Describe Based On Books The Thin Man
| Title | : | The Thin Man |
| Author | : | Dashiell Hammett |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 201 pages |
| Published | : | July 17th 1989 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (first published 1934) |
| Categories | : | Mystery. Fiction. Classics. Crime. Noir |
Dashiell Hammett
Paperback | Pages: 201 pages Rating: 3.95 | 25898 Users | 1947 Reviews
Narrative Toward Books The Thin Man
We found a table. Nora said: "She's pretty.""If you like them like that."
She grinned at me. "You got types?"
"Only you, darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."
"And how about the red-head you wandered off with at Quinns' last night?"
"That's silly," I said. "She just wanted to show me some French etchings.”
It is almost impossible for me to separate the book from the movies. When I decided to reread this classic that spawned six great movies, Nick Charles was of course William Powell, and Nora Charles was of course Myrna Loy. Those actors are forever Nick and Nora for me. The book is famous for the witty exchanges between Nora and Nick, but the book is somewhat overshadowed by the wonderful repartee between Powell and Loy over the course of the six movies. The scintillating, amusing conversations are punctuated by Loy’s uptilted nose and impish smile and Powell’s infectious grin as he takes pleasure in toying with his wife’s state of mind.
We must not forget the Charles’s dog Asta. ”That afternoon I took Asta for a walk, explained to two people that she was a Schnauzer and not a cross between a Scottie and an Irish terrier….” The dog, Skippy, who was cast in the movie was a Wire Fox Terrier. I have a six month old Scottish Terrier, whose name is Astra after the state motto of Kansas, ad astra per aspera. Astra in Latin means stars. For those who know us and how much we love The Thin Man movies, they always assume that it is also a nod to Asta...and they would be right. Asta doesn’t provide the comic relief in the book that he does in the movie, but he is a presence for most of the book. There are usually some light hearted moments with Asta in every movie where they are chasing him around the room trying to retrieve a vital clue from between his jaws or other scenes where he is just doing something terminally adorable that brings a bit more lightheartedness to the script.
Dashiell Hammett based the Charles’s off his own tempestuous on-again and off-again relationship with Lillian Hellman. From what I’ve read, he definitely must have focused on the sunnier side of the relationship because one of the most enjoyable things about this dynamic couple is their friendly, jocular interactions, highlighted with the rich overtones of how much they admire and like one another. Hellman and Hammett fought like Siamese Fighting Fish. The fights that Nick and Nora get into are playful, funny, and foreplay that provides Nick with an opportunity to grab Nora and plant a kiss on her that will shake her fillings.
There really aren’t a lot of happy married couples in noir literature. Hardboiled mystery writers seem to focus on characters as singular individuals. They are usually divorced or single, and if they are married, they certainly aren’t happily married. Nick and Nora are best together, and as the investigation in the story moves forward, they seem a bit unmoored when they are apart. They drink heavily, mirroring the Hellman and Hammett relationship in that aspect.
”She sat on the sofa beside me. ‘Now out with it. If you skip a single word, I’ll---’
‘I’d have to have a drink before I could do any talking.’
She cursed me and brought me a drink.”
Nick doesn’t want to investigate crime. He is perfectly happy spending his days drinking martinis and looking after Nora’s money, but Nora is obsessed with his previous life as a private investigator and certainly has a rosy, unrealistic view of the profession. So the way the stories go in the book and the movies is that invariably Nora drags Nick into an investigation. He reluctantly agrees to see what he can do, which is to cleverly solve the crime and wrap up the criminals for the bungling cops to haul off to jail. In this book, he is investigating the murder of a mistress of the mad scientist Clyde Wynant, and in the course of his investigation, he and Nora have to contend with the whole Wynant clan, each as loony as the next. The ex-wife Mimi is a real piece of work, a combination of curves and cunning. She tries to use both assets on Nick, and needless to say, things get out of hand.
”’Tell me something, Nick. Tell me the truth: when you were wrestling with Mimi, didn’t you have an erection?’
