The Last Days of New Paris, China Mieville
The Last Days of New Paris, China Mieville
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
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The Last Days of New Paris

Author: China Miéville

Narrator: Ralph Lister

Unabridged: 5 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/09/2016


Synopsis

A thriller of war that never was—of survival in an impossible city—of surreal cataclysm. In The Last Days of New Paris, China Miéville entwines true historical events and people with his daring, uniquely imaginative brand of fiction, reconfiguring history and art into something new.

“Beauty will be convulsive. . . .”

1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer—and occult disciple—Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including Surrealist theorist André Breton. In the strange games of the dissident diplomats, exiled revolutionaries, and avant-garde artists, Parsons finds and channels hope. But what he unwittingly unleashes is the power of dreams and nightmares, changing the war and the world forever.

1950. A lone Surrealist fighter, Thibaut, walks a new, hallucinogenic Paris, where Nazis and the Resistance are trapped in unending conflict, and the streets are stalked by living images and texts—and by the forces of Hell. To escape the city, he must join forces with Sam, an American photographer intent on recording the ruins, and make common cause with a powerful, enigmatic figure of chance and rebellion: the exquisite corpse.

But Sam is being hunted. And new secrets will emerge that will test all their loyalties—to each other, to Paris old and new, and to reality itself.

Praise for The Last Days of New Paris

“Beautiful, stunningly realized . . . [The Last Days of New Paris] is a brief vacation in alien latitudes, a midnight layover in an imaginary place.”—NPR

“A thoughtful, highbrow novella . . . Miéville’s self-assured style offers up a strong sense of humanity, while the strange Surrealist monsters give Last Days a fun and complementary mad-science component.”—USA Today

“[A] testament to the necessary, progressive power of art . . . Both moving and disturbingly timely.”—Newsday

“A novel both unhinged and utterly compelling, a kind of guerrilla warfare waged by art itself, combining both meticulous historical research and Miéville’s unparalleled inventiveness.”—Chicago Tribune 

“An extraordinarily original work that foregrounds Mieville’s considerable ingenuity and innovation.”—The Millions

“Hauntingly poetic, strangely beautiful, and erratically intense.”—San Francisco Book Review

“Dazzling . . . quite a feat.”—The Guardian

About The Author

China Miéville is the author of numerous books, including This Census-Taker, Three Moments of an Explosion, Railsea, Embassytown, Kraken, The City & The City, and Perdido Street Station. His works have won the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award (three times). He lives and works in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on December 07, 2018

I think the big appeal of Miéville is his boundless imagination. He’s come up with many highly original premises for books. Where he tends to fall down is crafting characters that feel real and that the reader can invest in. Unfortunately, The Last Days of New Paris falls into this trap. In addition......more

Goodreads review by Roger on November 03, 2016

Surrealism Made Manifest The photo on the cover shows a view of the Eiffel Tower with the lower part obscured by mist. A picturesque scene—but no, in China Miéville's alternate-reality novella, the lower part of the tower really is not there; the pinnacle floats on its own in mid-air: Jags of ruin,......more

Goodreads review by Althea on October 30, 2016

Read for book club (although, again, I didn't make the meeting), and also because I'm a fan. Unfortunately, this summoned up less enthusiasm in me than anything I've read from Miéville recently. (I'd been really, really hoping that this would be set in the same world as 'This Census-Taker,' but alas......more

Goodreads review by R.K. on December 16, 2015

The author belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. Nuff said! He had me at 'surrealist bomb'! Seriously, in an excellent Joan Gordon interview the author said: "I don’t start with the graph paper and the calculators like a particular kind of D&D dungeonmaster: I start with an im......more


Quotes

“Beautiful, stunningly realized . . . [The Last Days of New Paris] is a brief vacation in alien latitudes, a midnight layover in an imaginary place.”—NPR
 
“A thoughtful, highbrow novella . . . Miéville’s self-assured style offers up a strong sense of humanity, while the strange Surrealist monsters give Last Days a fun and complementary mad-science component.”USA Today
 
“[A] testament to the necessary, progressive power of art . . . Both moving and disturbingly timely.”Newsday
 
“A novel both unhinged and utterly compelling, a kind of guerrilla warfare waged by art itself, combining both meticulous historical research and Miéville’s unparalleled inventiveness.”Chicago Tribune

“An extraordinarily original work that foregrounds Mieville’s considerable ingenuity and innovation.”—The Millions
 
“Hauntingly poetic, strangely beautiful, and erratically intense.”—San Francisco Book Review
 
“Dazzling . . . quite a feat.”The Guardian