Book Review: The City and the City [2009]

China Miéville's The City and the City came recommended by various trusted sources, not least of which was @jmgold, but it took me a wickedly long time to get around to it. It was ultimately worth the wait, even though I know I will struggle here to describe the setting, in particular. So please bear with me.

I've never read anything by Miéville before, so I'm not sure if everything he writes is this . . . way. The City and the City is a "what if" novel, in which a concept is taken to its extreme and then just a little further. I suppose you could call it science fiction, but the book could have a sort of uneasy home in several genres. In many ways it reads as a simple hard-boiled detective story, in which seasoned policeman Tyador Borlú tries to solve the mystery of who killed a young foreign woman. What makes it unique is its setting, the dual cities/countries of Besźel and Ul Qoma, which are distinct, yet occupy the same physical space. Residents of the two cities carefully "un-see" each other and adopt mannerisms, styles of dress, and language that make it easier to distinguish which city a person is "in" at a given moment. To violate this careful separation is to be subjected to the frightening and sometimes violent intervention of a force known as Breach.

As the novel begins, the Besź police are attempting to discover the killer of an unidentified female who turns out to have been an archaeology student in the neighboring city of Ul Qoma. In the course of his investigation, Borlú finds that the girl was a well-known believer in the legend of Orciny, the "Third City" that supposedly exists between the cities. Having angered both nationalists (those who believe that there should be only one city, theirs) and unificationists (those who believe that there is only one city) alike, she had her enemies, but it nevertheless remains unclear why she was killed until Borlú makes a cross-border expedition to Ul Qoma. The details of the crime unfold against the two intertwined cities, with the possibility of Orciny and the reality of Breach both lurking menacingly.

The intricate negotiation between the cities, the mystery of Orciny, and the exploration of the concepts of "foreignness" and "other," make a fascinating background/foreground to the solidly familiar crime-solving aspects (including the foul-mouthed partner, sifting through evidence, questioning people [sometimes with more force than necessary], chasing people through the streets, etc.). The City and the City repeatedly provokes thought as Miéville creates an unforgettable and fully-realized urban landscape (or two).

Grade: A-

I totally figured out the mystery, yay me! This was another book I listened to on CD, because I knew I would never get around to it otherwise, but I'm not sure I would recommend that as the best way to consume it. On the one hand, the narrator's dreamy accent made it easy to fall into the book's European setting. On the other . . . there are a lot of things that have interesting spellings in the book, and I wouldn't have known how to type them here if I didn't also have a hard copy. So, once again, I must recommend having both on hand.


Michael Moorcock's review for The Guardian. He says it all much better than I have.

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Dead Mother: Not that I know of?

Meditation on the Art of the Push Mower

I spent my childhood using a push mower to tackle the not insignificant amount of yard owned by my parents. That mower weighed what seemed a thousand pounds, and was possibly last sharpened in the early 1900s, when it was fresh from the factory floor. I think it might have been cast iron. I think it probably should have been donated to a World War II scrap metal drive. Take these illustrations, then add some rust and make the wooden parts kind of rickety, and you have our mower. However, I wouldn't have traded it for anything, mostly because it was such a good martyrdom aid. Eventually using it became so onerous in my imagination that I decided I could get away with charging my parents a certain dollar amount for each portion of the lawn I completed. I guess they didn't want to use it either, because they actually paid me. Thanks for enabling my book-buying habit, mom and dad!

Being the proud operator of a push mower, rather than one of those fancy gas- or electric-powered mowers, you learn all sorts of tricks. Most important is not to let the grass get too long, because otherwise you end up having to use a scythe (only tried that once) or maybe a pair of garden shears to trim the entire lawn. Either that or going over the same area twenty times with the push mower. Number of times I have let the grass get to long to effectively mow in the twenty or so years I've been using a push mower: countless. These days when I do it I at least have recourse to my handy Black and Decker edger, which means I can edge the entire lawn if necessary--but that leaves my arms feeling like I've been using a jackhammer, and defeats the purpose of using a push mower in the first place.

One of the big enemies of the push mower is the lowly stick--even surprisingly small ones. Hit one just right, and your forward progress immediately stops, usually leaving a mower-handle shaped bruise on your stomach or other, more vulnerable parts. It's important to learn how to recognize which sticks are going to be problems, and which sticks you can mow down with abandon. Wise people remove larger sticks before they get started, but as a child I was never that thoughtful. Problem sticks that you miss will need to be unjammed with a swift kick to the mower blades (see footwear tip below) to get the mower to spit out the obstruction. Sometimes this results in a sore heel. Sometimes the operator is thankful that the mower blades aren't that sharp. Another useful tip is not to mow the grass in sandals. This is probably true for all mowing, actually, and especially true for mowing just after it's rained. It just takes a while to get all those grass clippings out from between your toes. 


Keeping all these things in mind, I highly recommend using a push mower if you've got a reasonably small piece of grass to keep trimmed. Not only is it you-powered, necessitating neither electricity nor gas, it offers a wonderful opportunity for meditation on the natural world, your neighbor's disgustingly well-kept yard, or your arm-length to-do list, all with the background noise of a soft whir of blades (and the occasional cursing caused by stick encounters) rather than the roar of an engine.


Meditation Index

Meditation on Methods of Remembering Things

I am a chronic not rememberer of things, particularly things I am supposed to do. Particularly things I don't want to do that I am supposed to do. I also have trouble remembering the date. And the day, for that matter. To try to remember to do these things, whether they are work or home-related, or at least so I can't make the excuse that I wasn't reminded to do them, I have tried the following methods:

• One of those fancy desk calendars where you have a bunch of space for each day
• One of those hanging wall calendars, usually featuring baseball players, or penguins, or cute cats
• One of those nifty Moleskine weekly planners--one of many Moleskines in my life
• Post-it notes on the bathroom mirror
• Post-it notes near the door
• Tiny scraps of paper that quickly pile up like snowflakes on my desk

By far the best method of remembering I have ever found, however, is the hand-writing method. Let me say now that I know ALL ABOUT Sarah Palin, and the fact that she writes on her hand too may be one of the only things I will ever find to like about her. But let me emphasize that I am not a "major political figure" (at least not that I know of) who is making a speech about something. I'm just trying to remember to get to the bank before it closes. Also, she writes on the inside of her hand, and I write on the back of mine--it tickles too much to write on my palm, even though this utterly destroys my "Palm Pilot" pun.

Hand-writing: It washes off, but it usually sticks around long enough to jog the mind a little. Here is a sampling of my last week of reminders:

 This could say lunch, or lump, but I think it might be "bank"--dangers of hand washing

Two out of three of these things might have been accomplished

Self-explanatory

Whoops, I think I still need to do some of those things--time to re-write

Paperback order, replacements . . . more work-related notes. The bank again.

A rare clear day--must be the weekend

This system really works, people. I recommend that everyone try it immediately. Also, now that I have my new watch (pictured above), I don't have to remember the date. Score!

Meditation Index