Fear and Nostalgia in the 21st Century: A Brief Overview of Hard-Boiled and Noir Fiction Part Four

The articles in this series were originally written for and posted at Literary Exploration.

There are literally dozens of great authors and great novels that could have been suggested as essential reading for this guide. The writer of the article went through agonising decisions over who to leave out and is more than aware that your favourite author probably hasn't been mentioned but feel free to start a discussion in the comments.

A (not-so-brief) Brief Overview of Hard-boiled and Noir Fiction

Part Four – Fear and Nostalgia in Los Angeles (1990s & 2000s)

There are currently many prolific authors working in crime fiction, whose names will not be mentioned, that occasionally find themselves labelled as noir by fans and critics alike and quite simply are not. They write about cops who have problems with their superiors or former military men with vengeance on their mind, they pile up the bodies and solve dark cases but they border on fantasy and as we’ve seen in the previous three parts to this overview true noirs are realistic and bleak with very few happy endings.

After assessing fifty years of noir and hard-boiled writing it becomes quite obvious that the fourth generation, the contemporary American hard-boiled and noir writer are yet to truly find their own unique voice or societal change to rail against.

If you accept that 9/11 changed the world completely in the same way that WWII and the threat of nuclear war did to previous generations we should expect a dramatic increase in distinct creative output from the next wave of authors.

What is clear is that, as with the rise in popularity of dystopian fiction, contemporary hard-boiled and noir authors are looking to their genre heritage and their countries past for settings and places to escape to. They are almost a lost generation, dreaming of a time when things were friendlier, less scary, less connected and invasive, that time when there was still some hope for the American Dream.

I discovered the work of Megan Abbott this year, she’s approximately 3 feet tall and specialises in reworking dark noir stories with a female centred twist. If you saw her on the street she'd probably be the last person you would imagine writing such dark novels. Her debut, Die A Little (2005), is set in 1950s LA and steeped in atmospheric suspense and voyeuristic appeal. She wrote four of these excellent period re-workings and then along came The End of Everything (2011) in which she updated her noir styling’s to teenaged girls in 1980s suburbia to amazing effect. It is a tale of lust, revenge, guilt, and my favourite four noir words; secrets, lies, passions and repressions.

Walter Mosley created the iconic hard-boiled hero Easy Rawlins in Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) and went on to write ten more books about his black private detective in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, ending with Blonde Faith (2007). Utilising the style of Chandler and MacDonald Mosley manages to craft top quality hard-boiled mysteries and blend them with analysis of the social inequalities of the time.

George Pelecanos is one of the most famous names from this list, especially for his time writing for the HBO series The Wire. He came to prominence however for his D.C. Quartet, a series of four historical crime novels set in Washington D.C.. He also created two fantastic hard-boiled series featuring first Nick Stefanos in A Firing Offense (1991) and then the pairing of Derek Strange and Terry Quinn with Right as Rain (2001) which has built him a reputation for his gritty depiction of street life and a focus on hard-luck criminals.

James Ellroy, the King of Sinnuendo, the Demon Dog of American crime writing, knows how to write bleak noir filled with hard-boiled characters like nobody working today. His work is generally set in the 1950s and 1960s, featuring densely plotted criminal behaviour from all sides of the law with his tone relentlessly pessimistic. Perhaps his best work (or at the very least the best place to start) is L.A. Confidential (1990) and should be followed up with the first part of his Underworld USA trilogy American Tabloid (1995). But nobody can describe him better than he describes himself:

“Good evening peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps. I'm James Ellroy, the demon dog, the foul owl with the death growl, the white knight of the far right, and the slick trick with the donkey dick. I'm the author of 16 books, masterpieces all; they precede all my future masterpieces. These books will leave you reamed, steamed and drycleaned, tie-dyed, swept to the side, true-blued, tattooed and bah fongooed. These are books for the whole fuckin' family, if the name of your family is Manson.”

