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Concrete Island
 
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Concrete Island (Paperback)

by J.G. Ballard (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Concrete Island + High-Rise + Crash
Total RRP: £23.97
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  • This item: Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • High-Rise by J.G. Ballard

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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial (1 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007287046
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007287048
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 48,517 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #13 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Ballard, J.G.

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Product Description

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

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.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Concrete Island
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Concrete Island 4.2 out of 5 stars (9)
£4.97
High-Rise
13% buy
High-Rise 4.5 out of 5 stars (11)
£5.83
The Drowned World
7% buy
The Drowned World 4.2 out of 5 stars (23)
£4.93
Crash
6% buy
Crash 3.4 out of 5 stars (17)
£4.74
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Crazy, crazy stuff!!!, 10 May 2002
This review is from: Concrete Island (Paperback)
"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'.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A disturbing and memorable story, 16 July 2000
This review is from: Concrete Island (Paperback)
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.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classy and disturbing, 14 Jan 2002
By Neil Ford "Neil" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Concrete Island (Paperback)
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ballard at his best
If you have never read J G Ballard then you are in for a treat - this was the first of his books I ever read back in the 70s and wanted to re-read it many times. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. Aylen

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not the best!
You know when you find a book and cant put it down? Well this is not that book. I have just discovered JG Ballard and flew through Cocaine Nights, Super Cannes and High Rise with... Read more
Published 8 months ago by T. ELDER

5.0 out of 5 stars I am the island
This modern 'Robinson Crusoe' tale tells the story of an architect trapped in a concrete traffic island after a car crash. Read more
Published on 22 July 2006 by Luc REYNAERT

4.0 out of 5 stars A short, and normalish, dream in Ballard land.
For some reason I find that Ballard's prose is not the most lucid to read, and I think that I know one of the reasons for this. Read more
Published on 16 July 2004 by the great amphibian

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what it should have been
As I gradually devoured the masteful works of Ballard, Concrete Island was the one that gave me indigestion. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2004 by kdonn2410

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
I read this book one day I was ill and finished it that night. Funny, insightful, tragic, this books holds more in it that you would assume from the synopsis, most notably huge... Read more
Published on 15 July 2000

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