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Tel Aviv Noir
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Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. For Tel Aviv Noir, Etgar Keret and Assaf Gavron have masterfully assembled some of Israel's top contem
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Paperback, 280 pages
Published
October 7th 2014
by Akashic Books
(first published July 1st 2014)
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Start your review of Tel Aviv Noir
The stories are divided into three sections (not for any real reason I can perceive). I read one from each.
From "Encounters": “The Time-Slip Detective,” by Lavie Tidhar, because I always like Tidhar. Despite being fantasy, this was actually the most noir-appropriate of the stories I read, as it is at least paying homage to noir. For those who read and enjoy this story, I recommend the author's The Violent Century as more similar in tone than the other novel of his I've read, The Bookman.
Bonus: I ...more
The nickname for Tel Aviv...the sunny city is called “Bubble” due to its sense of complete separation from the violent, conflict country in which it is situated.
“Compared to Jerusalem—torn apart, exploding with nationalism, xenophobia, and religious zeal—Tel Aviv has not always been an island of sanity and serenity”.
However in spite of its warmly and polite exterior, Tel Aviv has quite a bit to hide.
“At any club, most of the people dancing around you to the sounds of a deep-house hit dedicate ...more
“Compared to Jerusalem—torn apart, exploding with nationalism, xenophobia, and religious zeal—Tel Aviv has not always been an island of sanity and serenity”.
However in spite of its warmly and polite exterior, Tel Aviv has quite a bit to hide.
“At any club, most of the people dancing around you to the sounds of a deep-house hit dedicate ...more
incredibly uneven anthology that suffers from odd editing choices. some stories are very out of place, others borderline unreadable, and a few really shine.
reviewed here: http://www.jewcy.com/jewish-arts-and-... ...more
reviewed here: http://www.jewcy.com/jewish-arts-and-... ...more
As number of previous reviewers have pointed out, this short story compilation was very mixed in interest and quality. I love noir fiction and especially so when it captures the geographic location and makes it an important character in itself (two shining examples would be "The Main" by Trevanian, and James Ellroy's, "L.A. Confidential"). I appreciate that this would be hard to do in the confines of the short story format. Nevertheless, I was disappointed in how little I felt I was learning abo
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A mixed bag at best, with very few stories containing any semblance of the noir traditions; some entries are excellently-written regardless, while others are borderline-unreadable in terms of their style. All in all, something of a disappointment.
It took me a hot second to get into this book and it is definitely dark look at Tel Aviv. The stories are uneven and I thought some of the stories at the end were better than those at the beginning of the anthology. Perhaps I was more used to the topic?
A very dark collection of stories, as you'd expect. Some are outstanding, some are okay, some could be better. All in all a great read.
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I had enjoyed the “Seven Good Years” by Etgar Keret and mistakenly assumed this was another book by the same author. When I got my hands on it, I realized it was a set of short stories by several up and coming Israeli authors. Etgar had one story in there and I didn’t care much for that one. However, there were many others that were outstanding. All of the stories are set in and around Tel Aviv and bring out the vibrancy and excitement of the city life. Interestingly the stories are listed in th
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This marks my 100th book of CY2017, thus completing my Reading Challenge!
It was a decent read, although the stories seemed more like Dark Brown or Very Dark Brown than Noir. I have been to Tel Aviv & thoroughly enjoyed myself. It did not seem to have the "Noirness" of other cities & this anthology kind of bore out that idea. There were a couple of really good ones, but in sum, it was one of the lesser entries in this ongoing series. ...more
It was a decent read, although the stories seemed more like Dark Brown or Very Dark Brown than Noir. I have been to Tel Aviv & thoroughly enjoyed myself. It did not seem to have the "Noirness" of other cities & this anthology kind of bore out that idea. There were a couple of really good ones, but in sum, it was one of the lesser entries in this ongoing series. ...more
A good collection of stories, three were translations. Not all hits, but mostly good and mostly by authors I had not heard of. I really liked Etgar Keret's story but was disappointed in the one by Assaf Gavron. A couple were incomprehensible to me but that was part of the fun.
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I really enjoyed and liked this book. One of the stories literally gave me goosebumps, it was called Clear Recent history and then another I super liked for some passages was called My Father's Kingdom. The rest of the stories were good too. Not one bad story. Recommend.
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Always up for reading stuff set in a place I know (and I love Etgar Keret), but these stories are really mixed.
