The Maltese Falcon, written by Dashiell Hammett, is essentially about a detective named Sam Spade. When his partner dies after taking a job from a woman under the alias Ms. Wonderly, more and more questions arise. Throughout the investigation, you follow detective Spade as he unwraps the mystery of his partner’s death and of the maltese falcon.
We find later that although he was hired by Ms. Brigid O'Shaugnessy (Mrs. Wonderly), he was also hired by Joel Cairo. Somehow he eludes the police and his former partner’s wife’s advances, tracking down the true murderer along with the falcon. This book takes the reader on a true roller coaster ride, especially during the climax when they are determining who among them were going to be pinned for the murders. This continued all the way up to the shocking conclusion.
Though I’ve never read a mystery pulp fiction novel before, I found it quite exciting when I bought the audio book for it. The reader did a plethora of different voices for the characters, making identifying them that much easier. I found the wording of the novel much different than that of today’s fiction. The author described the way the faces look throughout the book. Also, the author points out how they move and how they speak as he tells the story. This helped picture the characters much more clearly in their emotions and actions.
The relationships between all the characters were odd in some parts. Spade treats the women as delicate, dull-minded creatures. He kisses them all freely and without consequences. The women aren’t much better than the men, either. They are annoying and shrill. They seem to be so needy of the men and badger them whenever something goes awry. Although, this stereotype isn’t as strong today, I still see men and women acting that way. I suppose that’s just the way we are. The roles of the men were made to emulate a gun wielding tough guy who doesn’t crack under the beauty of a woman. A woman’s role was to have the ability to have that over a man.
It was explained earlier in the course that novels such as these weren’t considered literary pieces. Although “The Maltese Falcon” wasn’t one of the best-written pieces I’ve read, I found it to be enjoyable nonetheless. Spades investigation seemed a little tedious and over explanatory at times but altogether I found the book informative and gripping with detail.
The novel was an overall good story, although I knew that Mrs. O’Shaughnessy was no good to begin with. She lied too much; you knew that she had much more to tell from the beginning. Still, I liked how it came together at the end. Spade became the hero I wanted him to be and not the crook like we thought during the climax. I believe the theme of this novel was about greed and the lengths people go to reach riches. In the end, all she wanted was to be with Mr. Spade and live her life but through her greed she learned a harder lesson. “Im not going to play the fool!” said Mr. Spade.
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