"The City in the Middle of the Night" by Charlie Jane Anders (BR)

[Mareike]

This is the BR thread for Charlie Jane Anders' The City in the Middle of the Night.

Please use spoiler tags and part/chapter headings or percentages to let people know which section of the book you are talking about.

I'm looking forward to reading and discussing this book!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I can't wait to talk about this!

[Dawn F]

I’ll start later today!

[Mareike]

I still need to finish The Light Brigade tonight, but then I'll jump right in!

[Anthony]

Ooo! I read this last year but I will happily lurk. I’m famous for not remembering plot points in books I’ve read, but I do remember how books made me feel, and I remember vivid scenes and incidents and character moments.

[Amanda]

I read it awhile back as well but I'm definitely looking forward to the discussion.

[Gabi]

Me, as well, will be lurking. I liked parts of it a lot, but I, too, can't remember details.

[Dawn F]

That’s exactly how my memory works, too, Anthony, not just with books but with conversations, or anything I listen to. I can often not recall the words but I remember distinctly how it made me feel! XD

[Mareike]

Memory and thought processes are so interesting (I recently had a very long discussions with friends about things like internal monologue vs. abstract thoughts, etc. Fascinating stuff!).
I usually have pretty good recall of plot points, characters, and sometimes specific scenes or lines (the more emotion is involved, the better my memory, generally speaking), so I usually have to wait a while before I re-read books.

[Chris]

I am reading it now, almost at 50%.

[Dawn F]

One chapter in, I really like the characterizations. Anders writes with a melancholy that I rememeber from All the Birds in the Sky, too, which I really like.

[Anthony]

Her characters feel like *people* in a way that I very much appreciate.

[Dawn F]

Totally agree, they’re very real, and it’s easy to empathize real quick.

[Amanda]

Her characterizations are really stunning. I feel like I know them.

[Mareike]

I didn't get very far last night, but I already want to agree with all of you.

[E.D.]

I wasn't going to join this read, but having read the comments so far it's next on my list.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yay, ED!

Re: characterizations, full agreement. This could have devolved into tropey YA stereotypes, but it's so grounded in authentic feeling relationships and responses that it stays fresh and lively.

[Dawn F]

Agree, Allison, there’s nothing YA about the way she portrays young people.

A general observation about her writing. She doesn’t do infodumping, but instead lets you learn about the world as her characters navigate it and go about their lives and through conversation. If we’re offered additional information it’s one or two paragraphs. I really like this way of introducing a universe on its own terms, where things are revealed in its own time.

It does, however, make the plot crawl a bit slowly, but I remember it was the same with All the Birds in the Sky.

And a spoilery comment, halfway into part 2: (view spoiler)[I looooove the creature, the ‘crocodile’ now named Rose that Sophie has befriended! It was such a surprise to me, I’ve always been attracted to the idea of telepathic or empathic connections, so I’m really curious to see where this is going. (hide spoiler)]

[Chris]

I don't think that Anders really understands action and pacing. The long speeches and complex thoughts during life-and-death crisis moments are out of place. She should save those things for later, looking back when the characters are safe.

Dawn wrote: (view spoiler)[ "I looooove the creature, the ‘crocodile’ now named Rose that Sophie has befriended!" (hide spoiler)]

Best parts for me so far.

[Mareike]

After Part I (view spoiler)[Well, damn, that escalated very quickly. Poor Sophie. I want to give her all the hugs.

This was one of the two biggest gut punches in this part for me.

The only warm hope in all this frozen nothing is that Bianca is okay. She’ll have the life she deserves, and maybe she’ll end up in a position to change this city. She’ll forget about me, after a while, but maybe some tiny pocket of her heart will preserve my memory, and it’ll inspire her to do something for others. I can die out here, knowing that she’s going to be amazing. I try to tell myself that’s enough, that it’s as good as a whole life by her side.>/blockquote>

I internally went "Oh no, honey. No. She's not worth it."

Also this:

As these things go from being “moments that I need to survive right now” to “things that will always have happened to me,” I start to shiver. I feel so chilled that the scalding water might as well be solid ice. Once I start, I can’t make myself stop. The shivers build and build, until water goes all over the floor tiles. I hug myself, and I shed tears that I can’t blame on windburn, and they taste much too pungent, like the tears of a dead person. I hear myself from a tremendous distance, wailing and chattering my teeth.>/blockquote>

I also looooved the image/dream7vision of the "crocodiles" running across the tundra. And their city! I'm excited to learn more about all of this.

(hide spoiler)]

Edit: @Dawn: I agree with your point about worldbuilding. And I'm enjoying learning about the world like this. I just started the second Sophie chapter in Part II and (view spoiler)[this was a particularly nice small worldbuilding nugget:

The pipe-workers are having their shift change because it's Ninth Chime, and they all meet on this one block of sidewalk, in their muddy coveralls, where the pipe-workers going off shift say the old ritual phrases of consolation to the ones who have to work into curfew.

