- Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (5 Aug 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099466899
- ISBN-13: 978-0099466895
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 273,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'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
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.Review
'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
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The publisher who famously suggested after reading Crash that Ballard was, to paraphrase, mentally unhinged, was probably not that far wide of the mark. This book was clearly not written by a well man, and Ballard later admitted much the same, this strange novel being part of his therapy to exsorcise the pain of losing his wife so young. An attempt to debase humanity, to relegate nature and raise the machines.
In Crash, cars are organic and humans are mechanic. Sex is routine, loveless. The car crash is lustful, orgasmic. The novel is written in the detached, cold clinical prose that became Ballard's trademark, and the result is like reading the world's most peculiar car owners manual.
But despite the sheer oddity of this book, Crash is a very hard book to finish, let alone enjoy. The endless amount of extreme sex and violence soon becomes a bore, and the characters are, typically for Ballard, no more than cyphers used to act out his demented nightmare.
In Crash, cars are organic and humans are mechanic. Sex is routine, loveless. The car crash is lustful, orgasmic. The novel is written in the detached, cold clinical prose that became Ballard's trademark, and the result is like reading the world's most peculiar car owners manual.
But despite the sheer oddity of this book, Crash is a very hard book to finish, let alone enjoy. The endless amount of extreme sex and violence soon becomes a bore, and the characters are, typically for Ballard, no more than cyphers used to act out his demented nightmare.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'd been wanting to read Ballard for ages but after begining a novel I would find his style over-done, amateurish.
Having persevered with this novel though I can say I am a Ballard convert.
He has a particular perspective, in this novel, of mixing the organic with the technological. Which I suppose he has inherited from his medical background.
The story is entertaining. But I have not given it 5 stars 'cause it is not totally satisfactory. It does become a little repetitive and the ending seems a wee bit anti-climactical....
Having persevered with this novel though I can say I am a Ballard convert.
He has a particular perspective, in this novel, of mixing the organic with the technological. Which I suppose he has inherited from his medical background.
The story is entertaining. But I have not given it 5 stars 'cause it is not totally satisfactory. It does become a little repetitive and the ending seems a wee bit anti-climactical....
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Erm!! Probably the weirdest book I will have ever read in my lifetime. I am nearing the end and cannot really decide whether I am enjoying it or not, although to say you are enjoying it does make you sound a bit perverse considering the content!! I did read the reviews before I brought it but because the reviews were so interesting and varied from absymal to absolutely amazing I had to get it to find out for myself. Pretty sick in places and very dark, also (as others have said) fairly repetitive. And yes, the word 'stylized' is way way way over used and its now getting to the point that the word makes me cringe LOL! One of those books that people will have different opinions on depending on how they wish to translate the script. At the end of the day whatever Ballard was trying to achieve with this book to me it is still, at the end of the day, very much just PORN !! Been rushing to finish it so I can start a 'normal' book :-)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Uncomfortable reading
I'm usually a big Ballard fan so was looking forward to this as maybe his most cult-ish and well-known work. Sorry to say, then, that I gave up halfway through. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Marie
A tedious excuse to write about sex
I read the reviews referring to this as a modern classic, and Ballard as a great surrealist writer. I cannot help but think that in the case of this book it is an excuse to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Believe the hype!
Yes, it's controversial and deals with a rather disturbing subject matter, but it's only so, if you take the book for it's literal meaning. Read more
Published 17 months ago by t a n z i m
Unpleasant and without much literary merit either
It's quite difficult to review this book because, while I thought it was absolutely horrible to read, I get the feeling that that was exactly what I was supposed to react. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Katie Stevens
Dull, unpleasant and repetitive
I came across this latest edition of 'Crash' in my local library and thought I'd try it, as this is the book that made Ballard's name. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
cars & sex
bleak and beautiful, ballard follows the well worn connection between autos and sexuality to a cold, logical, fractured conclusion. Read more
Published on 15 April 2010 by kieran "eggy" palmer
Not for the faint of heart...
Crash is a very strange book. It is without doubt the most perverse, disgusting and horrific book i've ever read. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by Amy Harding
Watch Out !
Crash - a remarkable read. Not for everyone,of course. I wanted to drop it after the first few pages but decided to 'plod on' I'm glad I did but the book is one I would hesitate to... Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by Mr. L. R. Davies
An insomniac's delight
Monotonous. The idea Ballard presents in Crash is quite interesting, but to have it repeated page after page and chapter after chapter without any attempt at developing the idea or... Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2009 by R. Faulkner
Abysmal
This tedious little offering manages at the same time to be compelling (because it is so egregiously repulsive) and dull. Read more
Published on 26 April 2009 by Oxford
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