Perchance to Dream

Perchance to Dream is Robert B. Parker's sequel to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. Here, once again, Marlowe runs into the crazy sisters Vivian and Carmen Sternwood. In the Big Sleep, as you know, Carmen is totally insane and killed a man and was put away in a sanitarium. Here, she disappears and the Sternwood butler, who has been left a lot of money by the girls' father, hires Marlow to find her. Problem is it seems nobody wants him to look for her, much less find her. Of course Marlow runs into all kinds of shady dealings and nefarious characters in his search and it turns out to be rather standard mystery novel. Overall, this novel is a bit too much like the Big Sleep. Although the plot is quite different, I almost felt like I was reading the same novel over again. And I never really did find the Sternwood sisters to be all that believable as characters. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining and well done novel so I would recommend it to Parker and Chandler fans.

This book is a good sequil to The Big Sleep, and is much easier to read. You can picture Bogart (albeit 6 foot tall and 190 lbs) trouncing around southern California in search of the missing Carmen Sternwood, with Bacall having a bit part as sister Vivian. Parker is faithful to the characters, and does a nice job. This was a fun read.

We really admire Parker for having the knowledge and creativity to "dream" up a new Philip Marlowe some fifty years after the original "Big Sleep" {1939} was published. We may be influenced by having just recently read Chandler's original first novel (so it was fresh in our mind), but we thought Parker did a great job. First, his use of literal quotation from the original made an effective prologue as well as effective transitions for the plot line that continued in his sequel. Second, his replication of Marlowe, with which he had prior experience in finishing Chandler's last work, Poodle Springs {to which Chandler only contributed the first four chapters}, was so credible we barely missed the masterful prose of the series creator. In the story, the younger of (now deceased) General Sternwood's daughters, Carmen, is missing from a sanitarium to which she was committed as part of the outcome of "Sleep". Her sister Vivian, with whom Marlowe eventually became infatuated enough to bed, wants her found, but turned to another of her friends from the first book, Eddie Mars, to find. Meanwhile Norris the butler hires Marlowe to do the same, and ironically he and Eddie form an unlikely alliance at times to pursue matters. Before it's over, a scheme to make a millionaire out of the sanitarium founder, in cohorts with a wealthy land baron recluse, is uncovered; as is the perpetrator of a couple more killings along the way. Naturally the urbane but dogged Marlowe finds time in between drinking, smoking, and wowing attractive women, to unravel all and ride off into the sunset as a hero. Some might quibble that Parker is a mediocre substitute for Mr. Chandler, but who might be up to the task of stringing wordcraft in that author's stead? We found Parker's plot quite entertaining in its own merits and his ability to credibly bring Marlowe back to life after fifty years quite remarkable. We enjoyed the book immensely, and found it no unworthy companion to his main man Spenser. Indeed, we commend this book to Chandler and Marlowe devotees!

Robert B. Parker comes the closest to the attitude of Phillip Marlowe. Stuart Kaminsky writes his Toby Peters stories more for laughs. Andrew Bergman (The Big Kiss-Off of 1944) had flashes where he nailed the speech, but was more in keeping with Spillane overall. William Nolan (The Marble Orchard) copies some of the dialogue- and I do mean copies- in his enjoyable Chandlerian mystery. And there are others, myriad others. But none of them get it quite right.Neither does Parker, but he comes the closest. He matches the world-weariness, the cynicism and the reluctant romanticism, finding the knight in tarnished armor that is Marlowe. Yes, he very nearly matches the attitude. But he falls short with the style.Chandler nearly ruined literature for me, because everything about every line of his writing'- the dialogue, the descriptions, the societal observations'- is so incredibly entertaining. Nothing can meet its rarified level. So I try to make due with 'close-enoughs.' When I finish a Chandler novel, I am depressed it came to an end; when I closed Parker's Perchance To Dream, it elicited a 'That's all there is?'In P2D, the narrative is much too straightforward. The villain was clear from the first quarter of the book and there were few mysteries to solve. No convoluted Black Mask motives, no people impersonating other people. Marlowe doesn't even get sapped until distressingly late in the story. There is only one real subplot; then that ties in with the other so they can both be too-neatly wrapped up. It becomes clear what Marlowe must do and he sets out to do it. Then, very abruptly, the novel is over. It is strenuous but not complex. There is no last minute twist because the story followed a Spenser-like plot; it more resembles the structure of the first Lethal Weapon movie than it does that of The Big Sleep.And as 50 years have passed between the publishing of the original novel and this one, some subtlety has been forsaken. Parker shows welcome restraint given the subject matter, but Carmen's decadence seemed in Chandler's novel somehow exotic and vague. In P2D, as postmodern psychology and sensibilities are applied, it seems cold and open and dirty.Still, there is a lot that is great in this book. The flashbacks and tips-of-the-hat to the original novel come off better than they might have. We root for Marlowe and hiss the villain, as we should. Parker has penned an abundance of juicy wisecracks and has figured out how to end his chapters in the bittersweet tone much like Chandler accomplished. And the story, despite what I said above, is furiously-paced and viscerally entertaining. It just isn't Chandler.Perchance To Dream is a good novel; but when someone slaps the words 'Sequel to The Big Sleep' on the cover of anything it had better be blackjack-to-the-head *great*. The fault isn't really Parker's' he came close, and his was a nigh-impossible task. After all, who can be as great as Raymond Chandler?P.S. Poodle Springs was a more accurate tr