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KL NOIR #2
KL Noir: White
KL NOIR: WHITE is the second of 4 volumes about the city’s dark side. The 18 short stories tell of what lies underneath the shiny facade of Kuala Lumpur. Some might even revel in the juxtaposition of order and innocence amidst the shadows. You will find murder, drugs, corruption, time travel, superheroes, politics and genitalia mixed together with taxis, dolls and children. Light and shadows mix, and we explore the gray lines of a city’s silhouette.
Line-Up:
INTRO / Amir Hafizi
SAVAGES / Nadia Khan
BURGER WITHOUT SIDES / Foong Li Mei
MAD ABOUT MARY / Terence Toh
FLOWERS FOR KK / M. Shanmughalingam
BIG BERTHA AND THE STONES OF JUSTICE / Angeline Woon
YUMMY MEATS / Terence Tang
THE BLEEDING TREE / Dipika Mukherjee
THE MAN FROM BERALI CARPETS / Maya Tan Abdullah
MY FATHER THE HERO / Eileen Lian
DICK / Hasrul Rizwan
TIME AGENTS / Lim Li Anne
DOLLS / Arif Zulkifli
THE BEGGARS / Cheryna Zamrinor
THE BANGER / Jimie Cheng
BREADWINNER / Hadi M. Nor
JALAN MASJID INDIA / Bathma Loshanee
THE AVIATOR, TITANIC & A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS / Raja Faisal
CLIPPINGS / Amir Sharipuddin
BIOS
Line-Up:
INTRO / Amir Hafizi
SAVAGES / Nadia Khan
BURGER WITHOUT SIDES / Foong Li Mei
MAD ABOUT MARY / Terence Toh
FLOWERS FOR KK / M. Shanmughalingam
BIG BERTHA AND THE STONES OF JUSTICE / Angeline Woon
YUMMY MEATS / Terence Tang
THE BLEEDING TREE / Dipika Mukherjee
THE MAN FROM BERALI CARPETS / Maya Tan Abdullah
MY FATHER THE HERO / Eileen Lian
DICK / Hasrul Rizwan
TIME AGENTS / Lim Li Anne
DOLLS / Arif Zulkifli
THE BEGGARS / Cheryna Zamrinor
THE BANGER / Jimie Cheng
BREADWINNER / Hadi M. Nor
JALAN MASJID INDIA / Bathma Loshanee
THE AVIATOR, TITANIC & A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS / Raja Faisal
CLIPPINGS / Amir Sharipuddin
BIOS
280 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
22 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
August 21, 2015
I like this one better than KL NOIR: RED.
The stories are more memorable and interesting.
PLAYTIME really creeps me out.
The stories are more memorable and interesting.
PLAYTIME really creeps me out.
January 3, 2014
KL Noir: White has "18 unfiltered stories" - hence the cigarette box cover art - about the darker side of life in Kuala Lumpur. To be fair, "18 unfiltered stories set in Ulu Yam" doesn't have the same commercial appeal, so you can't blame the people behind this anthology for coming up with yet another anthology about the rear end of the capital city of Malaysia. With everything associated with the word "noir", this one claims to have stories packed with moral ambiguity, violence and passion, et cetera. In other words, life as usual.
Nadia Khan starts the show with Savages, in which our female protagonist bumps into a boxer-or-you-could-say-that fellow that stays at the same building block as she when they get into the same elevator. Of course, things are never what they seem in an anthology that screams "Noir!" every five seconds. This one is a decent read, although there is nothing too surprising here. In fact, I can say that the author is just rehashing a tried-and-true trope that has been done many times before. I like it better when those Japanese directors make movies out of such tropes, especially when they add in gruesome acts of torture. Here, it's just too short to do much more than to get me say, "Ooh, so this is like what happens when Lorde writes a song after she experiences a break-up with her boyfriend!"
Foong Li Mei has a quaint story in Burger Without Sides. In a dystopian future, Kuala Lumpur is reduced into a ghetto version of Gotham City. Criminals - all with costumes and cool names - and cops share a same passion: the old-school real burgers of a guy named Pin. Pin insists that his burger stall is a Ramly burger paradise in Switzerland: no violence is allowed and everyone, good or bad, is allowed to eat here in peace as long as the rule is observed. Some superheroes beg to differ, however, and try to upset the status quo by making Pin choose between them and the bad guys. I like this one - it's quirky and the take-home message is delivered without being too preachy. This one could be tightened up, however. There are obvious filler moments, such as the parts about Pin's back story, which end up having little impact on the story arc. This story could also use a less obvious and more creative title.
Terence Toh's Mad About Mary is about a homeless beggar's infatuation with a young lady he sees taking the Bukit Nanas Monorail Station regularly. This can't end too happily, right? Predictable to the point of almost being clichéd, this one doesn't deliver much other than the novelty of a familiar story line taking place in a neighborhood I am familiar with.
