Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Last Days of New Paris

The Last Days of New Paris
reviewed on + 1440 more book reviews


Could it happen that the Germans and French resistance fighters clash in 1950 Paris? That WWII had not ended? And, the Nazis did not lose the war? In this book it all did. With the drop of an S-Bomb surrealist art figures came alive as monsters to dog those fighting the war. This is the setting created by China Mieville. All are from many different art works, famous and not so famous as French surrealist artists and writers play a major role in 1941 against the Nazis who occupied their country. In an Afterword the author explains how the book developed. The author claims to meet a man who became the chief protagonist (Thibaut)."

This may explain what the reader finds, or does it? This Paris in 1950 is far different Paris than the city we know. It's strange but quite entertaining. There are actually two stories one of which is Paris as it was in 1941 and the other a figment of the author's lively imagination involving manifs of surrealistic artworks developed by artists of the 1930s, all of whom lived and worked during that period. Dipping dips into work by Mieville, one encounters a rioting adventure of fantasy and fun