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The Last Days of New Paris
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
79 posts | 48 read | 82 to read
A thriller of war that never was—of survival in an impossible city—of surreal cataclysm. In The Last Days of New Paris, China Miéville entwines true historical events and people with his daring, uniquely imaginative brand of fiction, reconfiguring history and art into something new.   “Beauty will be convulsive. . . .”   1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseilles, American engineer—and occult disciple—Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including Surrealist theorist André Breton. In the strange games of the dissident diplomats, exiled revolutionaries, and avant-garde artists, Parsons finds and channels hope. But what he unwittingly unleashes is the power of dreams and nightmares, changing the war and the world forever.   1950. A lone Surrealist fighter, Thibault, walks a new, hallucinogenic Paris, where Nazis and the Résistance are trapped in unending conflict, and the streets are stalked by living images and texts—and by the forces of Hell. To escape the city, he must join forces with Sam, an American photographer intent on recording the ruins, and make common cause with a powerful, enigmatic figure of chance and rebellion: the Exquisite Corpse.   But Sam is being hunted. And new secrets will emerge that will test all their loyalties—to each other, to Paris old and new, and to reality itself.   Praise for China Miéville   “[Miéville’s] wit dazzles, his humour is lively, and the pure vitality of his imagination is astonishing.”—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian, on Three Moments of an Explosion   “Dark and thought-provoking.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune, on The City & The City   “Richly conceived.”—The New York Times Book Review, on Embassytown   “Miéville more than delivers.”—San Francisco Chronicle, on Kraken   “Compulsively readable.”—The Washington Post Book World, on Perdido Street Station
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Creadnorthey
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Miéville writes a mini-masterpiece that is densely packed with thrills and art history. The book‘s description doesn‘t mislead as much as it can‘t encompass the dream-like read that, if you want to enjoy this book, you as a reader need to give yourself over to. I find this with many of his books, that once you‘ve crossed into a Miéville world you‘re pretty much a goner; soaking in whatever strange essence he has concocted.

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Jari-chan
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Really, how does he do that? Where does this man get his ideas from? Each of his books is so different from the others, linked only through the crazy ideas of China Mieville. One has to like those weird worlds, where nothing is the way it seems, and the way we're used to. We have to adapt, just as the characters do. Mieville is extraordinary, out of this world, truly fantastic. And I just can't get enough of him.

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
35 likes1 comment
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Jari-chan
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Here's my #BookSpinBingo board for October. I could already check off one, even though it wasn't planned (seriously, the book just ended - I didn't ask it to!). Since I'm almost done with all my challenges and working more hours, my reading list is getting shorter. I'm still hoping for a Bingo, though.

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpin #DoubleSpin

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
22 likes1 comment
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Jari-chan
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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My reading plans for October. Yes, my piles are getting shorter. I enjoy the extra time, the mood reading, and the lower stress level.

Read 25 books in September, more than expected, tbh. 3 were audio books, and 8 off my TBR.

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Jari-chan
Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Well, I'm just posting this now as it is. I don't know what other might or might not come my way. I'm not sure if I can continue taking part in the #Bookspinbingo ... My lists keep getting shorter, since I actually enjoy reading less and having more time for each single book. Let's see what the next months will bring. In January I'm sure to be packed with challenges again 😅

#Bookspin #Doublespin
@TheAromaOfBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! And you're also welcome to spread one book across more than one square if you decide you want to read fewer books in a month but still completely the challenge!! 3y
Jari-chan @TheAromaofBooks That's an interesting idea! Thank you very much 🥰 3y
22 likes2 comments
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Smarkies
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Bailedbailed

At 60% into the book, still completely confused. This is supposed to be about surrealist art coming to life so maybe I am not the target audience for this.

DivineDiana Sorry it didn‘t work out. It sounds like a book with a very limited audience. 🤔 3y
Smarkies @DivineDiana I think this book will gain the title of the oddest book I ever read. 😂😂 3y
rwmg You lasted a lot longer than I did, well done 3y
Smarkies @rwmg I thought it was going to gel at some point 😂😂. But it just kept on in the same vein. 😵 3y
25 likes4 comments
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rwmg
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Bailedbailed

Retired baffled after 30 pages

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Cathythoughts
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

