Long Island Noir

March 5, 2012
Akashic’s Long Island volume in its regional noir series offers an eclectic and effective mix of seasoned pros (Reed Farrel Coleman, Tim McLoughlin, Sarah Weinman) and new voices (Qanta Ahmed, JZ Holden, Amani Scipio). The 17 contributors portray a wonderful diversity of people driven to extremes, from Pakistani immigrant Anjali Osmaan, sent to “Amreekah” as a bride for an uncaring husband in Ahmed’s moving “Anjali’s America,” to the children of Southern migrants in Scipio’s despairing “Jabo’s.” Coleman’s “Mastermind,” in which a “wannabe” plans a perfect robbery, elicits sympathy for the poor fool. In Jane Ciabattari’s “Contents of House,” the victim of a mean-spirited divorce seeks a very tasty revenge. Steven Wishnia’s “Semiconscious” exposes the destructiveness of ultra–right-wing patriots’ response to immigrants, while in Kenneth Wishnia’s “Blood Drive” a laid-off construction worker finds new use for his work-hardened muscles. Jones’s succinct introduction aptly points to The Great Gatsby “as the first noir novel of Long Island.”

May 1, 2012
Longtime Long Islander Jones has collected a volume of 17 new stories as diverse as the massive island itself. Characters traveling to Long Island abound here. In Charles Salzberg's "A Starr Burns Bright," a man named Swann takes the LIRR out to Long Beach for a day to drop off a package for his old friend Goldblatt. Meanwhile, the local cops stop Nick, who's bound for Westhampton Beach in Matthew McGevna's "Gateway to the Stars," before he can get to the Dune Road mansion where his underage brother Jeffrey is headed for a weekend of "true Dionysian worship." Other characters come to Long Island to spend their so-called golden years. Sheila Kohler's "Terror" settles its heroine in Amagansett, where she and her husband bought a second home when land was cheap. Kaylie Jones (the book's editor) sends a writer and his second wife from Manhattan to Wainscott in "Home Invasion," only to reveal a questionable environment for his teenage daughter. And in "Past President," Sarah Weinman shows a retired cop that there's always room for crime in privileged Great Neck. A few characters come from very far away. In Amani Scipio's "Jabo's," May and Shangy hop a watermelon truck in Georgia and discover that even the Hamptons have a wrong side of town. And Qanta Ahmed turns the American dream into a nightmare for a bride from Pakistan in "Anjali's America." The best of these tales are perceptive glimpses into how people live out the choices they make. The worst are pointless recitations of one disaster after the other. No one escapes unscathed, but some wounds are redemptive; others just bleed.

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Starred review from March 1, 2012

In this bleak Long Island anthology, editor Jones (Lies My Mother Never Told Me) uses the American Dream as her overarching theme, a la The Great Gatsby. She divides the volume into four parts: Family Values, Hitting It Big, Love and Other Horrors, and American Dreamers. She has brought in Reed Farrel Coleman, Sarah Weinman, Nick Mamatas, Richie Narvaez, and others, who each write about their own geographic part of the island. For example, Kenneth Wishnia's "Blood Drive" features a Port Jefferson Station worker desperate to find a new job. An unexpected contributor to this volume is cartoonist Jules Feiffer with his graphic short story set in Southampton, "Boob Noir."

The Mumbai volume, edited by Tyrewala (No God in Sight) is similarly structured and divided into three parts: Bomb-ay, Dangerous Liaisons, and An Island Unto Itself. Tyrewala's insightful introduction greatly enhances the reading experience, and the glossary helps, too. There are PIs--meet Ahmed Bunglowala's Shorty Gomes proving his mettle in "Nagpada Blues." Or for historical context, try Kalpish Ratna's "At Leopold Cafe," which haunts long after the final word. The collection is astonishingly diverse. VERDICT Both volumes are worthy additions to Akashic's stellar series. If you can only buy one, go for Tyrewala's anthology for the experience of sampling brand-new authors and for his superb introduction. It might provide a fictional contrast to Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

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