Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Leave Toronto Noir in the Dark Where it Belongs

One of the books I picked up for my vacation was a collection of short stories called Toronto Noir edited by Janine Armin & Nathaniel G. Moore. This was my 3rd read for the challenge. It is a collection of short stories set in different neighbourhoods in Toronto. It is part of a series of books from other major cities and Toronto is the first Canadian city to have its own book. There is a Chicago Noir, Paris Noir, Delhi Noir and three volumes of Brooklyn Noir. I thought this might be a nice light read and a fun way to re-discover Toronto neighbourhoods. I was wrong. The stories I read - the first 5 - were very simply written, with basic storylines that were completely predictable, uninteresting and just plain silly. One of the stories was set in Little India and used stereotypes that I found distastefull. I kept hoping the stories would get better but they didn't. I do not recommend you bother picking up this book to read. A complete waste of paper.