Customer Reviews

Montreal: The Unknown City (Unknown City: Montreal)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read a lot of books about Montreal but this is uniquely packed with saucy stories, clever quips and little-known tales. It's excellently written and has stories that haven't been told elsewhere, from Barry Bonds' romantic connection to the city, to the smuggling of the dead film-noir starlet over the border, to the phone book blunder that offended the city's Italian community - every page seems to offer an insiders view about the city that shouldn't be missed. Highly recommended for repeat readings.

I'm not a huge reader so I was pretty skeptical when I was given this for Christmas, but I was quickly won over. It's a readable, fast, funny and very interesting bunch of stories and history and insight of the city of Montreal. Some great yarns that come to mind include the graveyard tales, the guy acquitted of kidnapping the millionaire heir by explaining his written plans were a novel he was working on, the transportation of the dead Hollywood starlet - all of these stories make this a pretty satisfying read, plus the restaurant and nightlife sections and other stuff are really useful as well. I've seen a couple of reviews in the papers about this book and they pretty much said the same thing as myself. One of the best I've seen about this city for a long time.

This book has interesting tid-bits of information for those who are interested in history. It is not sufficient as a travel guide, but would be a great purchase for those who live in Montreal or will be spending significant amounts of time there.