"The Big Sleep"

[fiefoe]

I can see the enormous appeal of Raymond Chandler, but there are certain narrative conventions in the detective/mystery genre that I always find hard to cotton to.

Descriptions like 'the outward-turning earlobes of approaching dissolution' are still acceptable, (though it's rather hard to grasp this particular causal effect), but details like 'I dug my bottle of rye out of it and poured half of what was left down my throat and got inside to light a cigarette. I smoked half of it,...' drown rather than immerse. We get it - the stoic PI abides ('Another army of sluggish minutes dragged by.') - but I wish the author weren't so good at conveying tedium.

The dialogs, in contrast, come sharp and fast. (Contrast intentional?)
__ "A nice state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy," he said dryly. "You are looking at a very dull survival of a rather gaudy life"
__ "You didn't like working for Wilde?" "I was fired. For insubordination. I test very high on insubordination."
__ "Tall, aren't you?" she said. "I didn't mean to be."

So far there's only one line I find to be too much.
__ She sat down on the edge of the chaise-longue and cupped her chin in one hand. "My God, you big dark handsome brute! I ought to throw a Buick at you."