J.G. Ballard
Paperback | Pages: 176 pages Rating: 3.59 | 7590 Users | 429 Reviews
Point Books Concering Concrete Island
| Original Title: | Concrete Island |
| ISBN: | 031242034X (ISBN13: 9780312420345) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Robert Maitland |
| Setting: | London, England |
Description In Pursuance Of Books Concrete Island
On a day in April, just after three o'clock in the afternoon, Robert Maitland's car crashes over the concrete parapet of a high-speed highway onto the island below, where he is injured and, finally, trapped. What begins as an almost ludicrous predicament in Concrete Island soon turns into horror as Maitland - a wickedly modern Robinson Crusoe - realizes that, despite evidence of other inhabitants, this doomed terrain has become a mirror of his own mind. Seeking the dark outer rim of the everyday, Ballard weaves private catastrophe into an intensely specular allegory.Itemize Containing Books Concrete Island
| Title | : | Concrete Island |
| Author | : | J.G. Ballard |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 176 pages |
| Published | : | October 5th 2001 by Picador (first published April 1974) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. Drama. Suspense. Novels. Mystery |
Rating Containing Books Concrete Island
Ratings: 3.59 From 7590 Users | 429 ReviewsPiece Containing Books Concrete Island
3.5 stars. Not SF as I ordinarily think of it, more a quasi dystopia set in the present-day. Affluent Robert Maitland crashes his Jaguar on a precipitous traffic island such as we see all the time occupying the waste ground between ramps and highways. He climbs the grade to street level, but the traffic's too fast and there are no shoulders. He struck in the hand by an oblivious passing motorist. Then inflammation and sets in; his injuries keep him feverish in the wrecked Jag. When he'sThis was the second Ballard novel that I read and it isn't as good as The Drowned World, but I preferred it to The Atrocity Exhibition, that I think was more collected pieces than an actual novel of any sorts. This one is about an architect on his way home, crashing and landing in an urban wasteland, right in the middle of a load of intersecting motorways which pass overhead, supported by huge concrete pillars and surrounding his perimeters on all sides. He is trapped on a man made island, as
A quick read from my 2010 TBR, a Ballard backlisted title from 1974.You were on an island long before you crashed here.
Interesting concept. a man crashes his car and ends up in a concrete wasteland between motorways. His injuries from the crash are such that he cannot climb the embankment back up to the road.How does he survive?Over the period of a few days he manages to create a precarious life whilst all around him the relentless traffic flows by, oblivious to him and his fateThere is even a small community living on the island, comprising a paranoid prostitute and a former trapeze artist who has fallen on his
When I was in my twenties I read J G Ballards novel Empire of the Sun. I didnt like it that much and it put me off reading more of his books, until now. I was really impressed with this short novel from 1974. First of all, I liked the concept of a modern day reworking of Robinson Crusoe in an urban setting. In the novel, architect Robert Maitland crashes on the motorway and careers down a steep embankment, to find himself in a wasteland bounded by embankments on three sides, with a metal wire
Every time I finish a J.G. Ballard novel (Concrete Island is my fourth in the last year or so) I think two things: 1) hey, that was pretty terrific; 2) it's a shame I didn't read it ten years ago. Which is not to say I'm ashamed I've been so slow to hop on the Ballard train, or worried I've become terminally bourgy in my old age. The 29-year-old me thinks Ballard was a hell of a writer, but the 19-year-old me, the guy who couldn't stop listening to Kid A and Hex Enduction Hour on repeat, who was
It was great by any Ballardian standards, but I feel that the allegory overtook the narrative and the characters a little bit compared to HIGH RISE. CONCRETE ISLAND is more the living embodiment of an idea than an actual novel. Nothing in it can be taken at face value. Because if you do, it can get a little boring. The best way I can describe CONCRETE ISLAND is ROBINSON CRUSOE meets LOST. The island where Robert Maitland has fallen on has "claimed" him for a reason he's not ready to face yet.
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