Skip to main content

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville : A rambunctious novel that defies description


Perdido Street Station is a truly exceptional book. Perdido Street Station is packed with so many ideas and concepts that other authors could have made a whole series out of just one of them. Thinking about this novel still gives me the chills. I had not heard of China Mieville till Samit Basu(author of the Gameworld trilogy happened to mention him) and what a recommendation this turned out be.
I couldn't help but form images of what was happening and they still creep me out. The monsters in this book are scary to say the least.
The novel begins with a Garuda(a bird like creature) who comes to Isaac, a scientist to get his wings(they have been removed by his folk as punishment for his crimes). Isaac then begins his foray into winged creatures and the tale metamorphoses into something else entirely.
The world of New Crobuzon that Mieville creates is on an entirely different scale from what is typical. It is rich, detailed, nuanced, utterly fantastic and populated with a dense cast of characters whose motivations I could not help but wonder at.
There are monsters who feed off your dreams. There are machines who obtain sentience. There are water beings, insect like folk and huge cactus like ones as well all of who live together in New Crobuzon with all the strife that this entails. There is the weaver, whose only motivation to do things is to make things look better in the grander scheme of things and its amazing how all of it fits.
Mieville writes like a dream with deftness and subtlety. Here he possesses the ability to get into the skin of every character etching them out with great intimacy and thought. He writes with a flair and verve that he seems to have abandoned in his later works(with the exception of Kraken).
Highly recommended and a must read. This is without a shadow of doubt one of the finest books that I have ever read.

You can buy Perdido Street Station here.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rule 34 by Charles Stross : You will never look at your email the same way again

This is one of the great reads of the year(with a terrible cover though). Charles Stross writes a near future police procedural in this one. Its a future where 3d printers are a reality and plans for printing almost anything are available online(This includes all sorts of weapons of course). This of course leads to a whole lot of materials being smuggled. Its a future where you have to bid to get a bus to go your way. The police instant messages and everything has gone digital. The rise of the internet has lead to an increase of unimaginable crimes. Our lead detective Liz works in the Rule 34 squad. A series of apparently connected murders take place. Only no one can figure out the perpetrator and the motive behind the crimes. Stross moves from the grissly murders to explanations of AI, singularity and spam with ease managing to keep you on the edge of your seat. Its a complex novel that virtually demands a reread. It is also written in a weird second person style that jar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Murgi’s fun facts

This one goes out to Mrigank Gupta aka Murgi. Murgi is such an awesome dude that even Chuck Norris and Rajnikanth can’t hold a candle to him. Below are Some facts that are indeed facts When Murgi was an infant he changed his own diapers Murgi was born toilet trained Murgi is actually the eldest in his house. He let the others enter this world before him When Murgi was born he got his own birth certificate from the doctor’s office Murgi never sits idle. He is just pretending to be like us Murgi never listens to excuses on the phone. He simply tells you what to do and disconnects. When Murgi will finally take a vacation the world will stop spinning While Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice, Murgi had already finished counting thrice and was solving everyone else's problems. Natural selection does not apply to Murgi. (Courtesy Ikka) Murgi caught an electron at rest.(Courtesy Ikka) When Arthur Eddington was asked if he really believed there were just three peop...
30 comments
Read more

Places to eat in Kanpur

Our real exploration of Kanpur began in our 5th year when we had our stipend to spend so hopefully this article will prove helpful to all the foodies out there. Surprisingly(and I really mean this) there are a number of terrific places to eat in Kanpur. Hopefully this article will prove helpful to many who are looking forward to spend their stipends. By far the best way to reach places to eat in Kanpur is to catch the bus that the institute provides. The bus runs everyday(except Sunday) at 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm. The bus returns at around 10:15 pm. Murgi(Our food and snacks Coordinator, every wing should have one) always takes the phone number of the conductor so that he can stay updated about where the bus is and so that the return is convenient. The bus service is really a life saver and unless you have a bike should be the first option. It is also better to roam during weekdays than weekends simply because there is lesser ruckus everywhere. Going to a restaurant on a weekend is an ab...
19 comments
Read more