on me. It possibly just touches me personally, but I really believe it deserves a rating among the great books of all time.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Chandler page turner...
The Long Goodbye easily rates as one of Chandler's best. Farewell, My Lovely and The Lady in Lake are personal favorites, but I think they've been eclipsed. Read more

Published 10 days ago by nto62

4.0 out of 5 stars The very noir-est
One of the noir-est of the noir. Philip Marlowe, private detective. Lone wolf, paladin, man of honor. Read more

Published 4 months ago by mojosmom

5.0 out of 5 stars The Shadow Line
Raymond Chandler didn't start out as a "hardboiled" detective writer of the "noir" genre. He didn't start out as a detective writer at all. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Daniel Myers

5.0 out of 5 stars This man knows how to write.
Terse. Fast moving. Graphic. Totally believable characters. Exciting and suspenseful. It recaptures a bygone era, but people don't change all that much. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Theodore M. Swain

4.0 out of 5 stars The too-long Goodbye
Originally copyrighted and published 1953.

Chandler talked his way out of a 5-star rating by making the Goodbye a little too long. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Todd Stockslager

5.0 out of 5 stars Swell
So read "The Long Goodbye" and you'll know why they call them "classics" - the kind of crime fiction that defined "noir", the stuff that their disciples - I'm talking about guys... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Gary Griffiths

5.0 out of 5 stars Arguably Chandler's Best
You don't read Raymond Chandler for the plots--you read him for the magnificent "hard boiled" prose. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Donald Gallinger

5.0 out of 5 stars The Idle Valley
Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is at the top of his game in this novel. It is the longest book that Raymond Chandler ever wrote and, sadly, it is his last completed... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Borowy26

5.0 out of 5 stars "Down these mean streets a man must go..,"
This book, the penultimate novel in noir pioneer Raymond Chandler's series of novels featuring private eye Philip Marlowe, is my candidate for the best American novel of the post... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Thomas Plotkin

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one
This is the one, the master's masterpiece. The story is heart-wrenching in its sad inevitability; the characters are unforgettable, the style honed to perfection. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Richard B. Schwartz

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