Made me think of miners' greetings. And it's a neat was of showing us different (sub-)cultures in the city. (hide spoiler)]

[Dawn F]

Agree, Chris, it makes for a funny, stop-motion read, pace wise.

All, we have sightseeing plans today, so I won’t get much reading done, just so you know ^_^

[Mareike]

Have fun!

[Mareike]

After Part II (view spoiler)[I am very much enjoying how real these characters feel. They're all complicated and trying to heal themselves in ways that feels very, very human.

(I'm also revoking my earlier assessment of Bianca. I was immediately overprotective of Sophie, okay?)

One question that keeps dogging me: what is an ankle skirt? Why??? (I mean, cultural traditions around clothing can be somewhat arbitrary and seem weird to an outsider, so in that way IT's true to life, I guess.) (hide spoiler)]

[Amanda]

Mareike, (view spoiler)[I never quite understood the ankle skirts either. I get that an actual description of them wouldn't really fit this narrative (although maybe from Mouth's POV?), but it annoyed me that I couldn't quite picture it. (hide spoiler)]

[Chris]

Mareike wrote: (view spoiler)["(I'm also revoking my earlier assessment of Bianca. I was immediately overprotective of Sophie, okay?)

One question that keeps dogging me: what is an ankle skirt?"

Why the take back? Bianca only gets worse as the story unfolds.

Isn't an ankle skirt just a skirt that ends near the ankles? Google seems to agree. (hide spoiler)]

[Mareike]

@ Chris: (view spoiler)[Well, I'm not done yet, so who knows what further development lies ahead. But at least Bianca seems to have more feelings for Sophie than I had given her credit for at first.


That's what I thought at first. But then it sounded more like it's a tiny skirt they pin around their ankles? On top of whatever trousers they're wearing. That's why I'm so confused. (hide spoiler)]

First Mouth chapter in Part III (view spoiler)[There were two passages that struck me in this chapter. This one because it felt so true:

They’d been sleepmates for five and a half round trips now, and there was something about your sleep patterns syncing with another person’s that felt like intimacy.

And the fact that Mouth doesn't know how to put that into words is very sad. (And relatable. It's a vulnerable thing to admit and Mouth isn't someone opening herself up for injury.)

And this one because it filled in additional details about Mouth's character and her determination to get the Invention.

“The Citizens.” Mouth hesitated. “They were supposed to give me a name. I was . . . I was at the age. We had a whole rite of passage. You got your real name around the time your body changed, along with the story of who you were. ‘Mouth’ is just a temporary name, for a person who hasn’t earned one yet.”

Anders makes me feel so much for all of her characters, despite/because of their flaws. (hide spoiler)]

End of Part III (view spoiler)[Loved the Gelet coming to the rescue. I also continue to be fascinated by the worldbuilding and this planet with daylight on one side and night on the other. It makes for some beautiful descriptions. (hide spoiler)]

[E.D.]

Completed

(view spoiler)[Initially, not much of a back story for any of the characters, as has been stated by others, you just pick up the backgrounds and cultures as the story progresses (something I prefer as I don't have the patience for long descriptions). I started by thinking that I was reading a story about obsession (Bianca with the revolutionaries, Mouth with the Citizens and Sophie with the Gelet).

Then I found myself reading an adventure story, particularly the attack by the giant squid. However, although I found the action scenes exciting and well written I got the feeling that the author had put them in purely to enable the dialogue between the main actors to move on, as if the action bored her and she was hurrying to get back to character development.

Suddenly, I am reading a dystopian story with dire consequences incurred when humans interfere with the workings of the natural environment. This was where the mothership's involvement was bought in, although i was expecting this storyline to be developed further.

Finally we get to an argument that 'power corrupts' with Bianca still paying lip service to her democratic ideas while embracing dictatorship.

Basically I have decided that this is a story (very well written in my opinion) about the development and maturing of the relationships of the main characters decorated by the other important subjects which I have discussed above.

I was particularly impressed with the description of Bianca's silent rage when talking to Sophie about the betrayal of the revolutionaries and how it was only displayed momentarily with her gripping her hands tightly before she controlled herself to maintain a calm image. (hide spoiler)]

[Maggie]

ow-this story really resonated for me...the characters were so 'human' with their foibles, misplaced loyalties, and justifications, I felt I was right there in the room. This is what I love about Ander's writing

[Mareike]

Early in the second Sophie chapter of Part Six: (view spoiler)[I find it interesting that Sophie exploring the midnight city after her transformation seems to harken back to some of the ways in which Bianca was exploring/perceiving Argelo. Especially the fact that ... there's always a gathering, a celebration, someplace.. (hide spoiler)]

About Bianca (view spoiler)[ I may have to retract my earlier retraction of my judgment about Bianca. She really didn't make a good figure over the whole Argelo part of the narrative. (hide spoiler)]