Product Description

A chilling novel about our modern world, from the author of 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Crash'. Robert Maitland, a 35 year-old architect, is driving home from his London offices when a blow-out sends his speeding Jaguar hurtling out of control. Smashing through a temporary barrier he finds himself, dazed and disorientated, on a traffic island below three converging motorways. But when he tries to climb the embankment or flag-down a passing car for help it proves impossible - and he finds himself imprisoned on the concrete island. In this twisted version of 'Robinson Crusoe', Maitland must learn to survive - using only what he can find in his crashed car. As in all Ballard's best work 'Concrete Island' provides an unnerving study of our modern lives and world. With his alienating, 'Ballardian' view of normal events, this is a unique novel from one of our finest writers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14408 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
'This allegory of modern life is both compelling and profound.' Daily Telegraph 'Ballard's violent exact prose carries you along irresistibly. You believe him, you accept his vision, and it is a fearful one.' Sunday Telegraph 'Ballard writes with taut and precise economy, and the moral of his brilliantly original fable is plain: the interstices of our concrete jungle are filled with neglected people, and one day those people could be ourselves.' Sunday Times Praise for J G Ballard: 'A work of very powerful originality. Ballard is amongst our finest writers of fiction.' Anthony Burgess 'One of the few genuine surrealists this country has produced, the possessor of a terrifying and exhilarating imagination.' Guardian 'Ballard has issued a series of bulletins on the modern world of almost unerring prescience. Other writers describe; Ballard anticipates.' Will Self 'Britain's number one living novelist.' John Sutherland, Sunday Times

About the Author
J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, 'The Drowned World', in 1961. His 1984 bestseller 'Empire of the Sun' won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His most recent novel is 'Kingdom Come', published in 2006, his autobiogaphy 'Miracles of Life' was published in 2008 to much acclaim.

Customer Reviews

Crazy, crazy stuff!!!
"A man crashes into a traffic island and has to stay there - what can possible happen here?" I asked myself that question, not knowing what to expect. In fact, I couldn't see where, if anywhere, Ballard could go. But, intrigued, I gave it a go - and how wrong was I!!
The lead character, a doctor with little morals, begins life on the island as a useless case, struggling to sustain himself with food or water. But things change when he realises he isn't alone - there's not only another person living there, but two, totally contrasting human beings. And so the struggle to survive and ultimately leave the island begins.
The most interesting part of this novel: out of all the devious and dispicable acts committed on the island - the two inhabitants being a control freak and, well, a kind of inbred prehistoric man - the most calculated, gruesome act is carried out by the intelligent doctor. And it is he - the intelligent, sholared and succesful man - who's desire to be the most dominant is the greatest. It's almost like a survival of the fittest he's playing with himself. Is Ballard saying something about our own innate humanity here? Perhaps.

All in all a very entertaing read which, as another reviewr described, 'sticks in your side like a thorn'.

A disturbing and memorable story
This is Ballard at his malignant best. In a weird update of Robinson Crusoe, he tells the story of a man marooned in the middle of a London motorway, of his attempts to escape, of his survival strategies, of his encounters with the human wildlife of the contemporary urban environment. I read it years ago and it sticks in my mind like a splinter.

Classy and disturbing
Top notch Ballard (does he ever write dull books ?). Who else could sustain a novel about an architect stranded on an Island surrounded by motorways, after crashing his Jaguar...Every facet of this scenario is carefully worked through until the architect discovers he's not alone. This book is a real page turner galvanised by typically tight and evokative prose.