‘Oh, a little.’
She laughed and got up from the floor. ‘If you aren’t a disgusting old lecher,’ she said.”
Did she just say erection? My, my goodness sakes, Nora. Do you kiss Nick with that mouth? Why yes, she does.
If you take a drink every time Nick orders an alcoholic beverage, you will be plowed by the time you get 30 pages into the book or thirty minutes into the movie. The heavy drinking in this book and the movies might be more than a hint to Dashiell Hammett’s own struggle with alcohol. It might also be the key to why he stuck with Hellman so long. She was a heavy drinker too, and as happens sometimes, couples bond over drinking. Their drinking escalates with dual encouragement, and they become caught in a cycle of maladaptive drinking. I certainly can feel jealous of Nick and Nora’s lifestyle. They can leave a city at the drop of the hat and go to any other city in the world. Money is not an issue, and time is something they have in abundance. They are about as free as two people can ever hope to be. Oh, and they are hopelessly, head over heels in love with one another. Freedom, plenty of money, and someone who loves us, what more could anyone wish for? I highly recommend the book and the movies paired with a few vodka martinis shaken not stirred.
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Declare Books In Favor Of The Thin Man
| Original Title: | The Thin Man |
| ISBN: | 0679722637 (ISBN13: 9780679722632) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Nick Charles, Nora Charles |
| Setting: | New York State,1934(United States) |
Rating Based On Books The Thin Man
Ratings: 3.95 From 25898 Users | 1947 ReviewsWeigh Up Based On Books The Thin Man
If I weren't the mean teacher I am I'd cut Hammett slack and round up to four stars because this---the last of his novels---is a solid 3-1/2. And that's only because it pales in comparison to every one of his other novels except THE DAIN CURSE, which is the true 3-star. The main knock on THIN is that Hammett was pretty much bored with fiction by this point in his career, having lost his bearings to booze, broads, and just about any other indulgence that began with a B except Billy Barty (tooSomehow I never saw this movie or read this book during my six-month crime noir kick in ninth grade (though I did read Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key aroud that time). But, boy, I'm glad that I've read it now. The Thin Man is the last novel Hammett completed (though he started or pretended to start a half-dozen others) and it has the feel of being a parady of his other novellas and the 1930s crime genre in general. It is fabulously funny - as in, I couldn't go two pages without
I invented a new drinking game based on The Thin Man and tried to give it a test run when I re-read it. The rules were simple, every time that main character Nick Charles took a drink, Id take one, too. However, I had to be taken to the hospital for treatment of extreme alcohol poisoning by the second chapter. So dont try that.Nick used to be a private detective in New York, but he left that behind when he married Nora and moved to California to take over the management of the various businesses
Captain Renault : What in heavens name brought you to Casablanca?Rick : My health I came to Casablanca for the waters.Captain Renault : Waters? What waters? Were in the desert.Rick : I was misinformed.*Thinking Dashiell Hammett would be the go-to guy now that I have run out of Chandlers, I thought : lets read the very famous The Thin Man. The movie is great, what could possibly go wrong?*Well, for starters, Chandlers prose is graced with genius where Hammetts prose is graced with deadlines. *
I had never read a Hammett novel until now and, while I did enjoy it, I would be lying by omission if I did not say I like the movies so much better. I suspect this would be the case, too, with Hammett's other famous novels, in which his snappy detectives are the most enjoyable and memorable aspect of the stories. Hammett's writing is as crisp and clean as fresh-pressed linen, which suits his material. I found the book to be a real page-turner, in many ways.And yet . . . * I think whether
This is the first Hammett novel I've read. I don't know why I haven't made the effort to read such an iconic writer before, particularly as I am a long-time crime fiction reader and a fan of "classic" mysteries. It may be my first Hammett, but I'm pretty sure it won't be my last.I've just finished re-reading all of the novels of Dorothy L Sayers, who is without doubt my favourite writer of "Golden Age" mysteries. It was interesting to compare The Thin Man with Sayers' novels. It's certainly less
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