Paris noir : the suburbs / edited by Hervé Delouche ; translation by Katie Shireen Assef, David Ball, Nicole Ball and Paul Curtis Daw.

Title:

Author:

Assef, Katie Shireen, translator.

Ball, Nicole, 1941- translator.

Ball, David, 1937- translator.

Delouche, Hervé, editor.

Daw, Paul Curtis, translator.

ISBN:

9781617757556

Physical Description:

264 pages ; 21 cm.

Series:

The Akashic noir series

Akashic noir series.

General Note:

"Received the French Voices Award for excellence in publication and translation"--Title page verso.

Translated from the French.

Contents:

I am not Paris / Choé Mehdi -- The Morillon Houses / Karim Madani -- Seeing is believing / Insa Sané -- The metamorphosis of Emma F. / Christian Roux - Beneath the Périphérique / Marc Villard -- The Donkey Cemetery / Jean-Pierre Rumeau -- Pantin, really / Timothée Demeillers -- To my last breath / Rachid Santaki -- The baroness / Marc Fernandez -- Men at work : date of completion, February 2027 / Guillaume Balsamo -- The showdows of the Trapèze / Anne Secret -- Strange martyrs / Anne-Sylvie Salzman -- The day Johnny died / Patrick Pécherot.

Abstract:

From the introduction by Herv? Delouche: The term Greater Paris is in vogue today, for it has an administrative cachet and seems to denote a simple extension of the capital?as if a ravenous Paris need only extend her web. However, it was not our goal to embrace the tenets of the metro area?s comprehensive plan, aka the Grand Projet, envisioned as a future El Dorado by the planners and developers. Rather, our aim was to depict the Parisian suburbs in all their plurality and diversity. Without pretending to encompass every spot on the map, we instead opted to give voice and exposure to the localities chosen by the writers who have been part of this adventure. Thus, we decided to adopt the word "suburbs"? in the plural, obviously, for the periphery of the capital is not a homogeneous bloc, nor is it reducible to a clich? like "the suburban ring" . . . Here are thirteen stories, decidedly noir, to be savored without sugar or sweetener.

Subject Term:

Detective and mystery stories, French -- Translations into English.

Short stories, French -- Translations into English.

Noir fiction, French -- Translations into English.

France -- Paris. (OCoLC)fst01205283

Geographic Term:

Paris (France) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Fictional Work

short stories.

Short stories, French. (OCoLC)fst01750181

Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787

Fiction.

Romans.

Nouvelles.

Added Author:

Assef, Katie Shireen,

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Mystery Fiction Book Paperback	120791003008504	M PAR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Here are thirteen stories of the Paris suburbs, decidedly noir, to be savoured without sugar or sweetener. Featuring brand-new stories from: Cloe Mehdi, Karim Madani, Insa Sane, Christian Roux, Marc Villard, Jean-Pierre Rumeau, Timothee Demeillers, Rachid Santaki, Marc Fernandez, Guillaume Balsamo, Anne Secret, Anne-Sylvie Salzman, and Patrick Pecherot. (All stories were written in French and translated into English.)

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Paris's suburbs--a mix of slums, posh neighborhoods, fading industrial centers, and the city's notorious housing projects that lie out of the sight of most tourists--provide the setting for the 13 tales in this uneven noir anthology. Highlights include Chloé Mehdi's angry "I Am Not Paris," in which relentless anti-Muslim prejudice drives a once peaceful Muslim woman to resort to political violence, and Marc Villard's bleak "Beneath the Périphérique," in which a 15-year-old runaway living on the street makes a desperate but doomed attempt to escape her life after witnessing a police murder. Marc Fernandez's whimsical "The Baroness" shows how when an elderly dowager, infatuated with a charming younger Colombian drug lord, is arrested for drug smuggling, things may turn out to not be what they seem. In Jean-Pierre Rumeau's memorable "The Donkey Cemetery," a young couple's plans to spend a romantic night in a moonlit forest turn into a survivalist's nightmare that provides each with unexpected insights into the other. Unfortunately, some stories, because of their brevity and lack of development, are forgettable. This entry in this acclaimed series is only average at best. (Feb.)

Kirkus Review

Noir afficionado Delouche offers 13 stories that show how far from Paris those who live just outside the French capital really are. Chloe Mehde lays out the premise in the very first entry, "I Am Not Paris." A young Muslim woman realizes how little French her family is seen as when her cousin is imprisoned for making a rude comment about Charlie Hebdo. One tale of marginalization follows another. In "Beneath the Peripherique," a runaway scraping by selling knock-offs at the Saint Ouen flea market is imperiled when she witnesses a crime. An Albanian escaping an honor killing rarely sees the light of day in Timothee Demeillers' "Pantin, Really." Even the community centers, built largely to serve immigrant communities, fail in their purpose, as Insa Sane shows in "Seeing Is Believing" and Karim Madani, in "The Morillon Houses." The drug trade flourishes in Rachid Santaki's "To My Last Breath." Even the wealthier enclaves, like Neuilly-sur-Seine, have their share of drug trafficking, as Marc Fernandes reveals in "The Baroness." Urban (or suburban) renewal schemes fail in Guillaume Balsamo's "Men at Work: Date of Completion, February 2027." And in some ways, as Anne Secret in "Shadows of the Trapeze" and Patrick Pcherot in "The Day Johnny Died" suggest, attempts to repurpose disused industrial sites are the root of the problem themselves. Dark tales shine a bright light on some little-seen parts of greater Paris. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

The latest in Akashic Books' seemingly endless series of place-based crime noir fiction. This time, the short stories center on the suburbs of Paris, fertile soil for all sorts of resentment and violence. The dozen stories in the collection are all by writers fresh to American readers. In Cloé Mehdi's "I Am Not Paris," a young Arab reacts to the anti-Muslim witch hunt that followed the Charlie Hebdo massacre. In Christian Roux's "The Metamorphosis of Emma F.," a man abducts a movie star, force-feeds her, then kills her and tosses her body away. In Marc Villard's "Beneath the Péripherique," a 15-year-old living on the streets witnesses a murder but can't do anything about it because people like him are unprotected in Paris. In Timothée Demeillers's "Pantin, Really," an Albanian hides in Paris to escape a blood feud in Kosovo, but it finds him anyway. Marc Fernandez's "The Baroness" tracks the police closing in on a bored baroness and her drug-dealing lover. VERDICT For lovers of crime noir short fiction, these are 12 stories of life lived in the raw.--David Keymer