::AMAZON REVIEWS::

Enjoy It With a Dry Martini
The last of Dashiell Hammett's five novels, THE THIN MAN seems lighter, more superfluous, than the other two I have read, THE MALTESE FALCON and THE DAIN CURSE. Perhaps. But Hammett's name is almost synonymous with crime noir. Even his lighter work reveals something much darker than might be apparent at first glance.

Nick and Nora Charles, the detectives introduced here, are markedly different than Hammett's other creations. Elegant in a way that the Continental Op could never be, superfluous in a way that would make Sam Spade sneer, they are an insufferably smug couple that are at times rather difficult to like. They spend whatever free time they have drinking and socializing and seeming oh so important.

In New York on vacation, the couple is pressed into service by an old friend to look for a missing man. They enter, or perhaps merely describe, a world of moral vacuity for which Hammett was, and still is, so well known. The lies, evasions and apathy of almost everyone in the book are universal. Underneath the light banter and eternal cocktail hour, Hammett presents a view of the upper crust as having a beautiful veneer as thin as cigarette paper which, when torn away, reveals the dark underbelly of contempt towards anyone outside of their own little circle.

Although I liked THE THIN MAN, I am also glad that Hammett did not use Nick and Nora for any of his other novels (I have read many of Hammett's stories and do not recall seeing them in any; if they are, they are not major figures in Hammett's canon). Like a strange label of beer that I can enjoy for a bottle, but which becomes distasteful after two, the Charles are an interesting pair to be sparingly sampled.

Good Story, Annoying Recording
Good book, bad recording.

Ever hear Firesign Theatre's "Nick Danger" episodes, where male actors do the Femme Fatale's voice in falsetto? This recording is exactly the same. Unfortunately, here we are supposed to take the characters seriously. The unintentional humor lasts about five minutes, after which I turned it off and listened to Firesign.

The contrast between the realistic male narrator's voice and the absurd falsetto of the females creates a jarring disconnect. Although I did finally listen to all six disks, I never really lost myself in the narrative.

Next time, how about just reading the story?

Cigarettes, booze and witty banter: what else do you want?
Back in the days when a cigarette wasn't the cinematic equivalent of a black hat and when real men had scotch for breakfast, Nick and Nora Charles enthralled Depression-era America with their witty repartee, beautiful clothes, and glamorous parties. And with their idleness - they didn't work! All this wealth but no work! All they did was drink, sleep, throw parties and solve the occasional crime.

The book is clipped and breezy. Nick is economical in his words, not least because talking slows down his drinking. (Reporter: Say listen, is he working on a case? Nora Charles: Yes, he is. Reporter: What case? Nora Charles: A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him. ) There are frequent asides, the hard-boiled detective equivalent of `yadda, yadda, yadda,' to skim over the pleasantries and glad handing that consume so much dialog in books and movies.

"The Thin Man," like the movies that followed it, is heavy on style and that makes it a pleasant read. As a book its aims are modest, its execution is excellent, and you just enjoy the journey from mysterious murder to having everything neatly wrapped up, courtesy of your tour guide to both the under and over worlds of New York, Nick Charles.

Watch also "After The Thin Man," which is the tenth best mystery/detective film set in San Francisco and the second best of the Thin Man series of movies (based on my analysis as a reader/watcher of San-Francisco based noir/detective books and movies).

One of my very favorite books!
Boy, these reviews are all over the place, aren't they! Well, they at least give you the plot so I don't have to. Here are some quick comments:

There is so much going on in this book that most people miss much of it the first time (as these reviews show), especially if they don't know Hammett's life. As noted, Hammett modeled Nick and Nora on himself and his paramour, budding playwright Lillian Hellman, so it's interesting to see how he dealt in fiction with their relationship and his ultimate failure to cope with success.

Yet, "The Thin Man" works - and works well - as a straight, hard-boiled detective novel, too (which is why none of the characters are particularly likeable). Also, Nora, one of the few, strong female detectives of the pulp magazine era, has inspired countless woman (including Myrna Loy) through the decades.

Hammett's sparse style of writing, which many critics (including myself) think Hemingway merely popularized, revolutionized American literature. Each of Hammett's words had to do its part. Similarly, unlike those of earlier detective novels, Hammett's characters committed murder and other mayhem for actual reasons! The notion greatly affected Chandler, Macdonald, and all the others who toiled in the garden Hammett created. His books are all classics of American literature.

Some of these reviewers have made too much of the "alcoholism" in the book. Fact is, a certain, large segment of society in the `30s - products of Prohibition - did (or wanted to) drink the way the book's characters do and thought nothing of it. Basically, everybody drank in those days. Even the President of the United States had a bootlegger.

To my mind, an alcoholic is a person who drinks because he or she _has_ to; these characters drink because they _want_ to. Those revisionist Puritan reviewers just don't understand the context of the drinking in "The Thin Man".

Speaking of Puritans, the city of Boston banned "The Thin Man" upon release (thereby greatly increasing its sales) because Nora asks Nick if he got an erection while wrestling with one of the female characters. The word - heard without reaction on TV and in the movies these days - was simply too much for the city fathers. ("Just a little one" Nick answered, if memory serves.) The movie producers could not chance a similar ban on the movie so they cut a lot of the dark humor out of it but introduced Hammett to a lot of people over the world. The problems come when the viewers don't realize the book and the movies are two very different animals.

I would love to see "The Thin Man" made into a movie now - when the producers would respect the work while employing fantastic production values. I'm sure they would remember that Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" did not succeed as a movie until the third try when new producer John Huston wisely utilized most of Hammett's cutting but sparkling dialogue.

Hammett wrote five novels and, while they share similar traits, each one is different from the others and each one is an American classic. "The Thin Man" sees an older, wiser, possibly drunker, Hammett playfully poking fun at himself, Hellman, and the genre he mostly created while staying within the confines of that genre - a difficult trick. "The Thin Man", the most commercially successful of the five, can stand proudly next to its brothers. You'll enjoy it!

Good Read
Just falls short of being called a classic, but nevertheless an excellent read and gathers pace as one reaches the end. I found it very contemporary, almost everything "modern" is discussed or inferred to, be it drug use, incest, toy boys or sexual ambiguity. No wonder it still retains its freshness. I think this is a must read.
Loved when the wife says that they can "fly" back to San Francisco - remember the story takes place in 1932!! Lovely