M SHANmughalingam's Flowers For KK deals with the darker side of bigamy and the chauvinistic "traditional" ways of a Indian household. This one has me thinking of an over the top Bollywood melodrama. The female characters all but cackle like harpies, and I can only wonder whether I'm supposed to laugh at these people or take them a little bit seriously. I do know of unhappy Indian women trapped in marriages with men that are just like the guy described in this story, and the author succeeds in capturing the turbulent emotions of women trapped in a relationship with such men. However, the melodrama in this story ends up working against the fundamental premise, making this seem like a parody of sorts.
Angeline Woon's Big Bertha And The Stones Of Justice is also over the top in its melodramatic elements, but unlike the previous story, this one works. Well, not as a good story, but as a delicious cathartic experience that may leave a few readers feeling like they need a cold shower afterwards. It's basically a tale about pent-up anger one may harbor towards snatch thieves and other scumbags that prey on folks, as well as towards the casual way the cops regard such cases. When one reads in the papers of old women murdered just because someone wanted the purse these women were carrying, or when one ends up at the receiving end of these scumbags' "hospitality" and then spends two hours staring in outraged disbelief at the cop in charge as that idiot accused one of "asking for it" (ahem), then yes, this tale of vigilante justice may just bring a happy smile to the face.
Terence Tang's Yummy Meats has killer condoms that feed on men's penises. Hmm, I think I had come across those things before. Anyway, this one has crude but cute humor that the old coots at the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture may not approve. I can't help but to give two thumbs up to toilet humor that works.
Dipika Mukherjee's The Bleeding Tree is easily the most erotic story in this collection, mostly because it some nice build-up of believable sexual tension and some short foreplay scene that, astonishingly, er, works. A story of a marriage falling apart and ensuing adultery, this one boasts some pretty fine character introspection. I laugh out loud at the splat scene at the denouement, but I blame this on the lingering after effects of the previous story.
Maya Tan Abdullah's The Man From Berali Carpets was previously published in the anthology Body 2 Body, which horrified some people in the country back in those guys as it was a collection of LGBT-themed short stories. This one is a poignant tale of a closeted cop who fights back an attraction to the guy referenced in the title even as he tries very hard to be part of the homophobic fraternity of PDRM. This one is, like the previous story, very good at portraying the raw and turbulent psyche of the protagonist. I may not have been in that protagonist's shoes, but I think I know his feelings, thanks to the author's efforts here.
Eileen Lian's My Father, The Hero, is shaping up to be a pretty good portrayal of a family with the father getting arrested by ISA for failing to dance in line with the ruling government, and then we have that twist ending. Okay, so now it's a fabulously twisted "okay, I didn't see that coming!" stumper of a story.
Hasrul Rizwan's Dick was translated into English by Rumaizah Abu Bakar, which is a pity, I feel, as the story may just be more of a dirty joy to read if it was published here in its original language and form. Bahasa Malaysia, if you ask me, is a language that comes to life when we are being vulgar, as there is a beautiful cadence to each syllable of a "dirty" word. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, though. It's a tale of a man's obsession with improving the size of his penis and how this obsession leads to a series of events that feel hollow, mostly because the whole thing feels like a disjointed narrative sequence. The ending has me thinking, "Okay... so what now?" and then realizing that I don't really care to know the answer.
Lim Li Anne's Time Agents is about three people going back in time to the May 13 racial riots. Despite the grim setting, this one feels like a curiously detached and white-washed young adult tale where the end message is, "Gosh, kiddies, racial riots are so bad because they are horrible, don't we agree?" There is a startling lack of gritty, dirty, disgusting, disturbing crap in this one, so it ends up like a sheep that ends up falling into a cess pool. It doesn't like it belongs in this anthology. Surely there is an Alaf 21 anthology that it would feel more at home in?
Arif Zulkifli wins the award for the most gruesome story in this anthology with his gloriously vile piece Playtime, which is what you get when you put knives in a creepy kid's hands. It would have been better if the author had given the protagonist a voice that resembles that of an eight-year old more. Right now, it reads like a monologue of an adult pretending to be a kid. It's still a deliciously nasty story, though. I like it.
Beggars by Cheryna Zamrinor has a pretty interesting twist to the plot, and I do love how she succeeds in driving home how the mundane tedium of day-to-day life in the urban rat race can be a real terror in itself. However, the author doesn't trust the reader to get the twists and turns of her story, and spoils the effect of her story considerably by being heavy handed in hitting the reader with these twists. The last sentence of the short story encapsulates the entire problem of this story in a nutshell: the author doesn't trust her readers to get her brilliance, to the point that she basically inserts her presence into the story to slap the reader in the face and scream, "See? See! That's my plot twist. I'm so clever, am I not? Say it! Say it!"
