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The Drowned World (2013)

by J.G. Ballard(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0871403625 (ISBN13: 9780871403629)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Liveright Publishing Corporation

series

The Elemental Apocalypse Quartet

review 1: Second read by Ballard, this one came highly recommended, and yet again failed to engage. There is just a certain aloofness to Ballad's writing that does nothing to help the reader establish an emotional connection with the story. Martin Amis in his introduction mentions this, something along the lines of how Ballard appears to be bored with trappings of a conventional plot, except that coming from Amis it comes across as a praise and to me that's a major detractor. Ballard was certainly an able, imaginative (eerily so considering the current climate conditions) writer, his descriptive narrative is very strong, it's just that the rest consistently falls flat, sort of flatlines on indifference. If you're into environmental dystopian fiction, this is a pretty good, very quic... morek read.
review 2: What a terrible book. This is apparently Ballard's first book and it shows. The actual wordplay, while clearly quite creative and imaginative, is actually showy and almost amateurish. As for the storytelling, it's almost non-existent, with a plot line (or what little there is of one) not kicking off until over halfway through the book, and characters that have zero personality and are little more than archetypes (and weak ones at that). There's clearly the attempt to get some very big ideas about the primordial psyche and deevolution in here, but only the attempt, not the actual execution. less

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