AmySea

I just couldn't get into The Big Sleep, and I'm quitting the book about half way through. The only thing that I liked about this book is the fantastic metaphors and descriptive language--there is no problem visualizing the scenes that [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg] wrote! My problem was I just didn't care about any of these characters or about the story itself. Now, to be fair, I don't know if that's due to the book, or if it's due to the fact that I listened to this on audiobook. The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Elliott Gould. I know that the man has played Philip Marlowe on film, and maybe he's great for that role in a movie. But for me, his voice just does not match the voice that hard boiled private investigators have in my head! I found his voice to be so distracting and wrong that I just couldn't stay focused on what was going on in the story! So, that was bad enough.

Then the story started getting a little too homophobic for my taste. I guess in Philip Marlowe's world in order to be a "real man" you have to be willing to smack women around and engage in gay bashing. Hm. I wasn't impressed.