The City & The City
by China Miéville · first published 2009
57% recommend39% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Noir detective story set in two cities that occupy the same space, whose citizens are trained to unsee each other. Admired for its original premise and ideas about perception, borders and social conditioning.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Inspector Tyador Borlú must travel to Ul Qoma to search for answers in the murder of a woman found in the city of Besźel.
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Mentions per year
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Reposted from my site: (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2...). Affiliate links there, for those inclined. === In 2010, every single book I read, I read on my Kindle. Buying a Kindle has been the best thing I have ever done for my reading addiction. I recently upgraded to a Kindle 3, and I wholeheartedly recommended you get one as well, even if you currently have a Kind
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books of 2010?” ↗…usually outwits amateur thought self-policing. May as well enjoy freedom of thought instead. With more anonymous traffic, all parties are incented to raise their game. Does HN support Tor? Edit: read City and the City by China Mieville?
on “Tor Browser 4.0 is released” ↗It really brings to mind "City and the City". https://www.amazon.com/City-Random-House-Readers-Circle/dp/0...
on “The rectangularness of countries” ↗This is more a question, in terms of Sci-Fi are people familiar with China Miéville? Perdido Street Station, Embassytown, and The City and the City are classics, Perdido Street Station might be the best fiction I have ever read. Dark stuff
on “Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?” ↗Easily The City & The City by China Miéville. The premise is great, the characters are fun, the plot will keep you engaged. A noir detective story about a murder that happens in the space between two cities which are in superposition. That is, they share the same geographic space, but citizens are forced to live in only one of the cities by a seemingly omnipotent power called Breach that maintai
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗This reminds me of a fantastic book, "The City & the City," by China Mieville. The setting is something like this, where a city that should be whole is split by two countries. Here, it is illegal to look across the border, even if you are looking at a car driving down what would normally be the same street. I never considered that something similar (albeit simpler) existed in real life. Very cool
on “Put One Foot Wrong in Baarle and You’ve Left the Country” ↗It is a good book. Here's a copy/paste from the wikipedia article about the author's previous book, also set in a dystopian post-environmental-disaster environment. The work won the 2010 Nebula Award[3], the Campbell Memorial Award[4], and the 2010 Hugo Award (tied with The City & the City by China Miéville for the Hugo Award), both for best novel.[5] This book also won the 2010 Compton Crook Awa
on “Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a City That's Sinking” ↗…look too deeply past the constructs which supposedly shield prying eyes from the conclusions which would be evident if the components were scrutinized. China Miéville explores this exquisitely in The City and The City. There citizens of two nearly colocated cities 'unsee' the other by law. Likewise, we ordinarily must unsee what is meant to be unseen. The danger then is that our unseeing be threatened by the possiblity…
on “The Most Dangerous Writing App” ↗…life-altering… life-shifting? But for a good shift in perspective, I would maybe try the following: For fiction, best no reasons given, go into these blind: - Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler - The City and the City, China Mieville - Exhalation, Ted Chiang - Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro For non-fiction: - Any book that tells some of the history of the field you have a career in. You need it for perspective.…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗Great book. Over the years China Miéville has taken fantasy/science fiction into incredibly imaginative and thought provoking areas. In passing, The City and the City was also made into a miniseries on BBC2. [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuTw7uOtfE
on “The Sci-Fi Crime Novel That’s a Parable of American Society” ↗Besides The City & The City I really enjoyed Kraken and Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. Kraken is the hunt for a giant squid after it vanished from a London museum. Un Lun Dun is a young adult story of two friends who end up in a whimsical version of London.
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗…Civil War--it just seems to me that the idea of having a sovereign state with a monopoly of force over some geographic terrain seems outmoded to me. China Mieville wrote a novel a couple years back, The City and the City, that is exactly the type of thing I want to see more of: pushing the boundaries of what we consider a plausible political entity. In it, there's one city but two governments that are both sovereign within…
on “Tim Draper Wants To Split California, Turn Silicon Valley Into Its Own State” ↗This reminds me very much of the Chine Mieville fiction book 'The City and The City'[1]. Worth reading if this has piqued your interest. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_%26_the_City
on “Belgium, Netherlands to exchange territory” ↗Have been lucky to stumble on several new ones over the last few months: Children of Time (wow!) Spaceman of Bohemia The Book of Strange New Things The City and The City (I'd also recommend the three body trilogy - fantastic)
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite sci-fi book?” ↗I just read a noir-ish novel, a French novel, The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun by Japrisot. There's another French writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette, who has written a few great crime novels. But, really, noir-tinged stuff is everywhere. I liked The City & The City (China Mieville, a police procedural with a fantasy twist) and I loved The Thief (Fuminori Nakamura). None of these are
on “Great Noir Lives and Dies On Dialogue” ↗