The Big Sleep is a classic of the hard-boiled detective genre, which I really enjoy. I was surprised, though, that it was considered so amazing, because it has some noticeable flaws.

Of course, there are a lot of great elements to the book. The plot is convoluted but still compelling, which is an achievement. It is constantly moving with surprisingly few loose ends for all the plot threads. The characters often are well-developed, and even if they are only around for a short while, they matter. One petty criminal shows up and is killed off not long after, but I was truly sorry to see him die, because he had been developed so well. Of course, the setting is classic.

The writing style is on point for the genre, but I feel like at times it is too focused on genre conventions. For example, there are an awful lot of similes, and while those great descriptions make the book (and the genre) what it is, they just never stop. If you ever think about all of them - rather than just letting them wash over you - they begin to sound formulaic. The writing in one of the super quotable ending passages too, while good, overdid things a bit. It didn't ruin the book or anything, but I thought, "If that paragraph had been half as long, it would have been perfect."

Another convention of the genre is the women. In this book, there are lots of women who try to sleep with the main character, but the one he wants, he can't have. Typical, right? The problem is that this woman wasn't really around long enough for it to be believable that he has feelings for her. When she comes up again after her plotline is resolved, it felt jarring, as though the author needed him to have a love interest but had forgotten about that requirement until the very end.

I don't have a lot of patience for the "what a naughty little girl I am" behavior from adult women as a seduction technique. There was one woman in the book who literally sucked her thumb as she played the bad little girl routine. It was supposed to be annoying and was. I can see why the author sets her up that way, but there are times when she is so nauseating that I just wanted to be done with the book to get away from her.

Oh, and there needs to be a content warning. One of the plotlines includes a gay relationship, and when a gay man throws a punch at Marlow, he says something about how a gay man could never throw a punch hard enough to hurt him. Of course, it is stupid. The gay man, while he does have a bit of personality, is probably the least developed character in the book. I found this section frustrating not just because of the homophobia, but because it was such a flimsy attempt to make the main character look more tough.

In spite of the above issues, the book wasn't ruined for me, nor was I put off the series. This is Chandler's first book, and I think that the problems are first book problems. I've read The Long Goodbye (written later), and it is fantastic. So, I know that his writing gets better. I'll try "Farewell, My Lovely" next.

Should you try this book? It is short and quite good. However, if you want a female character who really has herself together, then you will be disappointed. Clearly, there are other flaws too. Still, it is worth it to give the book a chance, as long as you keep in mind that it isn't perfect.