I didn‘t read this , but my husband who never reads novels , read this novella. He says it‘s the hardest book of all time to talk about .. surrealist, mad , crazy , hallucinagenic. Images from surrealist art become real , are manifested & stalk the streets of new Paris. I don‘t think it‘s my cup of tea , but I‘m posting it because he really loved it & couldn‘t put it down, so I felt it was worth sharing. It‘s doing well on Litsy reviews too

erzascarletbookgasm An unusual setting. It‘s cool that you‘re posting a review on Litsy for your husband. 😊 4y
Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm He‘s a poetry/ mythology reader .... but he loved this novel. I think I‘ll be giving it a miss though 😃 4y
batsy Nice review 🙂 4y
See All 8 Comments
LeahBergen Great review (and probably not my cup of tea either 😆😆). 4y
Cathythoughts @batsy Thanks X 4y
Cathythoughts @LeahBergen Thanks Leah ðŸ‘🻠😠4y
TrishB Definitely sounds bit bonkers! 4y
Cathythoughts @TrishB Yes! I think so , mad 😳 4y
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BramBresseleers
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
This post contains spoilers
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"I can't call for backup. For the cavalry." She thumps her own chest and stands taller. Thibaut steps back at the sight of her expression. "That," she says, "is what I am. I am what's been sent for."

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BramBresseleers
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville

"Can living artwork die? Can it live, before it does?"

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BramBresseleers
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville

"Fold over paper,†Sam whispers. "Fold it over and what might come out?"

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BramBresseleers
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville

"Should we go? Stay? If you can stay, stay...â€
Thibaut was shaking again and not from cold.
"We remain."

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Decalino
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

This intriguing story takes place in an alternate Paris where a surrealist resistance uses artwork made manifest in its battle against the occupying Nazi troops. This is a trippy and wildly inventive tale, suffused with nostalgia for a lost world during a time of despair. I loved the dreamlike logic and vivid imagery, and the idea of creativity as a force, as powerful as magic.

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Asktheletters
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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I loved The City & The City and Embassytown, but hit the wall with Perdido Street Station. So I‘m switching gears.

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Moray_Reads
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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1. (The) Master and Margarita
2. Sarah Moss, China Miéville
3. Mostly Martha
4. Mushrooms
#manicmonday #letterm @JoScho

JoScho Thanks for playing 💙😊💙 6y
34 likes1 comment
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REPollock
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Bailedbailed

Ugh. I stopped at 2/3 through this.

I usually love the richness of Mieville‘s imagination & I loved studying the Surrealists so I had high hopes, but everything about this disappointed me. Flat characters I didn‘t care about who somehow fought Nazis & demons in tedious ways.

I quit because reading it began to feel like a task both arduous & boring. 😭

monalyisha Bummer! Which Mieville is your favorite? I‘ve only read Un Lun Dun but I loved it. I‘ve been toying with picking up Railsea or Kraken. 6y
REPollock @monalyisha I‘m probably equally a fan of both Perdido Street Station and The Scar. Epic & mindbending & horrific (in a good way) and such a great world (same world, both books). 6y
REPollock @monalyisha I liked Kraken as a fun/funny romp with squid drama, very different from a lot of his other work. Admit I bailed on Railsea. 6y
Tonton Kraken! 6y
monalyisha @REPollock Those are good things to know! I love Moby Dick so Railsea is intriguing to me on that level. 6y
19 likes1 stack add5 comments
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REPollock
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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I love the world and the premise!

(But, um, wow are the characters undeveloped. I‘m still all in but that part could be better.)

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Leniverse
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Manifestations of surrealist art battle Nazi summoned demons in an alternate reality Paris. Now I want to know more about surrealism. And I badly want a film adaptation. Has to be by Terry Gilliam, I think. Meanwhile I'll just google every artwork mentioned in the notes. Holy cow! The visuals in this book!

mcipher Sounds crazy!! 6y
Leniverse @mcipher It is! In the best of ways. And, I mean, it's China Mieville and he does not do mundane! 6y
46 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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7 days 7 covers. Post a book cover you love. No explanation, no information on the book. Just a cover you love.

2BR02B I like this cover way better than my edition. Miéville's covers, I think, are in general not very aesthetically pleasing. 7y
Moray_Reads @2BR02B I don't mind the black ones but they're not great. Most of the other editions of this one are just so dull! 7y
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Tonton
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Amazing, magical, and surreal! Surrealist artists go to war against the Nazis in occupied Paris...Art as a weapon against Hitler and demons, and a spy from Hell to boot. Sheer poetry in motion. And exquisite corpses as well!

