Nataliya’s review of Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1) > Likes and Comments

I haven't. He apparently managed to slip under my radar.

I'm looking forward to your review. This one has been on my list for some time.

One more guy here whose looking forward to your review.

Me too!

Great review!!! I loved this book and am a huge fan of China Mieville... I need to reread this one.

Thanks, Jason! This one is my first Mieville - but definitely not the last. Mieville just got himself a brand-new fan :)

!!!

...?

Try The City and the City

Richard wrote: "!!!

...?"

???

Fabulous review, Nataliya! I was definitely headed in Mieville's direction too, after chatting with Catie about him and reading her wonderful review(s).

But after reading your review, I feel an urge to drop all 600+ books on my TBR and pick this one up YESTERDAY! (I have to fight these urges, or I will never finish a book, let alone write a review... Patience... Deep breaths...mantra...)

This review is a pleasure to read, Nataliya.

Thanks, guys! Now the real question is - which Mieville book should I read next? Suggestions, anyone?

I have to admit, I love The Scar a lot more than Perdido Street Station. Just saying.

Catie wrote: "Oh really? I've had that one at home for a few months now. I might have to read that soon!"

Catie - in that case, do you want to read "The Scar" together? I see that it's decently priced for Kindle :)

How about Monday, so that I can finish Le Guin's book by then? Do you want to coordinate how much we read so that we can keep a similar pace?

Let's keep the pace by chapters - that will keep me from staying up all night and blowing through the entire book. Since you have the copy already on hand - how many chapters are there and how many does it seem reasonable to read per day for you?

No, that sounds great. So roughly 17-18% per day (for my Kindle version). I'm excited :)

I just bought "The Scar"! Now time to finish "The Left Hand of Darkness" and it's all about Mieville-goodness :)

Nataliya wrote: "Thanks, Jason! This one is my first Mieville - but definitely not the last. Mieville just got himself a brand-new fan :)"

Way to go Nataliya! Another convert for the multisyllabic Mieville :)
I really liked The Scar also. Talk about vivid descriptions, it's like you could smell this place. But it's a good thing you can't.

J.P. wrote: "Way to go Nataliya! Another convert for the multisylabic Mieville :) "

Multisyllabic = more to love :)

Darnit, but you're being a busy busy bee, Nataliya.. I could swear this is your 3rd review in about 4 hours time... is today review day? Or am I picking up older reviews through comments?

..and btw, *cough* I actually started reading this about 3 weeks ago already. Not that I don't love it, but I've been sidetracked by groupreads and other stuff I've had to read, and now a shorter novel that I've wanted to read (and am reading) because I wanted to check out novels that use a first person present tense POV...

Maybe next month. :I

Traveller wrote: "Darnit, but you're being a busy busy bee, Nataliya.. I could swear this is your 3rd review in about 4 hours time... is today review day? Or am I picking up older reviews through comments?

..and ..."

I had 2 new ones and some old that are still circulating around through the comments. But I've been in the review mode lately, about to submit another one.
I think it's actually better to read this one over a longer period of time rather than a binge read - it's more enjoyable this way.

Nataliya wrote: "Thanks, guys! Now the real question is - which Mieville book should I read next? Suggestions, anyone?"

if you want another one that feels like PSS, read the scar -- it is excellent, perhaps better, but in the same filthy vein.

for something completely different and still crazy, kraken is a lot of fun. for something completely different and decidedly less filthy but still kind of crazy, the city & the city or embassytown.

Joel speaks the truth. The Scar has a lot of what you like about Perdido Street Station and it reveals more about the world. Railsea comes out pretty soon. I've got high hopes for that one.

I am about to start "The Scar". And now with all the positive comments I' even more excited about it!

I got detoured somewhere in the middle of "The Scar" (It's too dense to fully enjoy when ill, which I've a habit of.) but am about to get back to it. I'm enjoying it even more than I did PSS.

I think my favorite Miéville so far has been The City and the City, even though it's less overtly-fantastical than some of his other works. Oh, and Embassytown is wonderful, too, especially if one is keen on linguistics theory in one's fiction...and truly alien aliens!

Also quite worth the time: Looking for Jake, his collection of short stories. I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming (May) release of Railsea, his young-adult-friendly weird retelling of Moby Dick...with trains and giant moles and a female "Captain Ahab."

