Robert Coover I Noir

Appropriately, Noir is another go at distilling the detective novel to its base elements for consumption, but unlike the New York Trilogy approaches it from the opposite angle. Instead of taking it to its simplest terms: a man, a mystery- Coover loads cliche and trope after cliche and trope, appropriating the atmosphere that the mystery writers who've come before have established. So OF COURSE the protagonist has a trenchoat and fedora. Of course he smokes and drinks to excess. Of course he has a weakness for dames. Of course he loves his city. And hates it. Descriptions of Chiaroscuro lighting ("One bright light source leaves everything else in shadow"- tvtropes laconic description of Chiaroscuro, common in noir stories) and time spent checking out gams (P. 34- "Legs are legs, Mr. Noir. There are more of them than there are people." Ha, true.)

　
Coover gives too unlikable a protagonist, who isn't good enough at his job. Things just happen to him, the mystery more or less solves itself. Granted, the feeling isn't entirely unique to this story, The Big Sleep had this element to it, however that one, along with being a seminal work in the tradition of the gumshoe, also brought with it the feeling that the hero did acconplish something, and something pretty cool too. Not so with Noir.
　

More important is the wishy-washyness of the narrative. It jumps back and forth in time, diverges to past cases (not too often, too bad. The past cases were kind of enjoyable). I thought I was doing a good job of keeping things straight, and then one character was talking that I was sure was dead at that point. The wool was pulled over my eyes, and I couldn't forgive the story for it.
　

Spoiler. The novel ends with the whole thing being an invention of the secretary to get a partnership in the detective agency. I thought that was pretty lame.
　

Coover has a prodigious vocabulary, so more dictionary terms!

　
appurtenance 1. something subordinate to another, more important thing; adjunct; accessory.

2. Law. a right, privilege, or improvement belonging to and passing with a principal property.
　

　
supine lying or resting on the back with the face, palm, etc, upwards

　
assiduous constant in application or effort; working diligently at a task; persevering; industrious; attentive

　
penumbral 1. a fringe region of half shadow resulting from the partial obstruction of light by an opaque object (actually for "penumbra")

　
jodhpurs riding breeches cut very full over the hips and tapering at the knees to become tightfitting from the knees to the ankles. (I KNOW I've looked that one up before..)

　
deicer a device or a chemical substance for preventing or removing ice. (Ooooh a de-icer. I was thinking like, a 'dice-er', what's that?)

　
bascinetts (apparently not a real word? The internet has failed me, and I didn't record where in the book this was, so I can't recheck context and spelling..)
　

supercilious haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.

　
métier a field of work or other activity in which one has special ability or training; forte. (ooooh you mean bailiwick)
　

cosh a blackjack; bludgeon