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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
This was a straight shot of playful and scintillatingly brainy goodness! Never thought I'd get an Art History lesson, on the house, in a piece of fiction like this, but there we have it; I learned a surprising amount about the Surrealist Movement, and some of its most representative works. But more than that: who else but Miéville was going to come up with a story like this, seriously?
(Mostly) Surrealist artworks made manifest fight demons and Nazis in War World II occupied Paris!
Like, come on: that's bonkers on the face of it, but Miéville made this concept brilliantly bonkers in this novella! The cleverness, the imagination, the creativity! Once again, this is exactly the kind of delicious book-food that gets my brain churning, excitedly thinking, playfully tingling, and stimulated with just overall pleasant vibrations – and I don't even care that much for World War II as a historical (or here alt-historical) setting, or Surrealism as a specific artistic movement.
The theming wasn't at its deepest; nor was the world-building, stricto sensu. But there was still quite a lot here – about freedom, 'radical-spiritedness', artistic creativity, and the human subconscious – that was seamlessly woven into the pages of this shorter tale. Which means I now know Miéville can, in fact, skilfully use the novella format as well, and that The Last Days of New Paris now counts as one of the best novellas I have thus far read.
PS: also... he really did his research for this one, gah dayum. Like it was wild to me to see the freaking Chants de Maldoror feature in a piece of Anglo fiction! 😆
(Mostly) Surrealist artworks made manifest fight demons and Nazis in War World II occupied Paris!
Like, come on: that's bonkers on the face of it, but Miéville made this concept brilliantly bonkers in this novella! The cleverness, the imagination, the creativity! Once again, this is exactly the kind of delicious book-food that gets my brain churning, excitedly thinking, playfully tingling, and stimulated with just overall pleasant vibrations – and I don't even care that much for World War II as a historical (or here alt-historical) setting, or Surrealism as a specific artistic movement.
The theming wasn't at its deepest; nor was the world-building, stricto sensu. But there was still quite a lot here – about freedom, 'radical-spiritedness', artistic creativity, and the human subconscious – that was seamlessly woven into the pages of this shorter tale. Which means I now know Miéville can, in fact, skilfully use the novella format as well, and that The Last Days of New Paris now counts as one of the best novellas I have thus far read.
PS: also... he really did his research for this one, gah dayum. Like it was wild to me to see the freaking Chants de Maldoror feature in a piece of Anglo fiction! 😆
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror