Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

[ravenus]

Could you elaborate on the Dickensian aspect, ravenus? I imagine you are referring to his ability to vividly depict an entire city (London, in Dickens' case) and all its varied denizens, but I could be wrong.

Exactly, you can add 'in VERY vivid detail'

 

[rune]

Though I found the Weaver and the Machine Construct interesting, I couldnt relate to them as well as Issac and Lin. They at least seemed more personable.

 

[Hypes]

Well, the Weaver is an entity that transcends even Time, and the Machine Construct is well, a machine.

That ought to be taken into account.

 

[jenna]

If you've read King Rat you'll certainly be able to connect his writing with his looks.

Isn't he dreamy?

i met him a couple of years back, and i can tell you he's MUCH more dreamy in person!!

 

[sadako1]

I've just finished reading this book and I leave it feeling conflicted. I was recommended it by a man in a book shop after a brief chat about Michael Marshall (Smith) and Jeff Noon, both writers that I enjoy greatly. Perhaps I was expecting something different to this.

At times it seemed hugely implausible (Kephri etc, but isn't that what 'suspension of disbelief is all about' I hear you say... you'd be right ) and overly descriptive. There are great swathes of prose that I skipped past near the end that I feel were unnecessary (spoiler(?): when they're laying the cable I don't feel that he needed to explain EVERY inch put down!). In that respect it reminded me very much of Neil Stephenson towards the end of his Baroque Cycle (which I just couldn't bring myself to finish! A first as I always finish a book! I was just too bored, what can I say? I've got a good attention span, but not that good!).

On the other hand, I can also say that I couldn't put it down! The characters were well developed and I felt considerable empathy towards them - when Lin disappeared from the plot I actually became increasingly worried for her. The plot intriguing without being too convoluted (or conversely, too simple - I hate it when everything's signposted a la da Vinci Code). Nothing was completely resolved. Yes, the bad things go away, but the world stays evil and corrupt... I like that. There's too much Hollywood BS with happy endings. It's also good to read something that can't be
pigeonholed easily. I read on night shift at work and when people asked me what it was about I genuinely couldn't tell them, certainly not in a way that they'd be able to relate to (it added mystery to my already mysterious persona )

I enjoyed it... I think, so why am I so reluctant to read the rest?

 

[Rane Longfox]

I really didn't enjoy the ending to PSS, but the rest of it was great - The Scar is a better book though, you should try it

 

[Lucien21]

I found it far too boring to finish.

He spends waaaaaay to long describing every detail of the city that it gets in the way of any storyline.

The Scar is a better book. It has pirates in it and you can't go wrong with pirates (Cutthroat Island is the exception to that rule).

 

[Winter Lord]

Some call it the genre it is in The New Weird.

 

[jackokent]

and overly descriptive. There are great swathes of prose that I skipped past near the end that I feel were unnecessary (spoiler(?): when they're laying the cable I don't feel that he needed to explain EVERY inch put down!).

I completely agree. This was my main problem with the book. I thought the imagination was amazing and I loved it all ... except the excessive techy descritptions.

I'd certianly recommend it to anyone though.

 

[Coolhand]

SPOILERS

Well, I finished PSS about a week ago and have spent the past seven days pondering what I read. Here’s my own feeble attempt to grapple with the scope and size of what is on display in this book….

Short Version:
A towering achievement of genius slightly hoisted on its own petard.

Long Version:
The problem with writing a review is that you don’t simply want to echo what everyone else has already said. So let’s just get the standard PSS comments out of the way with shall we?

Yes, China occasionally writes like a man coughing up a thesaurus. Yes part of this book does seem to be an odd linguistic quest on the part of the author to try and come up with a million different ways to say that the river Gross Tar is full of poo. And yes whichever editor decided to allow him an entire chapter to describe the laying of a cable needs to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. Oh and it’s bloody bleak and harsh, maybe too harsh for some tastes. Ain’t no happy-ever-after through THIS looking glass.

Whew. Done.

Right, now what’s left is the fact that this is a seriously impressive book. Nothing of any great importance happens for the first 350 pages or so, and usually that means I’d be tossing it over my shoulder with a sarcastic sniff because I hate books like that. But not this time, for just watching these characters go about their bizarre everyday lives in this acid-trip version of 19th century London (which is basically what the city of New Crobuzon is) is pretty entertaining in itself. And when things finally DO start to happen, because of the slow build-up it really does feel like things are spinning terrifyingly out of control. And when things get out of control in New Crobuzon, boy is it fascinating and gruesome to watch.

You can tell Mieville likes monsters because they are by far and away the coolest things on display here. Especially the Slake Moths. The Slake Moths rock. I hope they never make a movie of this book because they will never do justice to the nightmarish, half-described terrifying Slake Moths. I shall spoil no more. But they scare me. Ooh, ooh, and The Weaver freaks me out as well. It’s a giant poetic Spider that likes to play tick-tac-toe and on one occasion shears the left ear from everyone in the room because it things the ears look pretty. Fre-ee-ky stuff. In fact, there are many more monsters but I won’t spoil any more surprises.

If I have any real complaints, it’s that Jack Half a Prayer’s appearance at the end of the book is a bit too Deus Ex Machina for my tastes, and that I cannot believes that someone actually sent the Slake Moth Caterpillars to New Crobuzon via the postal system. I mean, that’s like sending weapons-grade plutonium via Royal Mail with a 2nd class stamp.

But the main thing that struck me was how much PSS reminded me of Lord of The Rings. See Lord Of the Rings was really a book about Middle Earth, in which some hobbits and elves just happened to be having a really bad war. The landscape was the real star, as anyone who had to wade through all those bloody descriptions of hills and trees can tell you…

Likewise PSS is really a book about New Crobuzon, in which some bizarre and fascinating creatures just happen to be having a really bad day. The City is the star here, and the simultaneous joy and curse of this work is that Mieville knows every inch of it, street by festering street, and wants to share those details with you.

And that creates a work of jaw-dropping genius; with the occasional frustration born of the very thing that makes it so.

 

[Mark Robson]

Nice review, Coolhand. I'm tempted to try PSS now.

One minor point (because I'm a perfectionist and like to show off what little knowledge I do have of certain words and phrases) - one cannot by 'hoisted on a petard'. A petard was a type of hand grenade notorious for going off prematurely. Hence one could be 'hoist by one's own petard', but not on it.

Just thought you might like to know.

 

[Coolhand]

Ah, so THAT'S where the phrase comes from. Wow. I learn something new every day. In this case, the wisdom to never try juggling live petards...