Another black private investigator, Lew Griffin, got his start in The Long-Legged Fly (1992) by James Sallis, a novel that starts in the 60s and moves through to the 90s and would lead to five more outings. Sallis has his own way of writing these hard-boiled private detectives, they’re complex and often poetic in their structure. He would go on to create another great of modern noir, Drive (2005) about an unnamed stunt driver who also works as a getaway driver for criminals.

Don Winslow might be most widely known for his brilliant and brutal modern noir Savages (2010) but he also created the surfing private detective Boone Daniels in The Dawn Patrol (2008). Winslow is known for his adrenaline-fueled novels and unique prose style, his subject matter is nothing ground breaking but he entertains like nobody else in the genre.

That leaves us with only Dennis Lehane to draw part four to a close. Lehane might just be best known for his psychological thrillers turned in to Oscar bait movies but his six Boston based noir thrillers featuring male/female investigation team Kenzie & Gennaro are some of the best in modern hard-boiled crime writing. Their first outing A Drink Before The War (1994) set a high standard to live up to but he reached incredibly bleak heights with Gone Baby, Gone (1998).

I'll reserve special mention for another Brit, Philip Kerr, the creator of the Bernie Gunther novels. These books are a fantastic throwback to classic hard-boiled novels. Bernie starts as a private detective in Berlin as Hitler is consolidating his power and witnesses some truly awful things. His first three adventures are collected as Berlin Noir (1989 to 1991) and are well worth your time.

You can find me discussing books on Goodreads, discussing movies on Letterboxd, tweeting nonsense as blahblahblahtoby  feel free to say hi.

Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (2011)

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Megan Abbott really hit this one out of the park.

Blurb: A close-knit street, the clink of glass on glass, summer heat. Two girls on the brink of adolescence, throwing cartwheels on the grass. Two girls who tell each other everything. Until one shimmering afternoon, one of them disappears. Lizzie is left with her dread and her loss, and with a fear that won’t let her be. Had Evie tried to give her a hint of what was coming, a clue that she failed to follow?

Caught between her imaginary guilt, her sense of betrayal, her own powerful need, and the needs of the adults around her, Lizzie’s voice is as unforgettable as her story is arresting.

Thoughts: Everyone's favourite noir pixie takes a step out of her comfort zone with this fantastic contemporary novel. As an award winning afficionado of classic noir tropes, utilised to great effect in period pieces Die a Little, Queenpin and others, Megan Abbott demonstrated her writing style to great effect but with The End of Everything she has taken further leaps towards greatness.

No longer confined by her research in to 50s Americana The End of Everything is a modern tale of lust, revenge, guilt, and my favourite four words; secrets, lies, passions and repressions, that takes it cues from the "social problem" greats of noir history such as Mildred Pierce. Evie, a thirteen year old girl goes missing and everything in the world of her best friend, Lizzie, is changed forever.

Told from the point of view of Lizzie this is not a straightforward read, it is dark and disturbing, it might make you feel icky and dirty, you'll be filled with an unnerving sense of dread because you are not a thirteen year old girl and everything in your bones tells you that this girl is hopelessly wrong and nothing good can ever come of any of her actions.

"...for most 13-year-old girls, life is “noir.” It’s all sex and terror and longing and confusion. Everything feels big and frightening and thrilling. The stakes feel dramatically high and everything feels precarious — it’s a time of heightened everything." - Megan Abbott

This book has drawn comparisons to The Lovely Bones all over the place but I warn you Megan Abbott is not in this game to provide catharsis, she wants to twist your insides in to knots and steal your breath away, this is no easy ride and if you're not questioning yourself and your reaction to the words, the phrases, the tone, the rhythm then you're doing it wrong and I suggest something a little more surface, a little less feeling for your reading from this point on, a little more conventional perhaps.