I really want to like Jimie Cheng's The Banger because it has a serial killer running around setting off special fireworks in his or her male victims' anuses. Unfortunately, this one has plot holes bigger than Jupiter, and the "twist" is actually one done to death many times before.
Hadi M Nor's Breadwinner has a kid telling me of his father's unusual job. It's cute, I guess, but utterly lightweight compared to some of the more hard-hitting stories in this anthology.
Bathma Loshanee's Jalan Masjid India tells of an unhappy woman, forced to keep working for a sex fiend of an employer for the money, and her fascination with a homeless man at Jalan Masjid India that may be more than what he seems to be. This one is another story that tries too hard to give me a twist only to have me rolling up my eyes and going, "Please, darling, let's not try too hard." The whole thing is too far-fetched even for this anthology.
Raja Faizal has a charming premise in The Aviator, Titanic & A Nightmare Before Christmas, which sees a "chemist" who names his potent drugs after his favorite movies. Here, this fellow decides to supply a client with enough pills to kill that client's wife (the money is good, you see), only to see red when the client reneges on payment. This one is about a smug protagonist who will find any excuse to gloat. The story is too short and too predictable to warrant such smugness, however. The whole thing feels like a short story that is way too impressed with its own mediocrity.
Finally, Amir Sharipuddin has Clippings, which basically sees Sweeney Todd migrating to Malaysia and setting up shop in Pasar Datok Keramat. Now, I'm all for slitting the throats of useless and corrupt politicians and government officials in my fiction, but come on now, how about a little more originality, for once? Perhaps by having our Salleh Todd kill his victims by shoving a big hair clipper up their rectums?
KL Noir: White is a mixed bag. Some stories work, some don't. My biggest disappointment here, however, is how even the strongest stories can seem to be mere rehash of tried-and-true crime and thriller tropes. I think I may love this anthology more if the authors had pushed the envelope further and cheerfully brought on the noir some more.
Nadia Khan starts the show with Savages, in which our female protagonist bumps into a boxer-or-you-could-say-that fellow that stays at the same building block as she when they get into the same elevator. Of course, things are never what they seem in an anthology that screams "Noir!" every five seconds. This one is a decent read, although there is nothing too surprising here. In fact, I can say that the author is just rehashing a tried-and-true trope that has been done many times before. I like it better when those Japanese directors make movies out of such tropes, especially when they add in gruesome acts of torture. Here, it's just too short to do much more than to get me say, "Ooh, so this is like what happens when Lorde writes a song after she experiences a break-up with her boyfriend!"
Foong Li Mei has a quaint story in Burger Without Sides. In a dystopian future, Kuala Lumpur is reduced into a ghetto version of Gotham City. Criminals - all with costumes and cool names - and cops share a same passion: the old-school real burgers of a guy named Pin. Pin insists that his burger stall is a Ramly burger paradise in Switzerland: no violence is allowed and everyone, good or bad, is allowed to eat here in peace as long as the rule is observed. Some superheroes beg to differ, however, and try to upset the status quo by making Pin choose between them and the bad guys. I like this one - it's quirky and the take-home message is delivered without being too preachy. This one could be tightened up, however. There are obvious filler moments, such as the parts about Pin's back story, which end up having little impact on the story arc. This story could also use a less obvious and more creative title.
Terence Toh's Mad About Mary is about a homeless beggar's infatuation with a young lady he sees taking the Bukit Nanas Monorail Station regularly. This can't end too happily, right? Predictable to the point of almost being clichéd, this one doesn't deliver much other than the novelty of a familiar story line taking place in a neighborhood I am familiar with.
M SHANmughalingam's Flowers For KK deals with the darker side of bigamy and the chauvinistic "traditional" ways of a Indian household. This one has me thinking of an over the top Bollywood melodrama. The female characters all but cackle like harpies, and I can only wonder whether I'm supposed to laugh at these people or take them a little bit seriously. I do know of unhappy Indian women trapped in marriages with men that are just like the guy described in this story, and the author succeeds in capturing the turbulent emotions of women trapped in a relationship with such men. However, the melodrama in this story ends up working against the fundamental premise, making this seem like a parody of sorts.
Angeline Woon's Big Bertha And The Stones Of Justice is also over the top in its melodramatic elements, but unlike the previous story, this one works. Well, not as a good story, but as a delicious cathartic experience that may leave a few readers feeling like they need a cold shower afterwards. It's basically a tale about pent-up anger one may harbor towards snatch thieves and other scumbags that prey on folks, as well as towards the casual way the cops regard such cases. When one reads in the papers of old women murdered just because someone wanted the purse these women were carrying, or when one ends up at the receiving end of these scumbags' "hospitality" and then spends two hours staring in outraged disbelief at the cop in charge as that idiot accused one of "asking for it" (ahem), then yes, this tale of vigilante justice may just bring a happy smile to the face.