Oooh, so many Mieville reading choices! I think I will start on "The City and the City" next - I love the simple and yet intriguing title.
Is that what "Railsea" is? I have to read it for sure. I was a strange child that read the entire million pages of Moby Dick and liked it - I think I lost track of the plot somewhere in the fist few dozen pages, but learned a lot about the basics of whaling ;)

Two bloody brilliant and entertaining reviews there! KEEP IT UP!!!!!! ;-) PS LOVE BOTH AUTHORS!!!

The Scar is simular to Perdido Street Station in that the descriptions are marvelous and the prose has the same style. I thought Embassytown and The City and the City were written on a different level. They centered on very unique concepts and both were not so much dealing with characters as with ideas.
If I had to pick a third choice it would be The City and the City. I liked that a shade more than Embassytown.
As my to read pile approaches the ceiling in two different stacks, I have 4 China Mieville books left to read which I hope are nowhere near the bottom of either.

J.P. wrote: "As my to read pile approaches the ceiling in two different stacks, I have 4 China Mieville books left to read which I hope are nowhere near the bottom of either. "

From now on any book by China Mieville gets automatically moved up to the top of my rapidly expanding TBR list.

Ever since I joined here it's added a lot to my TBR list. I've read very cool books I otherwise would've missed, found new authors and met many nice people who really know their books. Geez that sounds like an ad for this site....lol.
I've got Kraken, Looking for Jake, King Rat and Un Lun Dun in the unread stacks. I'm not sure which I'll read next.

My TBR list exploded since I joined GR. Mieville and Le Guin are my best "new" finds this year, and I would not have read them if not for this site.
It seems that Mieville is quite prolific, and I have many of his books to look forward to :)

Great review. I wholeheartedly agreed. My first of his as well and I loved it.

Thanks, Nelly! I am on my second Mieville - "The Scar", and I love it as well.

Very good and very personal review, made me feel the touch of this book's atmosphere!

Thanks, Jurgen!

"Dear Mr. Mieville, thank you for 'prestigitation', 'salubrious', 'avaricious', 'penury', 'susurrus', and of course, 'palimpsest'. These words will forever stay with me. Bring on the SATs!"

I'm italian and I just wanted to point out that these sophisticated words sound like the italian correspondending ones, so it kind of amused me that I didn't need the dictionary XD

In other books I also finded expressions like "eating with gusto" or "speakng sottovoce" which are difficult for an english/american but for me were rather easy to undestand.
It's weird, is it not?

Callaghan wrote: ""Dear Mr. Mieville, thank you for 'prestigitation', 'salubrious', 'avaricious', 'penury', 'susurrus', and of course, 'palimpsest'. These words will forever stay with me. Bring on the SATs!"

I'm it..."

I've had it happen to me as well with the words that are commonly used in Russian but are not as common in English. I love it when that happens :D

Nataliya wrote: "Callaghan wrote: ""Dear Mr. Mieville, thank you for 'prestigitation', 'salubrious', 'avaricious', 'penury', 'susurrus', and of course, 'palimpsest'. These words will forever stay with me. Bring on ..."

I have the problem of understanding all these 'borrowed' words (strange that they're borrowed because we can't really return them - "here Arabic nations have the word coffee back, we're done with it") but not having the ease of grasping the other languages. Hopefully one day I can devote myself to picking up another/other language/s...

I love the review by the way. I want to try another CM book since I hated Kraken but I think it was just that book rather than his work all up. I've been wanting to try something a little more like what this sounds like...

Jonathan wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Callaghan wrote: ""Dear Mr. Mieville, thank you for 'prestigitation', 'salubrious', 'avaricious', 'penury', 'susurrus', and of course, 'palimpsest'. These words will forever stay w..."

Hey, you are so right about that! Those words are not borrowed; they are forcibly taken away from other languages in dark alleys ;)

I think 'Kraken' is Miéville's worst work, by the way. He can (and does!) write so much better than that.

Jonathan wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Callaghan wrote: ""Dear Mr. Mieville, thank you for 'prestigitation', 'salubrious', 'avaricious', 'penury', 'susurrus', and of course, 'palimpsest'. These words will forever stay w..."

So, why don't you come and read it with us @ Mievillians, next month, Jonathan?

Callaghan wrote: "In other books I also finded expressions like "eating with gusto" or "speakng sottovoce" which are difficult for an english/american but for me were rather easy to understand."

No, they're really not difficult for English-language readers (though they might be for non-readers). When we borrow words, we borrow for keeps (I have a vague memory that Nataliya might have, herself, borrowed the "forcibly taken away from other languages in dark alleys" comment). Often, we borrow them, and then assault them so badly that the original language wouldn't want them back. Related languages consider honour killings on their behalf...