Abbott wants you to be in Lizzie's world, her usual prose style is heightened to encourage this, from the opening pages you get a real sense of it thanks to wonderful descriptions of sights, sounds, sensations, memories;

"...voices pitchy, giddy, raving, we are all chanting that deathly chant that twists, knifelike, in the ear of the appointed victim." - p1

"...he's the one always vibrating in my chest, under my fingernails, in all kinds of places. There's much to say of him and my mouth can't manage it, even now. He hums there still. p4"

and once you're there Abbott takes you for all she can, you're vulnerable to suggestion now, weak, your defences down and she pulls no punches to the very last; just when you think you've taken all the hits you can another one buries itself deep in your gut as you marvel at the power of the author to make you feel this way without resorting to tired old genre cliche, the literary equivalent of soaring emotive music or removing all forms of doubt and hitting you with a sledgehammer or emotive phrases.

Even now, a day later, my heart is pounding at the thoughts of what I've just read, just experienced and I'm not sure if there's a single book out there that can follow this. After this I may have to retire from reading.

OK in the end I didn't but even so nothing has surpassed this book since the day I wrote this review, and only the pleasure of reading True Grit came close to recapturing the feelings evoked by Ms Abbott.

View all my book reviews

Top 10: Novels Read (2012)

December means time to take a look back on the previous 12 months. Being a multimedia blog these days I have more than film to consider. First up I take a look at my literary experiences, which will be followed by the end of year mixtape (technical issues not withstanding) and then some movie lists before we start logging new things again in January.

2012 was a crazy year of reading for me. After logging only 46 novels in 2011 I started by challenging myself to read 100 books this year but that quickly changed to 200, a target which I managed to reach in September and 250 became my new aim. Incredibly very few of these books were awful, I guess I just pick safely the majority of the time. From those 250 here's my ten picks for most enjoyable read of the year and for the rest of the week there will be a full review of some titles not yet reviewed here on blahblahblahgay.

10. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (1946)

That such a quirky self referrential novel was written in 1946 astounds me. It reads like a modern day farce that Jasper Fforde or even Stephen Fry would be proud of, the quality of writing and humour is that high. There aren't many laugh out loud moments but the entire book is filled with joy that will keep a smile on your face.

9. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (2008)

The character of Web is so real, his voice addictive and funny and his adventure in to the world of crime scene cleanup is a highly entertaining surface for the emotional journey he takes.  

Full Blahblahblahgay review

8. Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block (1961)

A brilliant piece of noir fiction with an ending that makes Nightmare Alley feel like a unicorn ride through a flowery meadow to the end of the rainbow where the dame of your dreams is frolicking in the gold as she awaits your arrival.

7. Suddenly, A Knock On The Door by Etgar Keret (2010)

Keret is completely unlike anything else I've read. His stories are often strange and slightly fantastical, funny, dark, impressive and affecting. This is a serious work that apparently exhibits all of Keret's usual trademarks in it's study of the human condition.

6. Player One by Douglas Coupland (2010)

So oil is expensive, people go crazy, strangers lock themselves in to an airport hotel cocktail bar to survive the fallout, Douglas Coupland documents this scenario in 'real time' and helps you take a long hard look at yourself and what it is that you are doing, what we as a species are doing.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

5. Savages by Don Winslow (2010)

This is an American novel that analyses post 9/11, post Obama America in such a way as to bathe it in bright flourescent light, all it's failings and weaknesses shown as plain as day. It is a bold move for an American to write this stuff, almost constantly bashing every little detail of the 21st century American dream gone wrong.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

 4. Snuff by Terry Pratchett (2011)

This is the best and most enjoyable Discworld book in quite some time, I think perhaps you have to go back to Thud! before you come across anything quite like it in terms of completeness of vision, storytelling and literary heart, I don't think it's a coincidence that it too was a Sam Vimes book.

3. True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
 
Mattie Ross is a compelling narrator, with a strong, unique voice. Her travelling companions are equally compelling and conflicted characters, two very different men who Mattie doubts over the course of the novel but all three of them demonstrate the meaning of the title of the novel in spades by the climax. The adventure is occasionally tense, quite violent at times, graphically depicted and wonderfully told. The denouement is one of the most excitingly written pieces of fiction I remember reading.
 