Terence Tang's Yummy Meats has killer condoms that feed on men's penises. Hmm, I think I had come across those things before. Anyway, this one has crude but cute humor that the old coots at the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture may not approve. I can't help but to give two thumbs up to toilet humor that works.
Dipika Mukherjee's The Bleeding Tree is easily the most erotic story in this collection, mostly because it some nice build-up of believable sexual tension and some short foreplay scene that, astonishingly, er, works. A story of a marriage falling apart and ensuing adultery, this one boasts some pretty fine character introspection. I laugh out loud at the splat scene at the denouement, but I blame this on the lingering after effects of the previous story.
Maya Tan Abdullah's The Man From Berali Carpets was previously published in the anthology Body 2 Body, which horrified some people in the country back in those guys as it was a collection of LGBT-themed short stories. This one is a poignant tale of a closeted cop who fights back an attraction to the guy referenced in the title even as he tries very hard to be part of the homophobic fraternity of PDRM. This one is, like the previous story, very good at portraying the raw and turbulent psyche of the protagonist. I may not have been in that protagonist's shoes, but I think I know his feelings, thanks to the author's efforts here.
Eileen Lian's My Father, The Hero, is shaping up to be a pretty good portrayal of a family with the father getting arrested by ISA for failing to dance in line with the ruling government, and then we have that twist ending. Okay, so now it's a fabulously twisted "okay, I didn't see that coming!" stumper of a story.
Hasrul Rizwan's Dick was translated into English by Rumaizah Abu Bakar, which is a pity, I feel, as the story may just be more of a dirty joy to read if it was published here in its original language and form. Bahasa Malaysia, if you ask me, is a language that comes to life when we are being vulgar, as there is a beautiful cadence to each syllable of a "dirty" word. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, though. It's a tale of a man's obsession with improving the size of his penis and how this obsession leads to a series of events that feel hollow, mostly because the whole thing feels like a disjointed narrative sequence. The ending has me thinking, "Okay... so what now?" and then realizing that I don't really care to know the answer.
Lim Li Anne's Time Agents is about three people going back in time to the May 13 racial riots. Despite the grim setting, this one feels like a curiously detached and white-washed young adult tale where the end message is, "Gosh, kiddies, racial riots are so bad because they are horrible, don't we agree?" There is a startling lack of gritty, dirty, disgusting, disturbing crap in this one, so it ends up like a sheep that ends up falling into a cess pool. It doesn't like it belongs in this anthology. Surely there is an Alaf 21 anthology that it would feel more at home in?
Arif Zulkifli wins the award for the most gruesome story in this anthology with his gloriously vile piece Playtime, which is what you get when you put knives in a creepy kid's hands. It would have been better if the author had given the protagonist a voice that resembles that of an eight-year old more. Right now, it reads like a monologue of an adult pretending to be a kid. It's still a deliciously nasty story, though. I like it.
Beggars by Cheryna Zamrinor has a pretty interesting twist to the plot, and I do love how she succeeds in driving home how the mundane tedium of day-to-day life in the urban rat race can be a real terror in itself. However, the author doesn't trust the reader to get the twists and turns of her story, and spoils the effect of her story considerably by being heavy handed in hitting the reader with these twists. The last sentence of the short story encapsulates the entire problem of this story in a nutshell: the author doesn't trust her readers to get her brilliance, to the point that she basically inserts her presence into the story to slap the reader in the face and scream, "See? See! That's my plot twist. I'm so clever, am I not? Say it! Say it!"
I really want to like Jimie Cheng's The Banger because it has a serial killer running around setting off special fireworks in his or her male victims' anuses. Unfortunately, this one has plot holes bigger than Jupiter, and the "twist" is actually one done to death many times before.
Hadi M Nor's Breadwinner has a kid telling me of his father's unusual job. It's cute, I guess, but utterly lightweight compared to some of the more hard-hitting stories in this anthology.
Bathma Loshanee's Jalan Masjid India tells of an unhappy woman, forced to keep working for a sex fiend of an employer for the money, and her fascination with a homeless man at Jalan Masjid India that may be more than what he seems to be. This one is another story that tries too hard to give me a twist only to have me rolling up my eyes and going, "Please, darling, let's not try too hard." The whole thing is too far-fetched even for this anthology.
