The City & The City: TV tie-in

I have read this twice, the second time because of the TV series, I wondered how it could be filmed. I was not disappointed. The book is fabulous and nothing that you have read before, unless you are familiar with China's work. I find it pretty much impossible to describe so I won't, but I do highly recommend it as I do the TV series.

I bought this as a gift for my daughter. She seemed to quite enjoy it, but said also that the sentences are too short. I don't really know what that means, but plainly it has to lose a star or two for that negative criticism.

I found the TV series difficult to follow (9 pm is a bit late for my brain to function properly!!) so I bought the book. I really enjoyed it and found it a fascinating and unique read.

Read this after watching the tv series and glad i did. It pads out some of the story and history surrounding the existence of the two cities.

Bought as a present for my Son in law. He was very happy with it.

Good read passed it on to my son who enjoyed it too

Brilliant book and a great accompaniment to the tv series.

I first learned about this book because of the fact that in the BBC television series based on it, the creators decided to use the Georgian alphabet for one of the two cities -- because they found it sufficiently weird. Having now read the book, which came highly recommended by a number of friends, that turns out to be the least weird thing about it. The author has imagined two cities situated in the same place, sharing the same roads, and in some cases the same buildings, where it is illegal for residents of one city to see or hear the residents of the other. He creates a verb for this very purpose -- to "unsee" -- and it's bits like that which have led some to compare the author to Orwell. It's a thought-provoking book in the most literal sense; one is forced to pause and think many times about the issues raised, like divided cities, national and ethnic divisions, and of course social class. Michael Harrington famously described "the other America" more than half a century ago as the poor part of a wealthy society that went largely unseen by most. I haven't yet watched the BBC series and am keen to begin, not least because I cannot imagine how one can visualise two cities that largely exist only in the minds of their residents, who are busy "unseeing" what is often within touching distance.