Full Blahblahblahgay review

2. He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond (1984)

A remarkable work from a very talented man, it makes you care for somebody whose name you never hear mentioned, his clear affection towards the drunken mess of a man at the centre of the mystery is evident and if you don't care for Charlie Staniland or his life you will at least care that there is somebody out there desperate to bring his killers to justice.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

1. The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (2011)

Megan Abbott is not in this game to provide catharsis, she wants to twist your insides in to knots and steal your breath away.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

All ten picks get the full 5 star rating from me as first time reads and if you're looking for interesting stories written by talented authors then I can't recommend any of them highly enough. What were your favourite novels this year? Got any recommendations for me? Has anyone read any of these already? Leave all that and more in the comments below.

Elevenses (Liebster Award)

Today, it's time to respond to an award from a fellow blogger! Dan Heaton from Public Transportation Snob has generously passed along the Liebster Award, which asks each recipient to respond to a series of questions. You all know Dan as that massively entertaining guy whose posts are almost always themed and attacks a subject en masse. His current marathon theme is International Gangsters and started with a bang thanks to a great review of French flick A Prophet. I've since received the award twice more, the incredibly beautiful blog Love & Squalor and everyone's favourite film maker blog And So It Begins were also kind enough to pass on the love.

I'm giving it a go, but by this point there can't be many blogs left to pass it on to. If any of you fine readers feel like answering any one of the 11 questions I pose at the end feel free to leave it in the comments, I'm sure it'll be fascinating.

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
4. Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post.
5. Go to their page and tell them.
6. NO TAG BACKS


Eleven Random Things About blahblahblahToby

1. Currently enjoys his lack of employment way too much for it to be healthy and can be found most days laying on the sofa reading.

2. Wishes he was still a 21 year old hipster and dresses like it.

3. If he were to have a fight with any character from The Dark Knight Rises it'd be Bruce Wayne becaue he has a gimpy leg.

4. Has an addictive personality and is currently working on filling his apartment with books so that one day they might topple over and crush him - death by book porn?

5. Is endlessly procrastinating, never finishes anything and allows each new creative idea to push the current one aside.

6. Once dreamed of being a lawyer because he'd read too much John Grisham at a young age but Theodore Boone got there first. There's a reason Disney hasn't made a movie about lawyers you know.

7. Has noticed that any picture relating to Harry Potter or Disney gets more page views than anything else he's posted and is not ashamed of using that fact to boost his blogs stats.

8. Would have answered Maura Tierney to any question relating to picking an actress for anything until relatively recently and is sad that her career never really got going on the big screen before getting stuck on ER.

9. Loves the writing of Megan Abbott and the depressing yet true, shocking story of Barbara Payton, Franchot Tone and Tom Neal that features in the background of her novel The Song Is You.

10. Still considers becoming a professional football manager because a) he loves the sport and b) he's excellent at the Sports Interactive game Football Manager.

11. Enjoys comparing movie love affairs to his own life because his own life always seems perfect in comparison.


Eleven Questions From Dan 
 
1. What's the best movie of 2012 so far?

 

OK, so according to letterboxd I've seen eighteen movies released in 2012. The one I enjoyed the most has got to be Chronicle. I expected so little from the (relatively) small budgeted sci-fi thriller but director Josh Trank provided so much. It was a real pleasure to watch a good idea turned in to a highly enjoyable movie thanks to the talent of a new director, especially when it would have been so easy to make it generic and derivitive and a horrible mishmash of pop culture.

2. What's the worst movie of 2012 so far?

The Dark Knight Rises. Simply for how disappointed I was. It's not anywhere near as bad as John Carter in reality but then DKR provided my worst experience of a movie.

3.What is your favorite band or artist?