Raja Faizal has a charming premise in The Aviator, Titanic & A Nightmare Before Christmas, which sees a "chemist" who names his potent drugs after his favorite movies. Here, this fellow decides to supply a client with enough pills to kill that client's wife (the money is good, you see), only to see red when the client reneges on payment. This one is about a smug protagonist who will find any excuse to gloat. The story is too short and too predictable to warrant such smugness, however. The whole thing feels like a short story that is way too impressed with its own mediocrity.
Finally, Amir Sharipuddin has Clippings, which basically sees Sweeney Todd migrating to Malaysia and setting up shop in Pasar Datok Keramat. Now, I'm all for slitting the throats of useless and corrupt politicians and government officials in my fiction, but come on now, how about a little more originality, for once? Perhaps by having our Salleh Todd kill his victims by shoving a big hair clipper up their rectums?
KL Noir: White is a mixed bag. Some stories work, some don't. My biggest disappointment here, however, is how even the strongest stories can seem to be mere rehash of tried-and-true crime and thriller tropes. I think I may love this anthology more if the authors had pushed the envelope further and cheerfully brought on the noir some more.
December 1, 2013
Dicks. Lots of dicks.
And fun. Lots of fun.
A compilation of short stories that is sure to leave you overwhelmed with feelings so powerful it'll haunt you for days.
And fun. Lots of fun.
A compilation of short stories that is sure to leave you overwhelmed with feelings so powerful it'll haunt you for days.
June 7, 2017
Not a fan of short stories. But I really like these three - Playtime, Time Agents and The Aviator, Titanic & A Nightmare Before Christmas.
March 21, 2016
To be honest, it's not that i dislike the book because there are actually some amazing stories with twisted endings that really got me by surprise;
-Big Bertha and The Stones of Justice by Angeline Woon
-My Father, The Hero by Eileen Lian (what you see isnt always what u get)
-Time Agents by Lim Li Anne (i really like the storyline because of the historical content)
-Playtime by Arif Zulkifli (that psychotic kid is no joke though haha)
-The Beggars by Cheryna
-The Banger by Jimie Cheng
However there are also stories that i just couldnt grasp the points, the underlying meaning, the messages that the authors wanted to put forward. Maybe they are just not my cup of tea
-Big Bertha and The Stones of Justice by Angeline Woon
-My Father, The Hero by Eileen Lian (what you see isnt always what u get)
-Time Agents by Lim Li Anne (i really like the storyline because of the historical content)
-Playtime by Arif Zulkifli (that psychotic kid is no joke though haha)
-The Beggars by Cheryna
-The Banger by Jimie Cheng
However there are also stories that i just couldnt grasp the points, the underlying meaning, the messages that the authors wanted to put forward. Maybe they are just not my cup of tea
December 4, 2013
I gave this book 4 stars because of these stories (Top 5 Rankings):
1. The Beggars (5 stars)
2. Time Agents
3. My Father, My Hero
4. Dick
5. Yummy Meats
1. The Beggars (5 stars)
2. Time Agents
3. My Father, My Hero
4. Dick
5. Yummy Meats
October 11, 2018
18 UNFLITERED STORIES
Edited by Amir Hafizi. I took my sweet time exploring this anthology. Fascinating, mostly with original storylines. Two or three seem like trying hard (mengada ngada) but enjoyed it thoroughly. Shorts regardless in what language has to be interesting and captivating.
Top 3 if I must select will be: The Bleeding Tree by Dipika Mukherjee, Dick by Hasrul Rizwan and The Beggars by Cheryna Zamzrinor. The Banger by Jimie Cheng deserved an honorable mention.
Looking forward to the one with french fries soon…
Edited by Amir Hafizi. I took my sweet time exploring this anthology. Fascinating, mostly with original storylines. Two or three seem like trying hard (mengada ngada) but enjoyed it thoroughly. Shorts regardless in what language has to be interesting and captivating.
Top 3 if I must select will be: The Bleeding Tree by Dipika Mukherjee, Dick by Hasrul Rizwan and The Beggars by Cheryna Zamzrinor. The Banger by Jimie Cheng deserved an honorable mention.
Looking forward to the one with french fries soon…
May 31, 2021
3.3 bintang.
January 2, 2014
Penis, male genitals, dick dan yang sewaktu dengannya.
Yes, you get it, almost part of the story ada kena mengena dengan isu diatas. Because this is a compilations of short stories makanya agak susah nak bagi rating for the whole book. Just going to list some of my favourite.
---> Mad About Mary - Terence Toh
---> Yummy Meats - Terence Tang
---> Dick - Hasrul Rizwan
---> Time Agents - Lim Li Anne
---> Playtime - Arif Zulkifli
White is a bit mild and kind to me. I prefer Red much more actually. The truly dark sides thingy.
Yes, you get it, almost part of the story ada kena mengena dengan isu diatas. Because this is a compilations of short stories makanya agak susah nak bagi rating for the whole book. Just going to list some of my favourite.
