Wow! Make that Double Wow!
Unsurpassed imagination and invention. All within the context of detective novel that's a turbocharged page-turner.
The
cityscape China Miéville creates here is neither Kafka absurdist nor
Dali surreal, his novel’s two cities are every bit as substantial and
realistic as Jo Nesbø’s Oslo or Tana French's Dublin or Stieg Larsson’s
Stockholm – and it’s this grounding in realism that makes Miéville's
weird elements all the weirder.
I completely agree with Stephen
King who has stated emphatically again and again that book reviewers and
writers of dust jackets usually go overboard and give away far too
much, especially when it comes to mysteries and thrillers. Thus I'll
avoid plot development and stick with describing a number of keys for The City & The City.
ONE BODY
Crime
scene - In the weeds in an open area among drab buildings, police
gather around a murder victim, a twenty-something woman, naked. Was she a
working girl? A hooker? Why was she dumped here, far out from the heart
of their city of Beźel? The name of the first detective on the scene -
Bardo Naustin. Nice touch, China! Bardo is a term from Tibetan Buddhism
referring to “the between” usually associated with the state between an
individual’s final breath here on earth and their next rebirth. Much of
the novel’s action takes place in those multidimensional “between”
spaces, between the two cities, between myth and history, between
perception and reality.
TWO CITIES
As if out on the fringes
of Eastern Europe, poor, dingy Glasgow and rich, glittering Dubai are
contiguous, so close the cities share streets and intersections as well
as intersecting histories. For China Miéville, these two cities are
Besźel and Ul Qoma.
Besźel – “Poverty deshaped the already
staid, drab cuts and colours that enduringly characterized Besź clothes –
what had been called the city’s fashionless fashion.” Over the course
of two hundred years, refugees from the Balkans flooded into the city’s
previously Jewish ghettos, swelling the number of Muslims. For many
decades it has been common to see coffeehouses side by side, one Jewish,
one Muslim, with a single name and sharing tables and chairs for
customers. Also worth noting, the few booming Besźel businesses include
liquor stores and women selling sex. However, with its unique geography
and architecture, including many cathedrals, Besźel still attracts a
fair share of tourists.
Ul Qoma – Money and more money from
foreign investors – mostly Canadian – has been flowing into this
secular, slick, ultramodern metropolis. Tall skyscrapers are rapidly
replacing traditional baroque buildings and one prime Ul Qoma attraction
is the impressive Temple of Inevitable Light. There are sports stadiums
and community gardens and parks where Ul Qoman natives mingle with
Kurds, Pakistanis, Somalis and Sierra Leoneans. Ul Qoma has its own
language and dialects, mostly but not entirely separate from the
language of Besźel.
THREE DETECTIVES
Inspector Tyador Borlú
of the Besźian Extreme Crime Squad - Our perceptive first person
narrator is a native of Besźel and is totally dedicated to uncovering
the truth surrounding the murder of that twenty-something young lady.
Inspector Borlú’s personality and dogged relentlessness call to mind
investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist from Steig Larsson’s Millennium series.
Constable
Lizbyet Corwi - Officially, she's Borlú's assistant but her
intelligence and abilities with the computer make her more of a partner
than mere assistant. Very much like Borlú, Lizbyet Corwi is a tenacious
truth seeker willing to make sacrifices and put her life in danger in
order to crack a case.
Senior Detective Qussim Dhatt - The
murder investigation takes Inspector Borlú to Ul Qoma. He is assigned to
work with Dhatt, a hardliner from the old school. Dhatt detests what he
considers ragtag troublemakers, such as the unificationists who want
nothing more than to obliterate any distinction between the two cities.
Dhatt hates to work outside official lines so when Borlú brings certain
facts to his attention, the Ul Qoma senior detective has a series of
life and death decisions to make.
FOUR BITS OF WEIRDNESS
"Unseeing"
- A truly unique part of the novel. The citizens of Besźel are trained
at an early age to "unsee" anything relating to Ul Qoma, the people, the
buildings, their merchandise, their streets. If someone is caught not
unseeing there will be most unpleasant consequences. Likewise, for
citizens of Ul Qoma - they are required to "unsee" anything relating to
Besźel. This choosing to see and not see reminds me of the 18th century
philosopher George Berkeley and his "to be is to be perceived." In other
words, if I do not see something, that something does not exist.
Crosshatching
- Areas and street and intersections belonging to both Besźel and Ul
Qoma. All citizens from both cities must be particularly alert when
approaching or crossing such crosshatched areas since one wouldn't want
to be caught not unseeing. This even goes for the police - many the time
Borlú, Corwi and Dhatt flip into a kind of hyperawareness when dealing
with crosshatching.
Breach - The truly weird part of The City and The City
- Breach is a shadowy third city existing in the hidden margins between
Besźel and Ul Qoma. Their police force seems to have powers bordering
on the miraculous. If someone violates their laws and "breaches" then
those unfortunates are instantly swarmed on by the powers of Breach. And
perhaps never heard from again. And Breach doesn't abide by either
city's laws; rather, they establish and enforce their own laws. The
forces of Breach - not only weird but eerie and creepy bordering on
sinister.
Orciny - There are legends and myths and fairy tales
revolving around the ancient city of Orciny that predates Besźel and Ul
Qoma. Some say the ancient city still exists in secret hidden places.
Since ultimate power is very much part of the legend of Orciny, there
are speculations as to its relationship with Breach. Is Orciny the
ultimate counterforce to Breach? Or, perhaps is Orciny just another name
for Breach? Mystery upon mystery.
FIVE CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
Linguistics
- For those readers interested in language, China Miéville's novel will
be a treat. Here's a snip of what the author offers: "If you do not
know much about them, Illitan and Besź sound very different. They are
written, of course, in distinct alphabets. Besź is in Besź: thirty-four
letters, left to right, all sounds rendered clear and phonetic,
consonants, vowels and demivowels decorated with diacritics - it looks,
one often hears, like Cyrillic (though that is a comparison likely to
annoy a citizen of Besźel, true or not). Illitan uses Roman script. This
is recent."
High Culture and Popular Culture - The novel takes
place in the first decade of the 21st century. The culture appears to be
not that much different from what a traveler would find in Paris or
London (two cities Tyador Borlú visited in his younger years).
There's mention of one underground novel about secret forces at work in
the two cities and Borlú reflects on a "glitzy Ul Qoman Fast Economy
Zone full of horrible but big public art," but that's about all the
references to literature and the arts.
Violent Crime Fiction -
Readers wary of gratuitous violence will be pleased to know there is
none to be found in this China Miéville novel. Matter of fact, the
violence in The City & The City is nowhere even close to what one will encounter in Jo Nesbø or Stieg Larsson.
Dogs
and Cats? - I don't recall any dogs or cats but what I do recall is
mention of wolves prowling around in both cities. One of the curiosities
I wasn't expecting.
Genres - Is The City & The City
science fiction or fantasy? Well, perhaps there are elements of both at
work in the novel but first and foremost this is a crime thriller, where
the detectives chase down clues in both cities and all the weirdness in
between. A special book - one very much worth the read.
British author China Miéville, born 1972
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