The Decemberists win this one hands down at the moment and for the past few years. Just taking a look at my all time plays on last.fm will tell you that I've played The Decemberists 8 times more than anyone else. Colin Meloy has a wonderful voice and he's a fantastic storyteller. He even writes kids books.

4. What's your opinion on singing karaoke?
Never. No way. You can't make me.
One of my most horrifying formative experiences is as a ten year old being left on stage by my sister to sing a song I'd never heard of n front of hundreds of people. Even now I wince at the thought of it and my heart is racing from the terror.

5. Spike Lee: Overrated or underrated?

When he's on form there's nobody better than Lee but he's his own worst enemy with some of the terrible films he's made, but then so is Woody Allen and he married his own daughter. At least Spike Lee's only apparent crime in the eyes of Hollywood is that he's black.

6. Although he won't admit it, does Tommy Wiseau realize that The Room is terrible?
Oh. I certainly hope so. Can you imagine the state of that guys mind if he didn't? But admitting so would cook the golden goose and he'd never be able to attend screenings as a superstar.

7. Beyond movies, what is your area of expertise for a trivia team?

Arsenal Football Club. Somehow this is what my brain is wasted on and why I identify so readily with Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch.

8. What's your favorite brand of cereal?

No cereal required when you live in the land of Vegemite on toast.
If we're ever out for breakfast and I don't feel like eggs I will however have the bircher muesli.

9. Is The Tree of Life a brilliant movie, a self-indulgent mess, or somewhere in between?
I haven't seen it yet, it's long. I am lengthist.

10. Are you excited about the Olympics? If so, which competitions?
I haven't cared about the Olympics since 1992, I don't even care about the fact that Great Britain has a football team entered this time around. It's not real football.

11. What's the last movie that you watched?
Bill Cunningham, New York

Who's Next? - Eleven Blogs That Deserve Your Attention
These 11 bloggers are all doing amazing work and deserve your attention. For that reason, they get the dubious pleasure of answering some essential questions. The "winners" are:
Cinemanarcs
Cinematic Spectacle
Can You Dig It?(feminisingfilm)
Defiant Success
Brian vs. Movies
Blondoner
What Indie Nights?
The Great Movie Project
Dangerous Dans Bookblog
OCD Viewer
Split Reel(This is me cheating because she's taken a break)



What I Really Really Want To Know Is: (Eleven Questions Paid Forward)
1. If the events of Purple Rose of Cairo could really happen, which movie character would you want to walk off of the screen in to your miserable little life?
2. If you were marooned on another planet with a limited space hard drive on your solar powered Macbook Pro (I'm sure Steve Jobs had them working on this before he died) what three movies would you like to have in your videos folder?
3. Is reading 50 Shades of Grey on public transport a badge of pride, a cry for help, a statement of sexual dissatisfaction or a label that screams "easily led by media fads"?
4. If you had to live in the world of crime fiction would you prefer to be in an Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler or Steig Larsson book?
5. You're stranded for 227 days in a boat with one animal, do you think a Bengal Tiger would eat you?
6. What superhero franchise would you give a dark and depressing Batman style reboot to on the big screen?
7. Gotham Central is a series of comic books about the lives of the gotham City Police Department and Death Comes To Pemberley is a detective novel set in the world of Pride & Prejudice, what fictional world would you like to see turned in to crime fiction and what type would it be?
8. Mint, Sage, Rosemary and Cinnamon, what flavour would you choose for your old fashioned tooth powder recipe?
9. You're tasked with programming an independant film festival, what genre do you focus on? Documentary, Horror, Anime, Martial Arts or World Cinema?
10. Witches, burn them at the stake or dunk them in the lake?
11. Which city in Europe would you most like to visit during the 2012 London Olympics?

What You Been Doing Toby?

Good day to you all, here is a little recap of what blahblahblahToby has been up to since last we spoke.

On the movie viewing front we have forged ahead with the noir-a-thon whilst not even considering telling you all about if for even a second. Last we spoke we were up to 1944 yet here we are having just seen the incredible Samuel Fuller directed Pickup on South Street from 1953. I can't even comprehend writing that many reviews as a catchup but I may one day soon fill you in on a brief rundown of each incredible piece of classic cinema.

