Trinidad Noir

by Lisa Allen-Agostini, Kevin Baldeosingh (Contributor), Shani Mootoo (Contributor)

Trinidad Noir reveals the Caribbean island’s darkness and its appeal with an unexpected and gratifying result.

Features brand-new stories by Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Lawrence Scott, Ramabai Espinet, Shani Mootoo, Kevin Baldeosingh, Vahni Capildeo, Willi Chen, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Keith Jardim, Reena Andrea Manickchand, Tiphanie Yanique, and more.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Noir, Mystery, Anthologies, Crime, Contemporary

340 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Lisa Allen-Agostini is a poet, playwright, and fiction writer from Trinidad and Tobago. She is the author of a children's novel, The Chalice Project (forthcoming, 2008). An award-winning journalist, she is the Internet editor and a columnist with the Trinidad Guardian.

Reviews

[BookOfCinz Reading Retreat Host]

I recently discovered the Noir series and I am hooked. Having read "Kingston Noir" I decided to read "Trinidad Noir".

I have been living in Trinidad and Tobago for the last four years and it is always so enlightening to read about a place you currently live or visited. I have to admit, while this is a Noir series I did find the book a little dark and I expected a more diverse look at Trinidad, notwithstanding, these are my standout stories:
Pot Luck
How to Make Photocopies in the Trinidad and Tobago National Archives
The Best Laid Plans
Eric's Turn
Gita Pinky Mannachandi

[Zola-kai Pollard]

No...just no....as a Trinidadian this book, in my opinion lost it's way, some stories that could have been great accounts of Trinidad noir quickly became a joke, and not a funny one either. I can recommend a plethora of other books other than this if you want to get a feel of the diversity and complexity that is Trinidad. This book was an utter disappointment, I honestly couldn't make it to the end which is EXTREMELY rare for me, I stopped about 12 pages from the end, I just couldn't subject myself to the none sense any longer.

[Kay]

#RWLChallenge: A book with a developing country, town or city in the title.

There were a few stories I really liked (that suited the genre), some of which could have stuck the end a bit more and some that were really good. A lot of these stories centre around violence against women and I was not prepared for that at all.

I guess I liked more from this collection that I did with Kingston Noir. The good ones were adequate enough to drag up the blah ones.

Some of my faves are:

Pot Luck by Lisa Allen-Agostini
Betrayal by Willi Chen (hate the ending)
Woman is Boss by Elisha Efua Bartels (damn brilliant)
Prophet by Lawrence Scott (would be a good noir short film but for that ending)
The Best Laid Plans by Darby Maloney (so good)
Eric's Turn by Rian Marie Extavour (decent would be good with more development. Also, Eric is TRRRRASSSSSHHHHHHH)
Dark Nights by Judith Theodore (another fave)

[Kim M-M]

Set mostly in Trinidad, it is a book of short stories written by many authors. There's a lot of different styles of writing and most are very good. I know it's a 'noir' book, but I was still a bit surprised to find a lot of the stories concerned drugs, murder, sexuality etc.
What I would suggest is, not to take these stories as a mirror of Trinidad, but a sample of the level of writing contained there. The introduction is excellent.

[Afrijewel]

This book will make you never want to visit Trinidad. Plain scandalous and I feel yukky. Three stories are worth while to read. Ones titled "Pot Luck", "The Rape" and "How to Make Photocopies in the TnT National Archives". Otherwise I would recommend passing on this. Just my honest and strong opionion.

[Elevate Difference]

When it comes to the Caribbean islands, many are inclined to see them only as a tropical hotspot for tourists. The people who actually live on those islands, which include nations like Trinidad, know better. The editors of Trinidad Noir make clear from the get-go that “Trinidad was founded on crime,” which has continued throughout the years with rampant prostitution, marijuana plantations, and corrupt police. For the sake of fiction writing, the violence, drug exchanges, and existential attitudes of island residents make for the perfect noir setting.

This book is an anthology of eighteen short, fictional stories from various authors, and deals with criminal activities and the lives of Trinidadians. While reading these stories, I was half-expecting to find conventions of classic noir that irritate me: the sole male anti-hero making his way through his dead end life, the besotted femme fatal. Fortunately, Allen-Agostini and Mason have collected stories with a neo-noir feel to accommodate modern readers. The stories deal with the different types of people who inhabit the island—men, women, foreigners, and citizens of many of different races and ethnicities—all sharing a similar kind of nihilistic despair.

The best thing fiction readers might get out of these stories is the ironic and unconventional endings. In Kevin Baldeosingh’s “The Rape,” two women shadow a jogger who they suspect to be the local rapist. You’re left wondering throughout the story if he actually is a rapist, and are also curious about the anti-heroines. The ending stays true to noir form in that it’s both shocking and disturbing. Another standout is Lawrence Scott’s “The Prophet,” which follows a journalistic investigation of children vanishing from a shady neighborhood.

