View Poll Results: The City and the City: Final Verdict

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  • * Waste of time. Wouldn't recommend it.

    0 0%
  • ** Didn't like it much.

    0 0%
  • *** Average.

    0 0%
  • **** It is a good book.

    6 85.71%
  • ***** Liked it very much. Would strongly recommend it.

    1 14.29%
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Thread: Fantasy / Jan '11 Reading: The City and The City by Mieville

  1. #1
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    Fantasy / Jan '11 Reading: The City and The City by Mieville

    In January, we will be reading The City and The City by China Mieville.

    Please post your thoughts and questions in this thread.
    ~
    "It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
    ~


  2. #2
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    I am awaiting my copy. It should be here tomorrow. In the meantime I have been reading The Iron Council also by China Mieville. It's very good, and, like Perdido Street Station, quite unpredictable. Some of the contexts are familiar, such as a wild west railway building section, but it is populated with bizarre creatures and people. Some of the descriptions of New Crobuzon are brilliant, and it reminds you of a bustling capital, in an asiatic setting, with Gaudi-like colour and a myriad of characters. It'll be interesting to se how The City and The City compares.

  3. #3
    Dance Magic Dance OrphanPip's Avatar
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    I ended up ordering mine yesterday instead of waiting for the bookstore to get a copy like they said they would. Should have it next week hopefully.
    "If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
    - Margaret Atwood

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    The Poetic Warrior Dark Muse's Avatar
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    I myself am waiting on my orderd copy, hopefully it will get here soon. All the other books I ordered around the same time have arrived. So glad to know I won't be totally behind since others are waiting as well.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

  5. #5
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    The book came today, and it has started off with a regular crime scene beginning. I like this approach in fantasy and sci fi - to get you into familiar territory, and then take you way away from that.

  6. #6
    Two plus two is CHICKEN!! Weisinheimer's Avatar
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    Got it from library yesterday. I don't think this is my type of book but I'll give it a shot. I can't wait to get away from the regular crime scene stuff.
    Calvin: You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.

    Hobbes: What mood is that?

    Calvin: Last-minute panic.

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    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    I'm onto ch 2, and the differences are beginning to creep in. Crosshatching is beginning to be mentioned as a place where the two cities interface. It's an interesting idea reminiscent of apartheid.

    I'm interested to see how it develops. The description of the city is muted and downbeat.

  8. #8
    Super papayahed's Avatar
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    I'm on chapter five. I still trying to get used to the writing style.
    Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda


  9. #9
    Bibliophile Drkshadow03's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by papayahed View Post
    I'm on chapter five. I still trying to get used to the writing style.
    What do you find difficult about the writing style?
    "You understand well enough what slavery is, but freedom you have never experienced, so you do not know if it tastes sweet or bitter. If you ever did come to experience it, you would advise us to fight for it not with spears only, but with axes too." - Herodotus

    https://consolationofreading.wordpress.com/ - my book blog!
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  10. #10
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    I think he makes you work with the narrative. It really piles along. Its not like being led by the nose, but running to keep up. I do like this style though.

  11. #11
    Serious business Taliesin's Avatar
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    Okay, I'm through chapter one and I'm already rather curious about where exactly this takes place - Besźel has a rather Hungarian sound to it, but, using an online Hungarian-English dictionary, there is nothing similar to "feld" among the translations of "cat". Also, on wiktionary, the only one similar to "feld" in different languages among the translation of "cat" is the Latin "feles". Are we dealing with a made-up country/language here? Or might it be slang? Or some small, rather obscure language? Or maybe I made a mistake and there is some language where "feld" means "cat", it's just not on wiktionary?
    If you believe even a half of this post, you are severely mistaken.

  12. #12
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Taliesin View Post
    Okay, I'm through chapter one and I'm already rather curious about where exactly this takes place - Besźel has a rather Hungarian sound to it, but, using an online Hungarian-English dictionary, there is nothing similar to "feld" among the translations of "cat". Also, on wiktionary, the only one similar to "feld" in different languages among the translation of "cat" is the Latin "feles". Are we dealing with a made-up country/language here? Or might it be slang? Or some small, rather obscure language? Or maybe I made a mistake and there is some language where "feld" means "cat", it's just not on wiktionary?
    Beszel and Ul Quoma are the two cities geographically entwined but politically seperate. I think they are set in the Romanian area, but are fictional.

    I think he's taken the idea of seeing but ignoring - established in the verb to unsee - and applied it to two politcal systems that are connected. We do ths on a minor scale such as igoring a robbery, or on a larger scale perhaps ignoring societal injustices like political persecution.

  13. #13
    Two plus two is CHICKEN!! Weisinheimer's Avatar
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    I'm still a bit confused by the word "unsee." I think he used "unnoticed" at least once, too. Maybe as I read more I'll get used to it. I think I'm on chapter 3.
    Calvin: You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.

    Hobbes: What mood is that?

    Calvin: Last-minute panic.

  14. #14
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Weisinheimer View Post
    I'm still a bit confused by the word "unsee." I think he used "unnoticed" at least once, too. Maybe as I read more I'll get used to it. I think I'm on chapter 3.
    He does use unnoticed as well. I think it refers to seeing, but actively ignoring, such as rich peole who unsee the poor, or people who see and ignore a street crime.

  15. #15
    TobeFrank Paulclem's Avatar
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    I've been cracking on with the book, and i'm enjoying it so far. It's very different from the other two I've read/ am reading. The idea of two cities intertwined is interesting, and as I read it I can see that he's gone to a lot of trouble to explain the mindset of two nations' peoples who co-exist without access to streets and houses a few feet away.

    It has resonances of apartheid in the physical seperation, but more important seems to be the mindset that can actively unsee something in close proximity.

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