Negative Positive
Title: Tough going
Review: Why is it that books that are labeled as "classics" often seem to disappoint? That's a question that has a longer answer than I'd care to write about here, but that thought did occur to me several times while reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I'm sure high expectations have something to do with it, and the story did seem to be a winner. Philip Marlowe, a private dick from L.A. is on a black mailing case involving a millionaire and his two insane daughters.Here we find excellent prose, but a plot that is so hard to follow, I gave up about three quarters of the way through. I would have been able to keep up if I kept a notebook of all the characters (of which there are too many), and a history of what had happened thus far (too much too soon). Someone reading this for a college class may have a highlighter or two handy, and get more out of this book. However, the casual reader will find this novel tough going.
Is the review positive or negative? 