Customer Reviews

Tart Noir

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This truly long-awaited and much anticipated anthology is finally here and it doesn't disappoint. I can confidently say there is not ONE story here that does not match expectations and a few that most definately exceed.

If you are looking for an entertaining, intelligent, though-provoking read with women, well, kicking ARSE, quite frankly, this is the book to read. It's appeal, however, is broad and frankly, it should be. Well crafted, excellently executed stories is what you find in here. Usually you are lucky, if, maybe 5 stories come to your expectations. I was reeling after some of the stories in this. There IS still talent out there in the world, members of the reading public. And a lot of it is in this anthology.

Finally, we have a book that shows women taking charge, taking control and making things happen in a short story anthology - as opposed to waiting for things to happen to them. I cannot recommend this anthology enough, and kudos to the editors, for not only producing an outstandingly fine body of work between them but for editing this anthology, which should be on every bookcase.

This collection of slinky, sultry noir stories is a page-turner! In each story, the woman gets the last laugh, that you can't help but cheer her on. I gave it to my mother who also liked it a lot.

I have found that, usually, an anthology of short stories is very uneven, with good, mediocre and poor tales mixed together. This book is an exception, as I found that all of the stories are first rate, and extremely interesting. The premise of the book is that all are written by females, and the protagonists are females. It's an interesting side of literature that has not really been explored in any depth, and this book fills that hole quite neatly. It's a good read from beginning to end!

I bought this book because I love noir, I love strong female characters, I am a fan of some of the authors regular novels and thought I would find new authors in the process. But instead of juicy, fresh, hard fiction from a female view it seems to revel in making characters as vile as possible. Is this the authors idea of liberation, to write stories that just make you wince-no matter what the sex?
I read a good amount of books every year, maybe 75-100, and out of those I would average less than 1 that I don't finish...Tart Noir was this years.
I really tried to give it a new chance with each story but after the one where a 15 yr old girl hacks off her mothers head for messing up her incestuous relationship with her father, cuts out the mothers womb and fries it up for dads dinner, I was done...but the story wasn't, I won't even go into the deformed baby!
Pluck Katy Mungers other books, Legwork for instance, or Sparkle Hayters series for great tarts, but leave this book to wither on the vine.

This collection is everything I hoped it would be. As a Tart Noir fan, I was waiting for this book of short stories featuring strong, bum-kicking (and, yes, not nice) women. Some of the characters are difficult to sympathize with and some I hated. But that's to be expected; it is, after all, a book of crime fiction. No one complains when men write unsympathetic male characters: that makes them "real" and "gritty" and a million other things that are, apparently, only complimentary to men. And these stories are well-written and full of suspense.

The stories in this volume purposely set out to make the reader uncomfortable and are entertaining, besides. As far as I'm concerned, you can't ask for more. I highly recommend reading this volume and then running out and reading everything written by all the contributors.

Short story anthologies are hard to judge. The book promises "Twenty shocking stories starring twenty edgy, outrageous and badly behaved heroines".

It doesn't quite hit the mark. Some stories have great characters - often to be found in full length books of their own and these work the best. The rest have characters which never develop and which leads to flat stories.

It is best read as an introduction to the Authors and their main characters.

While certain of the protagonists do some pretty dastardly deeds, this is called Tart NOIR...in another review, one of my favorite stories was criticized because of the vile things the protagonist had done--but because the story had been written so cleverly, I was impressed with the way the author allowed us to understand--if not sympathize--with the young woman who is desperate enough to kill anyone who might interfere with the one thing she possesses.

There are funny stories, insightful stories, and even a few downright weird stories contained in this book--but what impresses me most is the consistent quality of the tales. I have discovered several "new" authors that I plan to check out again.

A few of these stories are easy reading, but most seem unneccesarily violent and shocking. It's worth the price for the three or four decent stories. I enjoyed the stories by Jenny Colgan, Jen Banbury and Laura Lippman and Sparkle Hayter's story was light fun if not exactly "tart noir." You take your chances with the quality of the rest.

The twenty suspense tales that make up TART NOIR have in common, besides solid writing, turning the usually Pauline-like female and the heroic Paul-like male leads upside down with the woman ending on top. The stories are quite good and often humorous, but include profanity and do not always have happy endings (except in the minds of the women behaving badly). Each contribution is well written, as the story lines will consistently grab Noir fans especially readers who enjoy gender-bending twists starring characters shouting I am a proud strong woman not afraid to obtain what I want so get out of my way or else our cannonball will go through you.

Harriet Klausner

Tart Noir is a crime anthology starring tough and sexy women who get away with crime. I thought I'd find a clever collection of short crime stories with strong female characters. I was deeply disappointed. The authors explored the tartness in their characters, but I was more interested in what the book had promised: noir stories with a feminist touch. Isn't the title supposed to be ironic? Apparently, it isn't. Alas, there are some nice short stories to indulge in. The ones written by Jessica Adams, Lisa Cody, Lisa Jewell and Jenny Colgan are worth reading. Overall, however, this book and its editors (Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson) leave a lot to be desired.