The Big Sleep

Philip Marlowe, Book 1

By: Raymond Chandler

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The iconic first novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times).

A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.

©1939 Raymond Chandler (P)2020 Random House Audio

Fun but Confusing

Performance was perfect, it's fun to listen to Chandler's writing and turns of phrase but trying to keep up with all the twists and turns and who is who is almost impossible.

Outstanding

I have become a big fan of these works in Recent years and adds to the enjoyment first experience with the movie.

Classic Crime Noir

Having finished the Scott Brick narrated Philip Marlowe yarn "Farewell My Lovely" a few weeks back, I jumped back in with The Big Sleep, the first novel by Raymond Chandler since, once again, I saw Mr. Brick as the narrator. I cannot say enough about his ability to recreate the sound and storytelling you would expect from a classic Marlowe novel. First rate in every respect.

As our story opens, Marlowe is summoned to the estate home of an older weatlhy man, When the butler opens the door, Marlowe is approached by the youngest daughter. In short order, he is having to separate himself from her amorous advances. Once in the presence of the old man, he is asked to dig into a bribery scheme plaguing the General. As the story unfolds, more and more plots are revealed that not only involve the bribery scheme, but the shenagins of the youngest daughter and the disapearance of the older daughter's husband. Leave it to Philip Marlowe to get up to his neck wrapped up in the whole mess before we reaching the twist of a climax.

While the Chandler series is definitely dated, the listening is such a pleasure due the vocal rendition of Scott Brick. I am sold and moving on to the next entry in the series.

Update: Since finishing The Big Sleep, I have watched both films based on the novel. The first starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is very loosely based on the novel. It is more of a vehicle to get Bogart and Bacall on the screen together. Bogart is playing Bogart rather than Phillip Marlowe. Not bad, but not very close to Chandler's excellent work. The second version many years later stars Robert Mitchum as Marlowe with an all star cast including James Stewart as the general. Mitchum is a little long in the tooth playing Marlowe but really does a great job with the role. While the locale is moved to England for some reason, the storyline is very close to the novel to include Mitchum narrating some exact lines from Chandler's work. And...since it was made some 30 years later than the Bogart version, it contains some of the racier scenes which could not be shown in 1946. Really enjoyed this version especially since it so closely mirrored the novel.

Love Raymond Chandler books

I love anything with Philip Marlowe in it! It was like looking a movie using your mind. I really enjoyed the book.

Ages Pretty Well

This was one of the stories that kicked off noir, and I’m grateful for that.

Solid Noire

I like this book a lot — especially the performance. Scott Brick kills it. His voice and tones are perfect — noire to a tee. The story is a little convoluted but overall good. I’ll listen to another Raymond Chandler book for sure.

Fundamental with great narration

Finally read this--Brick is maybe the perfect narrator--and I understand how important this is as a fundamental noir novel. It works! I may be too influenced by parodies and stories inspired by this and other noir novels, but the story felt a iny bit predictable.

Crime noir

Story was good Chandler. Narrator was a little too dramatic for my taste. Writing was typical Chandler which I love. I think his novels may be better read than listened to. When I read a novel I create the voices in my head. When a novel is narrated I believe the narrator ought to be relatively neutral so as to leave something to the listener's imagination. I know not everyone will agree with me on this point.

Brilliant

The quintessential LA noir... the source of the tropes... perfect sentences underpinning perfectly drawn characters and plot... laugh out loud witty quips...

no one writes a simile like Raymond Chandler

got to keep track to keep all the characters straight. high brow fiction now,pulp fiction then. how we've regressed.