Join a book club that is reading The City & The City: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)!
The City & The City: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
I really did not enjoy this book. The sentence structure was fractured and hard to read. The story thread was good but I was not impressed with the writing style.
Enjoyable enough but ultimately somewhat unsatisfying. The premise of two cities effectively superimposed on each other with contact between the two strenuously policed is inventive enough, characters, descriptions and all that writerly stuff is well done. The plot, however, could really have been lifted straight from your average potboiler police procedural and leaves that intriguing premise frustratingly unexplored and feeling like a rather superficial add-on. I always think I should like Mieville more than I do but until he writes a decent plot I think I'm destined to be disappointed.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.