René Appel
Author of Als broer en zus
About the Author
Image credit: photo by Bob Bronshoff
Works by René Appel
Handicap 5 copies
Fantasie, pure fantasie 3 copies
Met ingehouden adem 3 copies
Ik en mijn mobiel 2 copies
Los geld 2 copies
Kippevel 1 copy
Van kwaad tot erger 1 copy
Ja hai, met Mai : een uitgeversprentenboek — Contributor — 1 copy
Vakantiewerk 1 copy
Spannend verhaal 1 copy
Een lange nasleep 1 copy
Los geld 1 copy
Inleiding in de algemene psycholinguistiek, de taalverwerving en de taalpathologie (1983) — Author — 1 copy
Associated Works
De Nederlandse en Vlaamse literatuur vanaf 1880 in 250 verhalen (2005) — Contributor — 79 copies, 2 reviews
Leve de boekhandel! nieuwe verhalen over het theater van de literatuur (2021) — Contributor — 14 copies
Sport : de 141 beste Nederlandse en Vlaamse sportverhalen van 1945 tot nu (2007) — Contributor — 6 copies
Mensje 75 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Appel, René
- Legal name
- Appel, René
- Birthdate
- 1945-09-19
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- linguist
novelist (thrillers)
professor (Dutch as a second language) - Organizations
- University of Amsterdam
- Awards and honors
- De Gouden Strop
MAX Gouden Vleermuis Oeuvre Award (2015) - Short biography
- [from Writers Unlimited website]
René Appel (1945, Hoogkarspel) studied Dutch and general linguistics. He specialized in language acquisition and socio-linguistics. He focused on second language acquisition from immigrants and the Dutch language education for this group. In 1984 he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on Immigrant children learning Dutch; sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition. From 1994 untill 2003 he was extraordinary professor 'Acquisition and didactics from Dutch as second language'. He wrote the textbook 'Bilingualism and language contact'. Besides his scientific carier René Appel had the ambition to write fiction. In 1987 he published his first novel Handicap. Since 2003 he is almost fulltime writer. - Nationality
- Netherlands
- Birthplace
- Hoogkarspel, Noord-Holland, Nederland
- Map Location
- Netherlands
- Associated Place (for map)
- Netherlands
Members
Reviews
This is the second noir compilation I've read from this publisher (I've also read Belfast Noir) and while it wasn't my favorite, it wasn't bad. Some of the short stories in this are clearly better than others, but that's bound to happen when you have fifteen different authors spinning tales of deceit, darkness, murder, and intrigue. The thing I most enjoyed about this collection (and all in this series) is that the setting (Amsterdam) plays such a crucial element in every story. These dark, show more gritty stories make you feel as if you really are in Amsterdam. Some of the short stories deal with gangs, psychotic episodes, murder, revenge, and twisted fantasies. Again some are clearly better than others, but don't let that get in the way of reading this! show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Amsterdam Noir is an excellent addition to the uncommon mystery anthology series Akashic Noir. In this edition, editors René Appel and Josh Pachter selected twenty-two short stories that evoke the noir sensibilities of Amsterdam. They took inspiration from four classic noir films. Out of the Past, Kiss Me Deadly, Touch of Evil, and They Live By Night. What a genius idea!
The four stories in Out of the Past are rooted in past experiences, of war, marriage, grief, and even a long-ago murder. I show more thought they were all strong stories but particularly loved Spui 13. The next section, Kiss Me Deadly, has three stories of love, though Silent Days is not about romantic love at all, but the kind of sisterhood that can make a woman defend another woman she doesn’t even know because she wants to do something to be proud of. A Touch of Evil has four stories and three are clearly representations of evil’s malignancy, but Lucky Sevens strikes me differently. A woman is murdered and that is evil, but the killer is not a central character. The last section, They Lived by Night, has four stories. I thought The Girl at the End of the Line was haunting and beautifully done.
I loved Amsterdam Noir and think its selection of stories was excellent and the way they were organized was a stroke of genius. There were a few stories that were not as strong as the rest and oddly, the weakest story was Starry, Starry Night by the co-editors. I suppose there had to be some tie-in to Van Gogh somewhere, but having a guy named Vincent get his ear slashed by muggers is not it. I appreciated the sly effort, but it turned out to sound like something they concocted during a beer-addled, and-then-we-can conversation.
I received an e-galley of Amsterdam Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/amsterdam-noir-by-rene-ap... show less
The four stories in Out of the Past are rooted in past experiences, of war, marriage, grief, and even a long-ago murder. I show more thought they were all strong stories but particularly loved Spui 13. The next section, Kiss Me Deadly, has three stories of love, though Silent Days is not about romantic love at all, but the kind of sisterhood that can make a woman defend another woman she doesn’t even know because she wants to do something to be proud of. A Touch of Evil has four stories and three are clearly representations of evil’s malignancy, but Lucky Sevens strikes me differently. A woman is murdered and that is evil, but the killer is not a central character. The last section, They Lived by Night, has four stories. I thought The Girl at the End of the Line was haunting and beautifully done.
I loved Amsterdam Noir and think its selection of stories was excellent and the way they were organized was a stroke of genius. There were a few stories that were not as strong as the rest and oddly, the weakest story was Starry, Starry Night by the co-editors. I suppose there had to be some tie-in to Van Gogh somewhere, but having a guy named Vincent get his ear slashed by muggers is not it. I appreciated the sly effort, but it turned out to sound like something they concocted during a beer-addled, and-then-we-can conversation.
I received an e-galley of Amsterdam Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/amsterdam-noir-by-rene-ap... show less
I've read lots of short story collections, very little of anything set in Amsterdam, and apparently no noir until now. I typically enjoy experiencing different writing styles in quick succession. This book delivers on that expectation and was enjoyable to read over a few sessions during a winter break. I learned just how dark noir can be. Most of the stories provided an enjoyable level of insight into the hard side of human nature. A few of the stories went further than I would care to read show more again. I'll take suspense over horror. This book delivers both in an experience that will make you think about at least some of the characters and scenes the next day. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.I've been a fan of the Akashic Noir series for some time and get excited when they are set in cities I have some familiarity with. When I had a chance to pick up a review copy of Amsterdam Noir, a city I visited just a couple of years ago and a country I lived in for five years as youth, I was jumping for joy.
While none of the stories in this book are bad, this was a disappointment for me. There were no memorable standout stories, and I didn't feel that most of the stories gave me a great show more sense of the city. The one exception was Seven Bridges, by Max van Olden, a revenge tale set on a canal cruise. While others give hints of the city, in most cases, they could be set anywhere.
That's not to say they aren't well written, or engaging stories. A young man visited by the ghost of Ted Bundy and a couple of stories based on true crime show some real interest.
I also like how the stories were organized thematically around classic noir movies.
Looking forward to more books in the series. show less
While none of the stories in this book are bad, this was a disappointment for me. There were no memorable standout stories, and I didn't feel that most of the stories gave me a great show more sense of the city. The one exception was Seven Bridges, by Max van Olden, a revenge tale set on a canal cruise. While others give hints of the city, in most cases, they could be set anywhere.
That's not to say they aren't well written, or engaging stories. A young man visited by the ghost of Ted Bundy and a couple of stories based on true crime show some real interest.
I also like how the stories were organized thematically around classic noir movies.
Looking forward to more books in the series. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 73
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 1,078
- Popularity
- #23,855
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
- 39
- ISBNs
- 149
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 2