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Bookbeez
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

What an odd little book. Art comes to life, Nazis, and demons. I'm not entirely sure what happened, which is a fairly common experience when I read something by China Miéville. However, it was well written, and despite not fully knowing what was going on, I enjoyed the journey. â­ï¸â­ï¸â­ï¸.5

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Bookbeez
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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😂. This book is strange, but in a good way. Art that attacks, demons, and Nazis. Sure, why not!

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Tom_wookiee
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

It took me a while to get my head into gear, but it was worth it. China Mieville has crafted a wonderful book here, with a very interesting view on art and culture in society. There are some great images which will stay with me. I like that he has kept it short and relatively simple; I can imagine there was a temptation to really live in New Paris for a while and write something larger and more labyrinthine.

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Moray_Reads
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Whoa, it has been a heck of a good week! Okay so there's a one-star and a three-star in there but this is definitely the first time I've had five 5-star books in one week! â­â­â­â­â­

saresmoore 👠8y
Kristy_K Love when this happens. 8y
41 likes2 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Its 1950 and the ruined streets of Nazi-occupied "New Paris" are stalked be hell-demons & corporeal manifestations of surreal art. The Free French resistance is joined (and opposed) by cells of radical Surrealists and the Nazis are trying to weaponise the new bizarre forces. This is the weirdest alternative history you'll ever read and it may be my favourite China Miéville yet. I recommend reading alongside http://ow.ly/yLVt309lNhZ #TacklingTheTBR

Moray_Reads For me it's a fantastic mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. Miéville's prose is mesmerising, dreamlike yet strangely grounded. It's all deliciously mad, delivered with a seriousness that belies its absurdities but is never po-faced. Behind all of the nightmarish another accoutrements of Miéville's Nazi-occupied Paris is a interrogation of the role of art as a vehicle for change and resistance and the finale is chilling 8y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk That cover is 1000 times cooler than my cover. Can't wait to read this one. 8y
Moray_Reads @TobeyTheScavengerMonk This is the only one I've seen! It is great. If you like Miéville's other work I think you'll enjoy this one 8y
vivastory Such a beautiful, strange book. I read this right after Kawamata's "Death Sentences." Kawamata's book is also a speculative take on Surrealism. 8y
Moray_Reads @vivastory That sound fantastic! I'm definitely stacking that one 8y
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Nancethepants
Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Pickpick

There is a reason Mieville's genre is described as "New Weird." He takes an already disintegrating world -- German-occupied Paris -- and gives it more sides than a Surrealist die. The occult meets war meets art meets hell meets the French resistance. Slip into this world a while, and I doubt you'll regret it.

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Mariliel
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Surrealism rising up against fascist invaders. Appropriate for the current state of the world. Something I never thought I'd say about Miéville...

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Redwritinghood
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

The setting was a little hard to understand at first, but this was a quick read once I got it. Set in an alternate history of Paris in 1950, the city is still besieged, but not just by Nazis. An incident in 1941 unleashed life and blood manifestations of surrealist art and poetry. Nazi occultists have also unleashed demons from Hell. If you can just roll with that, then everything makes sense. I liked the writing in this weird, fantastic story.

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Redwritinghood
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Starting this one next. I've heard good things about his books but have never read any myself. I thought this novella might be a good place to start.

britt_brooke I see you, cute pup! 👋🻠8y
Lacythebookworm ðŸ¶ðŸ˜ 8y
TheLondonBookworm I've read some of his others and loved them but not this one- looks good though! :) 8y
Redwritinghood @britt_brooke @lacythebookworm He couldn't understand why I'm always posting pictures of my books when he's way cuter, so I put him in the picture too. 8y
49 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Bookish.SAM
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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BookishMarginalia Awwwwwww! 8y
TricksyTails 😻😻ðŸ¶â™¥ï¸ 7y
4 likes2 comments
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HardcoverHearts
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Bailedbailed

I lost the thread and have no idea what the hell is happening! The narrator's tone is too flat or something but there isn't enough variety in his performances so I think I blanked it out. I kept with it, hoping to pick it back up. Nope. I might revisit this in print format since there are some very interesting elements here. So it's a bail on the version, not the story.