---> Mad About Mary - Terence Toh
---> Yummy Meats - Terence Tang
---> Dick - Hasrul Rizwan
---> Time Agents - Lim Li Anne
---> Playtime - Arif Zulkifli
White is a bit mild and kind to me. I prefer Red much more actually. The truly dark sides thingy.
February 27, 2016
Let's go beyond the portrayal of KL from tourism magazines and travel articles. This book reveals the dark side of KL, the truth about so-called beautiful city of M'sia.
Playtime by Arif Zulkifli has made me "What the.." many times. The story is terrifying but I like the horror. This story is the I'm-not-gonna-think-twice-to-rate-it-five stars. Other short stories that suit my preference are 'Time Agents' by Lim Li Anne, 'Dick' by Hasrul Rizwan, 'Savages' by Nadia khan, and 'The Aviator, Titanic & Nightmare Before Christmas' by Raja Faizal.
Playtime by Arif Zulkifli has made me "What the.." many times. The story is terrifying but I like the horror. This story is the I'm-not-gonna-think-twice-to-rate-it-five stars. Other short stories that suit my preference are 'Time Agents' by Lim Li Anne, 'Dick' by Hasrul Rizwan, 'Savages' by Nadia khan, and 'The Aviator, Titanic & Nightmare Before Christmas' by Raja Faizal.
November 5, 2013
I love RED more than WHITE.
My favorite shorties:
- flowers for kk
- big bertha and the stones of justice
- the banger
- clippings
(not in order)
My favorite shorties:
- flowers for kk
- big bertha and the stones of justice
- the banger
- clippings
(not in order)
January 19, 2020
Exploring the dark side of anything is at best uncomfortable, particularly when you are outside looking in.
At worst, if you are inside, reading this book may confirm your fear that the dark is all there is. The light and good and kind are things only existing in fantasy.
Ironically, this is the paradox that this book create. It scares you towards realising that the dark side exists and is thriving. It also comforts you that the light side also exists and is also thriving.
Both sides co-exist and it is your choice completely, where to go and where to be.
We always have a choice. Not having a choice is also a choice.
At worst, if you are inside, reading this book may confirm your fear that the dark is all there is. The light and good and kind are things only existing in fantasy.
Ironically, this is the paradox that this book create. It scares you towards realising that the dark side exists and is thriving. It also comforts you that the light side also exists and is also thriving.
Both sides co-exist and it is your choice completely, where to go and where to be.
We always have a choice. Not having a choice is also a choice.
June 2, 2020
18 unfiltered stories, it bragged.
More like 18 twisted tales. Some were gross, 1 was too surreal, a few were so meh but some were worth to read. Stories of incest, rape, molestation and perverts in action. I didn't like the book. So don't think will read the 3rd book, Blue, anytime soon.
More like 18 twisted tales. Some were gross, 1 was too surreal, a few were so meh but some were worth to read. Stories of incest, rape, molestation and perverts in action. I didn't like the book. So don't think will read the 3rd book, Blue, anytime soon.
October 15, 2016
KL Noir, kompilasi cerita pendek berkisarkan kehidupan gelap di kota metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. Antara short stories yang banyak plot twist! Haha.
Cerita yang betul-betul mengesankan bagi saya adalah 'Mad About Mary'. Walaupun ceritanya simple, berlatarbelakangkan kehidupan seorang warga miskin kota yang sering dicemuh dan dihina, akhirnya Siva menjadi 'Hero' dengan menyelamatkan gadis pujaannya 'Mary'. Agak lucu dan 'touching', menyelami kehidupan Siva sebagai gelandangan yang buta huruf dan berhati mulia saya kira. Antara dialog yang agak lucu tetapi 'touching', part Mary membelikan satu set burger McD kerana kasihankan Siva yang menyelongkar tong sampah untuk mencari makanan;
Unlike everyone else, Mary stopped.
"You poor thing," she said heading back into the restaurant.
The girl emerged later with a plastic bag containing a whole burger, a drink, and more French fries than Siva had seen in hi life. She walked up to Siva, and pressed it in hid hands.
He was ecstatic. "Thank you, sister, thank you!" Siva said between bites, his mouth stained with ketchup. It was the best meal he had in his life, and Siva wished it could have lasted forever.
The girl laughed. It sounded like little bells. Then, she told him her name,
"Mary Kristmas," she said. :)
-----
Cerita yang betul-betul mengesankan bagi saya adalah 'Mad About Mary'. Walaupun ceritanya simple, berlatarbelakangkan kehidupan seorang warga miskin kota yang sering dicemuh dan dihina, akhirnya Siva menjadi 'Hero' dengan menyelamatkan gadis pujaannya 'Mary'. Agak lucu dan 'touching', menyelami kehidupan Siva sebagai gelandangan yang buta huruf dan berhati mulia saya kira. Antara dialog yang agak lucu tetapi 'touching', part Mary membelikan satu set burger McD kerana kasihankan Siva yang menyelongkar tong sampah untuk mencari makanan;
Unlike everyone else, Mary stopped.
