The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

This book was specifically recommended by Michael Chabon, the author of The Yiddish Policemen's Union, as an inspiration for his writing. I'd never read anything by Chandler so I thought I'd give it a try. The writing is excellent and it is the original hardboiled detective novel but I find the world the characters live in ugly and inhospitable. Of course, that's the point and there is redemption at the end because Philip Marlowe, the P.I. , is not bought off. The book is mostly about corruption, moral, spiritual, and physical. Marlowe is the struggling P.I. who befriends a drunk, I'm not sure quite why but he senses some kind of likeness with this man. His involvement with Terry leads him into a series of investigations involving murder, organized crime, police corruption, and sexual impropriety. The characters all struggle with existential angst and it's difficult to stay afloat psychologically without feeling one is naive. Of course, it can just be read as a straight up detective story but it's just a little too edgy to ignore the social commentary. Chandler was writing in the postwar period and reflects the darker undercurrents of that time. So, it's and interesting read but Agatha Christie it's not!