A Book Review of THE LONG GOODBYE

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjk lzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzx cvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn mqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuio pasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdf ghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopasdfghjklzx A Book Review ofTHE LONG GOODBYE Integrated course 2012/6/6 Wang YatingA Book Review of TheLong GoodbyeAbout the authorRaymond T Chandler :（1888.7.23~1959.3.26 ）His parents got a divorce when he was seven. He went to England with his mother and studied hard during his childhood. Then he worked for British Admiralty . During the WW1，he joined the army . In 1922，he went back to America . A famous company chose him to be an accounting clerk. This brilliant man was down for promotion and became the deputy governor . In 1923 , he married Sissy Pasieka. She wa s a charming beauty and 8 years‟ older than him. （But later he found that was not 8 . That was 18.）He was dismissed by way of disciplinary punishment in 1932 . He was a drunkard and a fairly free-flowing guy .In order to help pass the time ，he read many novels on the 《Black Mask》and finally finished his first detective story——《Blackmailers Don‟t Shoot》. After that he work in Hollywood with Billy Wild . During 1943 to 1946，they finished 《Double Indemnity》and 《The Blue Dahlia》. His wife left him alone in the world in 1954. Experiencing several suicides after his wife‟s death ，Raymond was elected to theUnited States detective writer association President in 1959. The great auteur(Hollywood gave his this great name) passed the world peacefully in 1959.3.26.About the storyThe first time Marlowe laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers . Marlowe held T erry up and took Terry to his house . T erry Lennox was the politest drunk that Marlowe ever met ，which made Marlowe wanted to help him. T erry had a young-looking face but his hair was bone white . And his face was frozen and whitish and seamed with thin fine scars. He also told Marlowe that he married Sylvia for her money . But he was down and out and could not ask Sylvia for a few bucks because of his different pride—the pride of a man who has nothing else .Marlowe was sympathetic to him and considered him as a friend . So he helped T erry to escape to Mexico ，even T erry was accused of killing his wife . The cops arrested Marlowe as a suspect . Suspension of accessory after the fact of murder and helping a suspect escape . Marlowe bared the maltreat from the cops and finally been sent to the City Jail . After few weeks he went out and heard that T erry killed himself in a hotel and admitted that he killedhis wife .Marlowe felt sad that his friend lied to him . But he just could not believe that T erry was cruel en ough to disfigure his wife‟s face . Also，Marlowe thought T erry‟s father-in-law controlled the police and the press .But as time went by，Marlowe met T erry‟s father-in-law and his sister-in-law and found that they were not as bad as he thought before .A publisher asked Marlowe to help a beauty to found her husband. The beauty‟s husband Roger was a famous writer and earned a lot .He was took for a ride by a doctor and saved by Marlowe .Roger asked Marlowe to be his assistant and showed him his chaotic life . Roger‟s wife Eileen was really attractive but she seemed indifferent to her husband .It was not until Roger‟s death that Marlowe understood the relationship between the Lennoxes ，the Lorins and the Wilds . Marlowe exposed the real murder but he could not stop the tragic ending . Eileen killed herself at last and admitted that she killed Terry‟s wife for jealous .All the truth is out and Marlowe lived a peaceful life . Nonetheless a man came to him and wanted to tell him the truth of Terry‟s death. Marlowe was not surprised that man was Terry . T errywitnessed his wife …s death but chose to go away and forgave his lover‟s guilty .“I'm not sore at you. Y ou're just that kind of guy. For a long time I couldn't figure you at all. Y ou had nice ways and nice qualities, but there was something wrong. Y ou had standards and you lived up to them, but they were personal. They had no relation to any kind of ethics or scruples. Y ou were a nice guy because you had a nice nature. But you were just as happy with mugs or hoodlums as with honest men. Provided the hoodlums spoke fairly good English and had fairly acceptable table manners. Y ou're a moral defeatist. I think maybe the war did it and again I think maybe-you were born that way .”（The Long Goodbye last chapter）Marlowe said to T erry sadly and returned Terry‟s money . Terry went away without any words. The truth made their friendship break into piece. T o say goodbye is to die a little . But Marlowe didn‟t care about it. He had to hold on.About the commentMy favourite character in this book is Philip Marlowe .Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in TheBig Sleep published in 1939.In The Long Goodbye，Marlowe showed his special charm . He is not a gentleman and does not as brilliant as Sherlock Homles . Someone considered him as mug because of his impolite words and behavior . Also , Marlowe is slightly over six feet tall and weighs about 190 pounds. I‟d rather consider him as a strong guy . Although he is quite clever and enjoys chess and poetry ，few women laid eyes on him . This funny man loves beauty and anchor and always drinking with his client to get information from them . I just attracted by his candour while reading this novel .Marlowe chose to be a detective to earn a living ，but he never dealing with divorce. In this book , I can hardly tell you that he was not a good detective .For one thing, he is not afraid to risk physical harm. He does not dish out violence merely to settle scores . Relationship between people is his special point to get the truth . For another thing , he has standards and he lives up to them. They have relation to some kind of ethics and scruples. As far as I am concerned，it was really hard for him to tell others the truth . But he did. He could not lie to himself even it cost him his friendship .What‟s more，Marlowe is a warmhearted guy . He always helping someone in trouble even they could not afford to the payment . Hollywood called him …knight‟ because of his kindness . He sets astandard for every man .Interesting，Marlowe makes good coffee. He uses a vacuum coffee maker. He takes his coffee with cream in the mornings but has it black at other times . I think that he is a man who really enjoys his life . He can make his daily life colorful and meaningful. This is what I really want to learn from him .。