"You poor thing," she said heading back into the restaurant.
The girl emerged later with a plastic bag containing a whole burger, a drink, and more French fries than Siva had seen in hi life. She walked up to Siva, and pressed it in hid hands.
He was ecstatic. "Thank you, sister, thank you!" Siva said between bites, his mouth stained with ketchup. It was the best meal he had in his life, and Siva wished it could have lasted forever.
The girl laughed. It sounded like little bells. Then, she told him her name,
"Mary Kristmas," she said. :)
-----
February 10, 2016
When a book mainly highlights the dark undertones of a city and its society, it does give you (the reader) a somewhat grim idea of the whole place. You'd assume that the city has nothing good to offer but only the dangers lurking at every corner. So, if you're planning on a first time visit to KL, it's probably not a good idea to read this as the selected short stories this book comprises of really does have the power of lingering in your mind for a little while.
All in all, I really liked it. Hence, the 4 stars. I have always been intrigued to read the KL Noir Series, but the idea of so many unread books waiting at home somehow always drives me to put the book back on its shelf at every bookstore I go to.
As for the selection of stories, my ratings of 'really enjoyed' to 'meh' ranges from Mad About Mary, The Beggars, The Man From Berali Carpets, Savages and Dick to Flowers For KK, Burger Without Sides and Yummy Meats (the least liked). The others unmentioned rest somewhere in between which is probably better than to be categorized in the latter now, wouldn't it?
Looking forward to get my copy of the Red aka the first of the series, and also the Blue edition coming up!
All in all, I really liked it. Hence, the 4 stars. I have always been intrigued to read the KL Noir Series, but the idea of so many unread books waiting at home somehow always drives me to put the book back on its shelf at every bookstore I go to.
As for the selection of stories, my ratings of 'really enjoyed' to 'meh' ranges from Mad About Mary, The Beggars, The Man From Berali Carpets, Savages and Dick to Flowers For KK, Burger Without Sides and Yummy Meats (the least liked). The others unmentioned rest somewhere in between which is probably better than to be categorized in the latter now, wouldn't it?
Looking forward to get my copy of the Red aka the first of the series, and also the Blue edition coming up!
December 31, 2013
This is the 30th book I've read in the 30 books challenge I've set for 2013! Wohooo!!!
OK. The review:
Noir is set in the complexity and nuanced way of living in Kuala Lumpur; bringing light into the dark alleys of its city's inhabitants dark stories.
Its quite hard to get into, no pun intended, as most of 'darkness' has to do with men's penis, as standard for Fixi-ation with the small organ.
So like all of compilations, there are going to be lukewarm ones, a little contrived and then there are the great ones. The one that stood out for me was by Eileen Tian, My Father My Hero that nearly clean cut killed me.
Other recommended are; (obviously and in random order)
Flowers for KK-M.Shanmughalingam
The Man from Berali Carpets- Maya Tan Abdullah
Savages- Nadia Khan
Clippings-Amir Sharippudin
The Banger-Jimie Cheng
The Bios was a welcome treat too.
OK. The review:
Noir is set in the complexity and nuanced way of living in Kuala Lumpur; bringing light into the dark alleys of its city's inhabitants dark stories.
Its quite hard to get into, no pun intended, as most of 'darkness' has to do with men's penis, as standard for Fixi-ation with the small organ.
So like all of compilations, there are going to be lukewarm ones, a little contrived and then there are the great ones. The one that stood out for me was by Eileen Tian, My Father My Hero that nearly clean cut killed me.
Other recommended are; (obviously and in random order)
Flowers for KK-M.Shanmughalingam
The Man from Berali Carpets- Maya Tan Abdullah
Savages- Nadia Khan
Clippings-Amir Sharippudin
The Banger-Jimie Cheng
The Bios was a welcome treat too.
December 29, 2013
Suka sebab sesuai dengan "White", semua cerpen menampilkan watak yang kita rasa suci je tapi rupa-rupanya... jeng jeng jeng
My favourites:
Flowers for KK - hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Yummy Meats - kelakar dan cam what the what. merepek. haha
Dick - now i know what's all the fuss about minyak lintah
My Father The Hero - i think that kid is brilliant. kesian kena buat camtu tapi, parents memang selalu ignorant kan pasal benda gini.
Breadwinner - short, simple, brief, on point.
However, takde yang bagi effect macam cerita machete dalam KL Noir:RED.