My only annoyance I felt was with Robert Antoni’s “How to Make Photocopies in the Trinidad & Tobago National Archives,” in which messages are written to a “Mr. Robot.” The messages read like this: “2 write out dis email & put it all down clear in b & w fa u 2 hear, so LISTEN GOOD what i tellin you, eh…” Antoni’s attempt to write out the sound of the dialect may have been intended to be ultramodern, but what it ultimately does is make the work unnecessarily difficult for the reader to follow. Antoni’s work stands out like a large scratch on a brand new car, and the editors made a huge error inserting it into the collection. So long as they can avoid this bad apple, I think fans of noir will really enjoy this book.

Review by Farhana Uddin

[Robert Day]

Here's something Wikipedia says: "Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. In this subgenre, right and wrong are not clearly defined, while the protagonists are seriously and often tragically flawed."

There's no discussion of right and wrong in any if these stories so I guess it's up to the readers to decide where the actions of the characters sit. And yeah, when I think about it, they are mostly ambiguous. It's left to the readers to decide. Lot of dodgy stuff going off though; that's for sure.

Lot of crime happening here too. Every story features either death, murder or some kind of grand larceny (yeah, in just looked it up; it means teefing 'n' ting). Dark people doing dark things, often for no good reason I can figure out.

The characters are all flawed. But then again - aren't we all. I can identify with some aspects of most of these people, but not with the lengths to which they pursue their foibles. Maybe that's the real difference between noir and normal: the latter features a little more restraint. And on that note, I'll stop.

Read this if you're interested in Trinidad and have a darkness in your mind. Avoid it if you change your underwear three times a day.

[Tishy Wishy]

Things I realised while reading this book:

1. I love reading stories based in Trinbago (and the wider Caribbean).

2. I get bored very quickly with anthologies.

3. I need to just stop reading them.

There were some gems here and I can truly appreciate knowing the local layout of the land by heart and being touched fondly by the nuances of Trinbago culture. I was also struggling through many of the stories.

[Karmen]

This book of short stories set in Trinidad blew my mind away. Took me back to the classic noir genre as I've not experienced in a very long time.

Set both in pastoral and urban settings, the stories are unparalleled in their ability to shock, thrill and amuse in a black comedy way.

Very recommended.

[Wendy]

I could not finish. I am not a fan of Short stories but wanted a mystery genre set in Trinidad. I downloaded it onto my Kindle - the font was too small and format awkward. Further, I just could not get into the characters in the short stories. I found the few I read weird and stilted. Some of the endings just did not make any sense.

[Chantal Waldropt]

Great storytelling of the parts of Trinidad that don’t quite make their way into novels.

The diversity of characters and the writers' skill of not letting them fall flat makes for an enjoyable read.

[Tasha]

I'm from Barbados, but this was the closest book to my neck of the woods :)
I love anthologies. Such a great way to introduce yourself to many novelists all at once.

Great stories!

[Tuck]

from akashic noir series. this one does not have your typical mystery stories, but they are noir. and you will never even get a grip on TnT from these stories. but the sex, man!

[Erin]

Some of the stories were really great, some were less stellar. Definitely glad I read this AFTER going to Tridad, though, or I would have had a much less optimistic view of the country....

[Woody Chandler]

This was one of the few anthologies in this series that I was less than enraptured with. It took me over a week to read through the stories & for the most part, I did not find any of them to be particularly memorable. The worst of the lot was "How to Make Photocopies ..." by Robert Antoni. First, it was told in a local patois dialect which made it kind of tough. I have no problem with what I refer to as "Other Englishes & the Use of Dialect" as I wrote a Junior Seminar paper on the very subject, but I prefer to choose to read such things, not just have them foisted on me in an anthology! That, plus I may be obtuse, but I could not figure out who the "Mr. Robot" was that the narrator kept addressing! Grr. Was it an actual robot? Is the name an accented one that I missed? The story just really put me off & the rest of the anthology was not much better. YMMV.

[Shellana]

A gross underrepresentation of the talent and wit that are present in our authors.

I could not finish this.
I enjoyed maybe 1 or 2 stories.

Why is this so filled with race? Can these stories not be captivating without referring to someone as a certain race? Or have characters experience inner turmoil about their own racial identity? It’s race first and noir second, or even last.

I refuse to continue this book.

[Wani's World]

Twists galore!

Excellent twists in each story. Intriguing from beginning to end. Really gave me a vivid picture of the various Trinidad neighborhoods that I have visited. Definitely recommend.

[Michael Bell]

This was my first book reading about life in Trinidad. Many of the stories had sad endings. Children being kidnapped or killed. Weed heists leading to murders. Drama involving lovers and exes. I googled a few authors and will continue my journey of exploring this genre in 2024.

[ash]

only read “Prophet” and “Potluck” from this. i appreciate the imagery a lot that conveys the essence of Trinidad from these. they depict the culture well and highlighted certain issues within the country that’s still relevant today. they made me appreciate some local literature to say the least.

[Sahidah Haque]

Pot luck and Dougla were great... I thought I would have been hooked on this book but I am very disappointed...

[Alec]

A series of short stories from local writers. The most compelling being set in blanchisseuse, a coastal french village in the north of Trinidad.

[Leah]

Another excellent addition to the noir series.

[Irene]

I enjoyed this anthology of short stories by a range of Trinidadian authors. Each featured some aspect of the dark side of society. Many had a pleasantly surprising twist.

