Carrie,
I agree that you and I got a little bogged down in
definition. Your distinction between character change and
character revelation helps a lot. Actually, if I haven't made
it clear, I consider myself a character person, too. And it
is character revelation that interests me, especially that of
characters fighting against change (I know, in the cosmic
and/or zen sense, that struggle is change, too). It (and
style) is far more important to me than an intricate plot.
(Hell, I love Goodis and many of his plots are utterly
ridiculous.)
Speaking of plot, Juri, I agree that Long Goodbye is clearer
than much Chandler (as we all know, not even Chandler had any
idea who killed one of the characters in Big Sleep), but I
figured out the gimmick fairly early on and I seldom even try
to figure out whodunnit. I guess I just always figure SPOILER
ALERT that any body in a mystery, especially its face, not
actually seen by a totally trustworthy character is never the
body it is supposed to be. SPOILER OVER That said, I think
this is the book in which we get to know Marlowe best,
through his relationship and reactions to Terry Lennox. Of
course, part of that may be because it was the first Marlowe
I read.
Back to Carrie: I also consider Switch atypical Leonard,
although the comic caper is becoming more typical of him (I
realize that I've now called almost half of his books
atypical, so maybe it's actually the hardboiled Detroit and
early Florida novels I like so much that are atypical). It is
a humorous caper gone wrong book, about a kidnapping. It
features the characters who reappear in Rum Punch (made into
the film Jackie Brown) decades later. It's fun, but I prefer
Leonard's harder stuff -- Split Images, City Primeval, Stick,
Ryan's Rules (AKA Swag), Unknown Man #89 (?), etc. And to
whoever speculated that those who lost interest in Leonard
did so because Leonard's plots became looser, less
constructed, well, not in my case. I lost interest because of
his shift in tone and character. The books became less
driven, more leisurely, a bit more tongue in cheek, more
openly romantic in vision. And his characters ceased being as
desperate.
Finally, I haven't read Dead Souls, yet, but for the record,
there are books in the series in which Rebus is at least as
contrary as Bosch, although he seldom seems to have the
control over his own world than the LA detective has. And
it's been a while since I've seen the movie or read The
Maltese Falcon, but I don't remember there being much, if
anything, in the movie that's not in the book, which is one
reason why it's such a good movie.
Mark
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