My favourites:
Flowers for KK - hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Yummy Meats - kelakar dan cam what the what. merepek. haha
Dick - now i know what's all the fuss about minyak lintah
My Father The Hero - i think that kid is brilliant. kesian kena buat camtu tapi, parents memang selalu ignorant kan pasal benda gini.
Breadwinner - short, simple, brief, on point.
However, takde yang bagi effect macam cerita machete dalam KL Noir:RED.
March 17, 2014
Aku kiaskan antologi ini sebagai sebuah periuk yang di dalamnya terisi tomyam. Semua cerpen memainkan peranan masing-masing dalam melengkapkan sajian KL Noir : White dengan secukup rasa. Time Agents hasil sentuhan Lim Li Anne benar-benar menepati selera fantasi aku. Manakala persembahan Cheryna Zamrinor dalam The Beggars adalah pelengkap ramuan apabila menyuntik pengalamannya sebagai barista ke dalam karya pada kali ini. Hal itu yang menjadi daya penarik terhadap citarasa seorang aku.
March 21, 2022
This book is a bit plain.
My favourites (these were rated 4 and above)
- My Father, The Hero by Eileen Lian (the plot twist was really asdfghjkl)
- Dick by Hasrul Rizwan
- Time Agents by Lim Li Anne
- Playtime by Arif Zulkifli (the most disturbing)
- The Banger by Jimie Cheng
- Clippings by Amir Sharipuddin
My favourites (these were rated 4 and above)
- My Father, The Hero by Eileen Lian (the plot twist was really asdfghjkl)
- Dick by Hasrul Rizwan
- Time Agents by Lim Li Anne
- Playtime by Arif Zulkifli (the most disturbing)
- The Banger by Jimie Cheng
- Clippings by Amir Sharipuddin
November 15, 2013
The first half was ok. The second half was better. Good line up. Still, kenapa cerita hadimnor sikit sangat. Overall better than red (ye la bila dah ada dua kena lah compare kan? Walaupun comparison is a thief of joy, tapi this kind of comparison boleh buat improvement kot kan?) Sekian.
January 22, 2014
Cerita yang berbekas di hati
1) My Father, The Hero - Eileen Tan
2) Time Agents - Lim Li Anne
3) Playtime - Arif Zulkifli
4) The Banger - Jimie Cheng
5) The Aviator, Titanic & A Nightmare Before Christmas - Raja Faizal
1) My Father, The Hero - Eileen Tan
2) Time Agents - Lim Li Anne
3) Playtime - Arif Zulkifli
4) The Banger - Jimie Cheng
5) The Aviator, Titanic & A Nightmare Before Christmas - Raja Faizal
July 7, 2016
You want gory tale? You want twisted stuff? You want disturbing story? This is the book for you. It's amazing how this book didn't got banned. If this were to put in bahasa, I'm sure it will got the conservatives and religious authority in rage. I'm looking forward to read the rest of KL NOIR.
December 14, 2018
It has been a long time since I've read such good short stories. It's dark. It's dangerous stories. Definitely for 18 years old and above. Can't really figure out which story I love the most. Each have own merits. GOODREAD!
November 3, 2013
never ask someone to describe this for you. do spend some time reading this by yourself.
January 9, 2015
White is preferable. Stories I liked, savages, mad about Mary, time agents, and play time. The next..blue and yellow
Read
October 29, 2013< RED
May 16, 2020
KL Noir: White has 18 unfiltered stories - hence please do expect stories with UFO eating dick, some blown off ass, incest, adultery, murder, queer and many more dark stories at the rear end of the capital city of Malaysia. It's a compilation of short stories that make you feel overwhelmed and keep you wondering about the people live in the dark side of the lively KL.
Stories I liked:
Time Agents
Big Bertha and the Stones of Justice
The Man From Berali Carpets
Playtime
The Beggars
The Banger
Clippings
Stories I liked:
Time Agents
Big Bertha and the Stones of Justice
The Man From Berali Carpets
Playtime
The Beggars
The Banger
Clippings
December 29, 2018
Read this in early 2018 so my review may be invalid.
One word: male genitals
Some stories are pure nasty. But if there's a word to describe the book, it's dicks. Too much dicks. But still a great read anyways, liked the cover and some stories are way too mengada-ngada with no originality.
I remember one of the stories reminded me of a local serial killer, but some can do so much better.
One word: male genitals
Some stories are pure nasty. But if there's a word to describe the book, it's dicks. Too much dicks. But still a great read anyways, liked the cover and some stories are way too mengada-ngada with no originality.
I remember one of the stories reminded me of a local serial killer, but some can do so much better.
August 7, 2018
Like the first instalment, this offering is also good. Quite impressed.
May 19, 2019
A compilation of short stories about the unforeseen lives of Malaysian citizens. Very interesting
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