[laura]

2.5.....took me time to read..some really really.dark stories.

[Peta]

Surprisingly good! Watch review here ->https://youtu.be/h3pdGJVmWtk

[Manta Ray]

As someone who lives in Trinidad , I found the collection of stories to be a mixed bag. Maybe a few were decent and the rest had 2-dimensional characters written by people who don't live in Trinidad (anymore) or who have a very insular and limited view of Trinidad as they are afraid to mingle with the 90% trini people who live after the lighthouse. I find also that it is always the same mediocre bunch of "writers" that dominate every "Litfest" on the island- no fresh voices . This clique of writers believe that Port of Spain is the centre of the world and when they attempt to write about other types of people , it comes across as cliched and the characters are lifeless or typed as buffoons. Also, the style of the stories they write are third-rate imitations of more successful noir writers and not really trini at their essence - only a few writers from Trinidad achieved this, Naipaul in Miguel Street and Michael Anthony perhaps. If you are homesick and desperate for anything with the label Trini, I guess you could buy this book but as someone living there, I found it to be a tepid read.

[Tuxlie]

Trinidad Noir reveals the Caribbean island’s darkness and its appeal with an unexpected and gratifying result.

Features brand-new stories by Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Lawrence Scott, Ramabai Espinet, Shani Mootoo, Kevin Baldeosingh, Vahni Capildeo, Willi Chen, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Keith Jardim, Reena Andrea Manickchand, Tiphanie Yanique, and more.

From Publishers Weekly

The volumes in Akashic's locale-based noir anthology series set outside North America (Dublin Noir, etc.) offer more variety than those set in different major U.S. cities, and this one is no exception. The editors' brief but insightful introduction makes clear that the sun and sea tourist image of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is at odds with the country's political climate of excess and corruption and an element of society afloat in drugs and guns. While one entry, Robert Antoni's How to Make Photocopies in the Trinidad & Tobago National Archives, mostly comprising stream-of-consciousness letters to mr. robot, may be tough going for noir fans who prefer traditional storytelling, the other 17 stories are solid. The two standouts are Keith Jardim's mystical The Jaguar and Lawrence Scott's Prophet, in which a series of child disappearances in a small but corrupt community builds to an appropriately bleak ending. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

Trinidad Noir is the best of the international entries in Akashic’s series. Covering the entire island of Trinidad, the stories take readers from the steamy jungle countryside to the tropical beaches and on to the city streets of the capital, where political intrigue thrives. The stories evoke an atmosphere so strong the reader can practically feel the heat, smell the marijuana, and hear the calypso music. The authors do an especially good job with the dialogue, portraying the speech rhythms and slang of the distinctive Caribbean island. --Jessica Moyer

Trinidad Noir reveals the Caribbean island's darkness and its appeal with an unexpected and gratifying result.

Features brand-new stories by Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Lawrence Scott, Ramabai Espinet, Shani Mootoo, Kevin Baldeosingh, Vahni Capildeo, Willi Chen, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Keith Jardim, Reena Andrea Manickchand, Tiphanie Yanique, and more.

[Kate]

The authors pull from the darkness of abuse, gangs, sex and murder to create vibrant, living characters with incredibly memorable stories. Although I cannot speak for the authenticity of the worlds they create, these pieces offer up a great diversity of life in Trinidad, from the perspective of rich, poor, migrant and longtime resident- right down to the rhythm of dialect. They also shed light on the intricate racial relations of Trinidad's peoples.

[Sakura]

For me, The Rape and How to Make Photocopies… were worth the price of admission.

There is some good writing amongst the other stories but you can keep them.

[Ellie]

I finally finished this book that I was supposed to read in Caribbean Studies in college, and found it as uneven as the first time. It's a book of short stories by different people so it's bound to be, I guess. Some of these just sucked. Some of them I could not understand — like there was supposed to be a twist, but I couldn't figure out how. I wish there were more reviews of this book ANYWHERE on the internet so I could get some answers, but there really isn't. For example, in the last story, Gita Pinky Manachandi, did she get roofied at the club? Is that why the water tasted sweet, and why she crashed? Because it seemed really open ended, that she could've just been drunk and excited to have gotten her first kiss. And that's just one freaking story, I have lots more questions. Many of them left me saying, "What?....Oh, whatever." And that can't be a great sign. Nevertheless, I think this idea of [place] + noir is really interesting, so I'd definitely try another of these if anyone has any recommendations. The website says "Atlanta Noir" is forthcoming and I live in Atlanta, so I'll definitely pick that one up if it is actually released. I read this for Popsugar's 2016 Reading Challenge for culture I'm unfamiliar with, and the real Caribbean is definitely an unfamiliar place for me, though I'd say after that class I understand it more than the average American who hasn't been there. The entire theme of that class, taught by a Trinidadian actualy, seemed to be "The Caribbean may seem like a sexy paradise but it is scary as hell and the impoverished people there are basically indentured servants bound to the tourism industry, which takes advantage of them." If you were thinking about reading this book but are on the fence, I have just summarized it for you in a sentence.