The Big Sleep vs The high window: Which Should You Read?

Cover of The Big Sleep The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler · 1939 ★★★★☆ 3.9 184 pages · ≈ 3 h 24 m · Challenging
“It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.”

Philip Marlowe, a private eye who operates in Los Angeles's seamy underside during the 1930s, takes on his first case, which involves a paralyzed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail, and murder

1★2★3★4★5★
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Cover of The  high window The high window Raymond Chandler · 1942 ★★★★☆ 3.8 198 pages · ≈ 3 h 40 m · Demanding

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the 1940s and 1950s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and…

1★2★3★4★5★

The verdict

How to choose

Scores by source

The Big SleepThe high window
Goodreads — 4.0 (8)
Hardcover 3.8 (400) —
Apple Books 4.0 (427) —

Reception

The Big SleepThe high window
Ratings 427 12
Editions 116 32
Citations — 20
Film adaptations 1 —
Want to read — 11
Written reviews — 1
Wikipedia attention 9669 —
Pages 184 198

Side by side

The Big SleepThe high windowEnjoymentDifficultyInfluencePopularityClassic

Shared themes