NOIRTRASH
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2015
- Posts
- 10,580
PLAYBACK by Raymond Chandler
5 stars
Chandler died writing POODLE SPRINGS, and PLAYBACK is considered his last novel. It began life as a failed screenplay Chandler made into this book. Critics and many readers dislike PLAYBACK. I avoided it for a long time but its one of my favorites.
The story is simple, Philip Marlowe is hired to find and stalk a mystery woman just moved to Los Angeles. She's a young, rich divorcee. Plenty of other men stalk her, too. Many men die. One of the best parts of the book is the conversation Marlowe has with an old geezer all dismiss as senile and disabled. The old man is deaf but reads lips. People talk around him. He's also a philosopher who knows people. he suggests that a man Marlowe is looking for is dead. He is.
This is the only book Philip Marlowe has sex in. Two women, three times. But Marlowe is haunted by an old love who went to Europe and never returned. This old flame sets up POODLE SPRINGS when she returns to town. She's rich and gorgeous and loves sex, but is the kiss of death for Marlowe. I think POODLE SPRINGS was done when Chandler died, because he died when Marlowe understood that domestic bliss sux. So PLAYBACK is the Happy Ever After version of the end. But be careful what you ask for.
5 stars
Chandler died writing POODLE SPRINGS, and PLAYBACK is considered his last novel. It began life as a failed screenplay Chandler made into this book. Critics and many readers dislike PLAYBACK. I avoided it for a long time but its one of my favorites.
The story is simple, Philip Marlowe is hired to find and stalk a mystery woman just moved to Los Angeles. She's a young, rich divorcee. Plenty of other men stalk her, too. Many men die. One of the best parts of the book is the conversation Marlowe has with an old geezer all dismiss as senile and disabled. The old man is deaf but reads lips. People talk around him. He's also a philosopher who knows people. he suggests that a man Marlowe is looking for is dead. He is.
This is the only book Philip Marlowe has sex in. Two women, three times. But Marlowe is haunted by an old love who went to Europe and never returned. This old flame sets up POODLE SPRINGS when she returns to town. She's rich and gorgeous and loves sex, but is the kiss of death for Marlowe. I think POODLE SPRINGS was done when Chandler died, because he died when Marlowe understood that domestic bliss sux. So PLAYBACK is the Happy Ever After version of the end. But be careful what you ask for.
