The City in the Middle of the Night

Anders, C.J. (2019). The city in the middle of the night. New York: Tor. ISBN: 9780765379962

(hardcover). ASIN: B07FJZDJ8Y (ebook)

Genre: Science fiction / Format: Prose novel

Awards: Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2020), Locus Award for Best SF Novel (2020), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction (2019)

Reading level / Interest level: marketed for adults, but of crossover interest for older teens.

Plot Summary: The City in the Middle of the Night takes place on the planet January, which is tidally locked to its sun, so that one side of the world is always in burning day while the other hemisphere is always terrifying, frozen night. A colony of human settlers has eked out a difficult existence for generations in the narrow twilight between night and day, depending on make-shift technologies and gradually failing machines to survive. The story begins in Xiosphant, the largest city, where the authoritarian government enforces a rigid calendar and labor system. The narrative switches back and forth between two points of view—Sophie, a young and idealistic student, who takes a fall for her friend Bianca and is faced with banishment into the night and almost certain death, and Mouth, the cynical sole survivor of an extinct traveling community. The plot follows Mouth and Sophie’s stories, which intertwine through their connections to Bianca. It takes the three of them across the world to the other major city, and introduces the alien race that has inhabited the dark side of the planet since before humans came. The story ends with the possibility for new direction for January’s society, with Sophie acting as the connector between the humans and the aliens.

Author Background: The City in the Middle of the Night is Charlie Jane Anders’ second published novel, after All the Birds in the Sky, a science-fantasy romance which also has strong crossover appeal. She is also a former staff writer for SF news website io9 (which is now one of Gizmodo’s suite of sites) and the author of many short stories, some of which have been collected into the book Six Months, Three Days, Five Others. She is currently working on a YA space opera trilogy.

Anders and her partner, author and io9 founder Annalee Newitz, also cohost a podcast called Our Opinions Are Correct, and she is an active member of the SF Bay Area writing scene. She hosts monthly (before COVID) reading event Writers With Drinks, and has been spearheading efforts to support local independent bookstores through since shelter in place began.

Critical Evaluation: This book made me cry. The plot starts slowly, taking its time to establish the characters, their motivations, and the world around them. A lot happens before you get a sense of the Big Ideas at the center of the story, but once you realize what those are—surviving trauma, staying true to what you believe, realizing you’ve believed in the wrong thing, recognizing the injustices in society, bridging differences, tempering our impact on the environment—they have so much more force because you’ve become emotionally invested in the characters and their inner lives. This book invites parallels to Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, in that it tells an individual story that is in many ways about a whole society on an alien and inhospitable planet. It will take a reader with some patience and sophistication to fully engage with the it, but the rewards for those thoughtful readers will be immense.

Creative Use for Library Program: I wouldn’t center this book as a teen event, but I would absolutely add it to a list of recommended books or make it part of a themed set of book talks focused on science fiction or, more specifically, “imaginary worlds that make us think about our own.”

Book Talk: In the city of Xiosphant, on the planet January, humans live in permanent twilight—between the half of world that is always boiling under the sun’s light and the half that is always in frozen darkness. In this unhospitable environment, society is rigidly structured, and any rule-breaking is punished. When Sophie takes the blame for stealing food tickets to protect her friend, she gets a death sentence—banishment into the night. But she is unexpectedly rescued from her fate, and the experience starts her on a journey to better understand the realities of her world and its history. This story is perfect for fans of vividly imagined science fiction adventures.

Potential Challenges and Defense: The complicated and sophisticated nature of this book, as well as its marketing for adults, may lead to complaints that this is too difficult for teen readers. It also includes moments of violence and trauma that can be difficult to read. I think a good defense would be to shelf it in the adult section and make it available to teens through personalized recommendations that are clear about the book’s difficulties, rather than changing its shelving.

Why did I include this book? I love Charlie Jane Anders’ work. This was already on my personal to-read list, and I wanted to include at least one SF book marketed for adults, since that genre has, in general, a lot of crossover with teen readers.

References:

Anders, C.J. (n.d.). About Charlie Jane [Webpage]. Retrieved from: https://www.cityinthemiddleofthenight.com/

Goodreads (n.d.). The city in the middle of the night [Webpage]. Retrieved from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40815235-the-city-in-the-middle-of-the-night

Leivers, M. (2019, May 1). The city in the middle of the night [Review]. School Library Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.slj.com/?reviewDetail=the-city-in-the-middle-of-the-night