The High Window

[moon_custafer]

Finished reading The High Window; Chandler continues to win at writing supporting characters. I think my favourite is the old elevator operator in the run-down office building.

The ending of this one is the nearest thing I've seen to a victory for Marlowe - most of the guilty who haven't been killed off by each other are still walking free, but at least he's rescued the innocent party from the whole mess. Also, I think he manages to avoid getting beaten up. Yay team Marlowe!

Comments

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Eugor would always make fun of Rogue for getting knocked out and also for not putting together several clues that had been in view up to this point in the story.

Interesting detecting technique, though I doubt he could have had a long career without suffering cumulative brain damage. Then again, most fictional detectives of the time seem to have had the ability to take frequent head injuries without any long-term effects. Unlike the police detective in The Dead Sit Round in a Ring, a novel I must go back and finish, who got hit on the ear during a scuffle midway through and looked as though she was probably going to have permanent tintinitus as a result.

[crankydon.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Unless, of course, Eugor was the brain damage.

Yes, the constant bops on the head with no lasting effects are part of the alternate biology in action-hero land. I've seen a fair number of people make fun of all the shoulder wounds (actually one of the worst places to get a bullet as far as long term effects go) but not about the rubber brains.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

The law of action-movie biology seems to be that heroes and villains can take far *more* damage than normal humans, while supporting characters can take far *less* (i.e. any minor guy who gets shot dies instantly without even a scream; a senior who trips and falls expires within a few minutes rather than going into a long slow decline which finally leads to their death three years later, etc.) At least Victorian novels tend to feature realistic chronic ill health.