Review: Chicago Noir edited by Neal Pollack
“They tell me you are wicked and I believe them,
for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.” (Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”)

In the introduction to Chicago Noir (Akashic Books), editor Neal Pollack (an expatriate of the town), writes “Chicago’s literature, with a brief detour into the world of Saul Bellow and occasional forays by Theodor Dreiser, has rarely concerned itself with the vagaries of the upper and upper-middle classes.”

New York City had Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Dawn Powell and witty tales of old uptown money and downtown bohemians. Chicago had Upton Sinclair writing about Polish and Hungarian immigrants falling into vats of beef tallow in the slaughterhouses, Nelson Algren, and the essays of Studs Terkel. With its rough edges, “big shoulders” (as poet Carl Sandburg wrote), and status as the Second City, Chicago was a natural choice for Akashic Books next installment of their Noir Series.

Chicago Noir is an even, well-paced collection of stories representing the varied geographies, ethnicities, races and cultures of the city both old and new. Traveling geographically from the far south to the Illinois/Wisconsin border, it spans the Eastern European, Hispanic, black, gay, and middle class neighborhoods of the city. Some of the stories are short, terse scenes (M.K. Meyers’ “Monkey Head” and Todd Dills’ “Arcadia”), while longer selections have a back story, character development, and conclusion. Of the longer stories, Achy Obejas’ “Destiny Returns” (the story of an aging drag queen from Cuba), Claire Zulkey’s “The Great Billik” (a creepy supernatural-tinged tale with a great neighborhood feel to it), and Jim Arndorfer’s “The Oldest Rivalry” (or, what really happens when Bears and Packers fans square off) are especially notable.

Since this is noir, there’s plenty of anguish, pain, death and other assorted human miseries between the covers of Chicago Noir. Some is garden-variety noir (Luciano Guerriero’s “Goodnight Chicago and Amen” and Amy Sayer-Roberts’ “Death Mouth”), while other stories have more unusual approaches to revenge, such as the police scanner junkies in Kevin Guilfoile’s “Zero Zero Day” and C.J. Sullivan’s pissed off aging boxer in “Alex Pinto Hears the Bell.” One of the most chilling stories doesn’t take place in Chicago at all, but is structured as a letter written by the newly-freed Nathan Leopold, now living in an island paradise (Peter Orner’s “Dear Mr. Kleczka”).

Joe Meno (Hairstyles of the Damned and Punk Planet columnist) pens vintage jazz noir in “Like a Rocket With a Beat.” Editor Neal Pollack introduces an unwilling participant to “Marty’s Drink or Die Club.” Often, big names like Meno and Pollack in short story anthologies contribute little more than castoff pieces left over from elsewhere. This is not the case here.

Truthfully, there are no clunkers in Chicago Noir. (And I’m not just saying that as a former Illinois resident, albeit of downstate.) These are well-chosen tales that reflect a city that always had a chip on its big shoulder. While many of the plots are well-worn noir themes, when set against the backdrop of Chicago, they seem surprisingly new.

Akashic Books should find great success with the Noir Series. Collections for Baltimore, Washington D.C., Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles, Miami and others are in the works. (Hey, how about Philadelphia? There’s enough Noir in this city for two volumes!) Hopefully, they will be of the same high quality as this installment.

Chicago Noir edited by Neal Pollack (Akashic Books)
- posted by Synd-e @ 8:08 PM