Urban Recall

I read this almost 12 months ago, which makes it difficult to recall and recount the tone of the writing.
However, I would like to make some general comments about the novel.

An Abstract High Concept Novel

In one sense, it is an abstract high concept novel.
What does this mean?
It's high concept in the sense that it takes a basic concept and explores it in detail.
And it doesn't stray very far away from that concept.
It's not "Snakes on a Plane".
It's far more abstract than that.

The Concept

The concept is basically: what if two cities and cultures or civilisations co-existed in the one physical city?
I don't mean two distinct areas with a wall separating them like Berlin or Jerusalem.
I don't mean two sides of the same street being administered by different councils or governments.
One analogy for the City in the novel would be one city populated by some people and administered by one council during the day, then everybody moves out and it's a different people and council at night.
If that makes sense so far, then this City has one difference.
It isn't separated by day and night.
The two Cities within the City co-exist in time, but in the same geographical space (hence, the City and the City).
Everybody is everywhere at the same time, but they are separate.
They walk down the same streets, they drive on the same roads, but they are legally separate.
They aren't allowed to look at each other or acknowledge each other's existence.
Each City must act and behave as if the other City isn't there.
So this is the abstract high concept.

Mixing Genres

Mieville explores this fantasy concept within the crime thriller genre.
Some readers question whether this is the right vehicle for the concept.
They feel it makes the cardinal error of mixing genres.
But I think it makes sense.

The Law

The two different Cities are basically legal constructs.
They need the law to make the separation concrete.
The law sits at the interface between the two Cities and enforces their separation.
Any breach has to be detected and punished by the law.
Therefore, when a breach occurs in the novel, we find out the true nature of the Cities, the law and the justice system.

The Corruption

As usual, there is too much law and not enough justice.
As you would expect, these institutions end up being corrupt, not because they are institutions, but because they are institutions established and maintained by humans for human reasons.
The novel is really the story of these institutions and their corruption.

The Detective and the Crime

Like crime fiction, it is told through the eyes of a detective investigating a small crime, which ultimately leads to the detection of a big crime.
You could almost say it is the story of the Crime and the Crime (so I will).

The Tone

Whether Mieville gets the tone right is a subjective issue.
We don't know a lot about the back story of the characters, we don't get a lot of physical descriptions.
We do get a well-constructed feel for the Kafkaesque atmosphere that defines this city.
People walk its streets like automatons or ghosts, unwilling to look left or right, for fear that they will breach the separation of the two Cities.
So if characters don't seem like they're human, if a reader feels that they are just cyphers, it's because the City has stripped their humanity away, it's the result of a stylistic choice (not the result of poor writing).

Abstract but Powerful

I admired Mieville's ability to construct these worlds and explore them credibly, while making the novel work at a metaphorical and political level.
The novel could describe life in a totalitarian state, it could describe life in a separated city or nation, but it might also symbolise cultures where people co-exist, but don't acknowledge each other's existence or right to participate in institutions as equals.
This could describe Christians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, whites and blacks, men and women, the rich and the poor.
This differentiation exists everywhere, Mieville's genius is to explore it through a highly abstract, but powerful, metaphor.
So comparisons with both Kafka and Chandler are apt.

Collins St, 5pm

COLOUR SPOILER ALERT

I don't want to spoil the visuals of the book for you, but below is a link to a wiki article about a 1955 painting that the book evokes for me.
The painting explores a similar concept as a metaphor for alienation.
One warning before you view it though: Partly because of the cover, I imagined The City as a blue/grey world, the world of this painting is brown.
So if you want to leave scope to choose your own colours, you might not want to visit the link until you've read the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_...