CherylDeFranceschi Oftentimes China doesn't make it come together until late in the game, but holy cats!, it's worth waiting for mostly. 8y
she_barks I hate it when that happens😖 8y
27 likes1 stack add2 comments
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HardcoverHearts
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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I have never read any of China Mieville's work, but have heard good things. The audiobook was available so we will try it and see how it goes. I'm sometimes wary of trying a new author on audio in case the work isn't performed in the best way or a way I connect with. Audio tends to be a little tricky for me sometimes. Does anyone else have that concern?

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Matthew_H
Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Pickpick

Very weird (naturally). Felt like an art history course from a professor lit on absinthe. If you read it, don't forget the afterword. It's not part of the main narrative but adds to it well.

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darby3
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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JoeRugola
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Thank goodness. My brain almost felt normal for a few seconds, there.

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DBessie
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Miéville has this knack for dropping the reader into a world and keeping the world-building in the context and background. You pick up the history and vernacular of the story as you go. It can make his novels a little tough to invest yourself in at first, but it's always worth the effort.
This alternate WWII history is no different, except maybe for the index at the back where he explains the real life works of art he incorporated into the story.

alanacristin I've only read the city and the city which was a strange rhythm for me, but I'd like to check out more Mieville. Is this one a good starting point, you reckon? 8y
7 likes1 comment
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Jessicav
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Just got this in on hold. Looking forward to a shorter read. Has anyone read this?

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Maxxxpower64
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Mehso-so

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this book. The surrealist concepts were interesting and I liked them a lot but I'm just not sure the story really reached a satisfying conclusion.

I do have an amateurish interest in surrealist art and so many of the "manifs" were familiar to me but I just don't feel like I got the payoff I was expecting.

It's certainly not a bad book, but I'm not sure I can say it's a good one either.

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Laura317
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Bailedbailed

I don't have the brain to try and figure out the surrealism and what it all means right now - and quite possibly ever. Not the book for this chica.

JonathanDunne Fair enough 8y
32 likes1 comment
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Laura317
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Moving on to the next library book. Work is soooo slow. Luckily, my boss lets me read when it's this slow. #mybossisawesome

Faibka Your boss is seriously awesome! 😳 8y
Laura317 @Faibka Yes, he's pretty cool! 😎 8y
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Spiderfelt
Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Mehso-so

Some books should come with warning labels, & operating instructions. Things I wish I'd known: there is an afterword which explains the why & the how. The Notes explain the strange word salad that fills the pages, should you be unfamiliar w/the history of the surrealist movement.

I â¤ï¸the novelty of the worlds Mieville brings to life, which is why I persevered through sentences with awkward punctuation and unclear meaning. The struggle was real.

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Spiderfelt
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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The beginning of every new China Mieville book is arduous. The reader has to learn a new language, decipher the author's unusual cadence and complex sentence structure. Where are we? What sort of landscape do these characters inhabit? What are the laws of physics governing this world? Thirty pages in, I'm still struggling to dim my footing in the streets of new paris.

Centique I have yet to read a China Mieville but I'm so intrigued! 8y
Lindy You've described the challenge well. What I appreciate is knowing that with Mieville the payback is always there, rewarding my efforts. 8y
Spiderfelt Have you read this one @Lindy ? 8y
Spiderfelt There are a notes at the end of the book! Argh! I wish I'd noticed that when I started on this nightmare journey. 8y
16 likes4 comments
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Rikersbeard
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Where to start with this one? It felt like William S Burroughs and David Lynch decided to make a war film. I really liked it but I am sure I would have gotten more out of it if i had a better appreciation for surrealism. That being said, I did enjoy this book. It felt like reading a dream.

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rachel_mbc
The Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
Bailedbailed

This is a short book, so I thought I'd power through, but I'm halfway and I have no idea what's going on. The premise sounded super cool, but it's just not for me.

LisaJo I also bailed on this book. I like books about Paris. I got to around page 15 and that plant came out of the ground and took out the plane. And at that point I just closed it and said I like my Paris books with bookstores and romance. Later on I found out it was about a surreal bomb that went off in Paris making all surreal things come to life. I realized at that point that I was right to have bailed. 8y
rachel_mbc @LisaJo I knew about the surrealist bomb, but even still, I couldn't make any sense of what was going on. Granted, I'm pretty sleep deprived this week, but from conversations I've had with other booksellers, I think Mieville's just not for me. 8y
13 likes2 comments
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Mattypus
Last Days of New Paris | China Miéville
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Can't help but think someone is trying to make Miéville's surrealist urban fantasy novel look or sound literary rather than fantasy.