Consider the innocent French word, "Voila!", which we English-speakers will happily use to mean exactly what the French do - but on the Internet, it's common enough to see someone write "Walla!". Oh, the humanity...

The only new word i learned from Mieville was prestidigitation.

Though i keep marveling at his capacity to use the word 'palimpsest' at every possible opportunity.

Derek wrote: "When we borrow words, we borrow for keeps (I have a vague memory that Nataliya might have, herself, borrowed the "forcibly taken away from other languages in dark alleys" comment). Often, we borrow them, and then assault them so badly that the original language wouldn't want them back."

Borrowed? Oh no! Not borrowed since I have zero intention of ever giving it back. Ever. I stole it and intend to keep it, together with referring to Miéville as 'His Chinaness' (that, I think may have originated with Richard). But I promise to treat it nicely, without assaulting it ;)

I haven't yet seen anyone write 'Walla' - which may explain why my brain has not yet exploded and/or why I haven't yet died from a hypertensive stroke.

The one word that bugs me like that is the way English stole the innocent word 'babushka' (meaning 'grandma') and made it mean 'Eastern European old ladies' headscarf'). I can easily see why the meaning became what it became, but every time someone says it I can't help but imagine people wearing old ladies on their heads.


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Traveller wrote: "The only new word i learned from Mieville was prestidigitation.

Though i keep marveling at his capacity to use the word 'palimpsest' at every possible opportunity."

Your vocabulary must have been very impressive to begin with! Mine definitely wasn't, as my frequent trips to the online dictionary would confirm.
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Traveller wrote: "So, why don't you come and read it with us @ Mievillians, next month, Jonathan? "

I second the invitation!

So "babushka" means "grandmother". What an assault!

In the very traditional region that I live, there are two very powerful matriarchies that "rule" overtly or covertly depending upon your perspective. Among the traditional Hispanics, "abuela" is a very respectful term. I don't know the Tewa Indian word; but you definitely are expected to respect the grandmothers.

Imagine the disrespect of our calling a headscarf a "babushka". My most groveling apologies!

Nataliya wrote: "The one word that bugs me like that is the way English stole the innocent word 'babushka' (meaning 'grandma') and made it mean 'Eastern European old ladies' headscarf')"

I've only heard that a couple of times - I think there have been too many Eastern European (mostly Ukrainian) immigrants in most parts of Canada where I've lived for the misuse to set in. Now, my wife, from a Bulgarian family, manages to use "Babushka" to mean the nested Russian dolls... But then she tends to use the wrong words in English, too!

Derek wrote: "I've only heard that a couple of times - I think there have been too many Eastern European (mostly Ukrainian) immigrants in most parts of Canada where I've lived for the misuse to set in. Now, my wife, from a Bulgarian family, manages to use "Babushka" to mean the nested Russian dolls... But then she tends to use the wrong words in English, too!"

From what I remember from my history lessons, Canada is indeed full of Ukrainian immigrants, and so there would be less of a chance of such misuse indeed.

I want to read this one just so I can read The Scar bcoz Jack, the owner of The Dark Carnival in Berkeley, CA, determined it was something I'd be into & mentioned it to me rt after it first came out - btw, Nataliya, have you ever been to The Dark Carnival? If not I think you'd love it and I imagine where you live you must visit Berkeley here & there sometimes in yore life? It's a mostly genre-fiction bookstore and even has toys & other related stuff.
Oh yah, btw, good review.

Michael, you know, in 4 years I spent in Berkeley I've never been to that store; I actually don't recall ever hearing about it. Maybe it's because I did not really hang out with the crowd that would be into visiting it, or maybe because I was doing a tiny bit more of 'serious' reading those days. But I looked it up, and it sounds fun! Maybe I'll swing by it one of these days - after all, Berkeley is just a relatively short drive north from me.

You technically really don't HAVE to read this one to enjoy 'The Scar', by the way - but it does help to experience the atmosphere of New Crobuzon beforehand, in order to really understand the contrast between it and Armada of 'The Scar'.

Nataliya wrote: "You technically really don't HAVE to read this one to enjoy 'The Scar', by the way - but it does help to experience the atmosphere of New Crobuzon beforehand, in order to really understand the contrast between it and Armada of 'The Scar'."

Good to know. I wasn't sure but I think I'd prefer to read them back-to-back(-to-back).