A fine addition to the Akashic noir collection.
Not strictly noir, but a sharp collection.
Jun 13, 2017
Patty
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
crime-fiction,
murder,
fiction,
women-writers,
short-stories,
family,
mystery,
israel,
noir,
2017
”As applied to individual stories, ‘noir’ can be reduced to ‘tough’ or ‘gritty’ or just ‘not cozy.’ But the fierce regional pride that runs through this collection does capture the characters’ fatalistic sense of alienation, even in their own hometowns.” from “You Wouldn’t Want to Live There: ‘USA Noir,’ and More” by Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times, January 3, 2014.
I have known about the Akashic Noir series for a long time. If you had asked me, I would have said that I was planning to read ...more
I have known about the Akashic Noir series for a long time. If you had asked me, I would have said that I was planning to read ...more
There are many problems with this book, especially towards the end where reading turns into a slog and some of the stories don't quite stick as they should. I've read very little noire elsewhere, however in Tel Aviv Noir the "noir" feels more absurd, as if its playing with our expectations. For better or for worse, there are some truly great stories in here especially in the first half: "Sleeping Mask" by Gadi Taub and "Who's A Good Boy" by Julia Fermentto stand out in my mind. Apparently "Clear
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As many of the other reviewers have said, the stories in this collection vary quite a bit in quality. I enjoyed a couple of them, couldn't finish several, and slogged through the rest. It even took me two tries to start this book because I couldn't get through the first story. The stories were variously intriguing, interesting, sad, pretentious, and ridiculous. If you do choose to read this collection, don't feel bad about skipping a few stories.
I received this book as a Goodreads First Read. ...more
I received this book as a Goodreads First Read. ...more
A collection of short stories, all based in a particular location in Tel Aviv. I assume the location is important to the story, but since I am not familiar with Tel Aviv, I missed that aspect. I liked some of the tales better than others, not surprising for any collection, and overall thought the editors did a good job of showing the noir side of the city. This is part of a series each book focusing on a different city. Intriguing idea.
It was fun to read a noir book set in Tel Aviv and to find jewish references in a type of story I don't usually find them. I liked some of the stories more than others. A few were very forgettable but some were just amazing and had such unique plots that I keep thinking about them. I loved taking a darker look at this city and seeing what the shadows hide. Very recommended!
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An interesting collection of stories that all take place in Tel Aviv but there were only a few that really grabbed me: Slow Cooking by Deakla Keydar, Swirl by Silje Bekeng, and Allergies by Etgar Keret.
More of an Etgar Keret vibe than "noir" in terms of style. Well written and enjoyable. It doesn't really have much to do with Tel Aviv but I enjoyed it anyways. Like most short story collection stories differ in degrees of quality although I could recommend most of the stories in this volume.
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Stories of very mixed quality, some I enjoyed quite a bit. Felt handicapped by not knowing the city or the culture particularly well. It seemed like a lot of the stories had sub-text and layering in them that I could not understand or appreciate. Took me forever to finish reading.
This is an excellent anthology. I don't know Tel Aviv, but I like these stories. I'm not even that much for noir, though I certainly enjoy it from time to time. Gritty, compelling, varied, and interesting though. Good stuff.
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I have read many books in the Akashic Noir series, and this is one of the better ones. That may be because I am fond of the style of writing and the subject matter, but the stories were interesting and engaging.
I won this book as part of the Goodreads First-Read program.
Sep 22, 2014
Erika Dreifus
added it
Included in my season preview for the Jewish Journal: http://www.erikadreifus.com/2014/09/s...
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Really inconsistent. A couple of great stories, but the rest are just ok.
See my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
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As with most anthologies, several outstanding stories, others kept my interest but just OK, and a few didn't grab me at all.
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A stirring collection of short stories. Some could be called strange. A look at the darker side of Tel Aviv and Israel.
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Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His books had been published in more than 45 languages.
Keret has received the Prime Minister's award for literature, as well as the Ministry of Culture's Cinema Prize. The short film Malka Lev Adom (Skin Deep, 1996), which Keret wrote and directed with Ran Tal, won an Israel Fil ...more
Keret has received the Prime Minister's award for literature, as well as the Ministry of Culture's Cinema Prize. The short film Malka Lev Adom (Skin Deep, 1996), which Keret wrote and directed with Ran Tal, won an Israel Fil ...more
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