We are now proud subscribers to the Australian DVD rental service Quickflix which keeps sending me movies to watch and never complaining at their late return.

The end of the English football season saw us cancel our sports subscription with Foxtel and replace it with some of the worst movie channels I've ever seen. Did you know that TCM hardly ever broadcasts high quality picture and sound? I have to listen to a really horrible hissing constantly. However I did get the chance to see something amazing, The Petrified Forest starring Trevor Howard and Humphrey Bogart in the role that made him a star.

We had a nightmare of a time trying to see the new Ridley Scott, Prometheus. The trailers were incredible, the hype in my mind built to extreme levels, surely it was going to be the greatest movie ever? Check out the trailer complete with tension building music and a lack of Rafe Spall whilst I prepare The Adventure of the Couple Who Wanted to Watch Prometheus.

The Adventures of The Couple Who Wanted To Watch Prometheus

Toby saw the trailer for Prometheus and finally realised it was sort of a prequel to Alien. When Leah came home Toby said "watch this" and pressed play. Leah said "oh wow, we have to actully go to the cinema to see that."

Prometheus was released on Wednesday. Leah and Toby had a day off of work on Thursday. Toby checked the listings for the Belmont cinema and they arrived for the 11am 2D screening.

"I'm sorry, the 2D screening is playing in our Gold Lounge and costs an extra $20 each." This was the mouth breather behind the popcorn desk speaking. "Fuck that we'll go somewhere else," said Toby.


Toby checked the listings for another cinema and Leah drove for 30 minutes to get there. "I'm sorry, that screening is now in 3D" This was another mouth breather behind the popcorn desk speaking. "Fuck that I'm going to download it, at least that will be 2D." said Toby.


Toby was angry, Leah was mad. "I'm so fucking mad" said Leah. "I can't believe this fucking place" sid Toby.


It was Tuesday. Leah said "we should go and watch Prometheus." Toby said "OK"


Toby checked a third cinemas listings. They said it was showing in 2D only. Toby and Leah went to see Prometheus. The movie was in 2D. It wasn't actually very good.

And so ended the first trip to the cinema since February. Not much fun really.

I've been reading a lot. At present count I've read 139 books in 2012.

Remember how I wasn't as excited by Drive as everyone else? (check out the review if you've forgotten) I read the original novel by James Sallis (review here) and discovered that the movie was much better than I gave it credit for.

Amongst my favourite books of the year so far has been Savages by Don Winslow, a fantastic novel with an opening chapter that consists of the following:

Fuck you.

You may have noticed that Oliver Stone has adapted it in to a movie due for release this September. I'm unsure as to whether he will do the book justice but I'm still excited to see it.

And for all those noir afficionados out there, the discovery of Megan Abbott writing fabulous pulpy goodness in the style of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson and James M. Cain is something that you should be very excited by. Even if it's just for the artwork:

We took a trip across the country from Perth to Sydney relatively recently, all in the name of seeing a band. Nobody ever comes to Perth. It's a very isolated city, no matter how much money there is from the mining boom. That band was Taking Back Sunday, performing in Australia with their oriiginal lineup for the very first time. For a couple of former emo kids like me and Leah this was something we couldn't resist, especially as their new album was a fantastic return to form.

The gig wasn't amazing as the lead singer can't actually sing but we had a great time anyway and we even walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at night to get to the show. Highlight of the evening, despite my extreme fear of heights!

Just to round out the blog with more interactive elements here why don't you enjoy this music video from the band we spent four hours on a plane travelling to see:

 

We've also been putting the finishing touches to our trip around Europe for this coming September. But I think I'll save that for my next post "So Toby, Now That You're Back On BBBG What's Happening?"

Good post title no?

Now for making dinner. I highly recommend visiting The Post Punk Kitchen for all your dinner ideas.