The Drought (1960s)
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'A strange and rather wonderful book full of haunting landscapes, phantasmagoria and disaster that clangs on the mind. An impressive novel at any level. Its obscurities and surrealist flourishes only heighten the dreamlike atmosphere.' Guardian 'The experience Mr Ballard offers is mystical!it is weird; it is grotesque; it is magnificently Gothic.' Sunday Times 'By arranging a world drought to kill off the majority of people, he brings his characters to a state of timeless, arid obsession with what is left of water and of their own selves!a sensitive, baroque study in decadence.' Daily Telegraph 'Ballard paints staggering imaginary landscapes. A very impressive book by a deeply serious writer, the originality and power of whose vision can be felt.' Times Literary Supplement
Review
‘A strange and rather wonderful book full of haunting landscapes, phantasmagoria and disaster that clangs on the mind. An impressive novel at any level. Its obscurities and surrealist flourishes only heighten the dreamlike atmosphere’ Guardian
‘The experience Mr Ballard offers is mystical…it is weird; it is grotesque; it is magnificently Gothic’ Sunday Times
‘By arranging a world drought to kill off the majority of people, he brings his characters to a state of timeless, arid obsession with what is left of water and of their own selves…a sensitive, baroque study in decadence’ Daily Telegraph
‘Ballard paints staggering imaginary landscapes. A very impressive book by a deeply serious writer, the originality and power of whose vision can be felt’ Times Literary Supplement
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
JG Ballard's 2nd novel (or 3rd if you count the disowned and out of print `The Wind Out of Time') works as a mirror-image to that of `The Drowned World', with Ballard again exploring the psychological effects of a dystopian future environment, only this time with a severe lack of water rather than a submerged planet. Again, as with `The Drowned World' this is a novel which is fairly light in terms of conventional plot or narrative drive and so can appear rather languid at times, but it is rich with symbolism and startling imagery that will stay with the reader for long afterwards. Not Ballard's best perhaps, but a memorable read nonetheless.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a compelling and all-too-real piece of science fiction. Ballard focuses on only a few characters, and sketches the wider events. This makes the portrait of the collapse of society all the more troubling.
The descent from civilisation to primitive tribal life on the edge is convincing. A perpetual drought forces people to the edge of the sea, where the competition for water and food is intense. Only a few survive. As ever, Ballard is working at two levels, and this is also the descent into the characters losing their very identities. Most of the survivors live in subjugation. While in "The Drowned World" the characters find their primeval selves, here they risk losing all identity.
The end is not the strongest part of the book, but perhaps the problem with Ballard's method is having no where further to go when everything has changed.
Well worth the journey.
Format:Paperback
The only thing that slightly spoilt this otherwise excellent story was the ending, which stuck in my head for ages afterwards because I felt it was wrong. But it's a minor niggle and, to be honest, I couldn't think of a better ending, either. JGB's stories encouraged me to try my hand at writing SF, and I thank him for that. If the price suits, do read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good ideas but not a well written novel
This was my first Ballard read and I wasn't overly impressed. The best that can be said was that I had to finish it (so it is moved up from a 1 to a 2 star) but it was a real slog... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2009 by Carol Haynes
Disappointing and a bit repetitive
I was a bit disappointed by this one, which I didn't think was as good as High-Rise. While some of the description of the catastrophe was haunting, there are only so many dusty... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2008 by John Hopper
Ballard Had to Start Somewhere
I'm a huge Ballard fan and some of my other reviews of his books lie in other dark corners of the Amazon site but this a very disappointing early effort from arguably our greatest... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2003 by Steven Moses
An early classic from Mr Ballard
The new budget price edition of 'The Drought' is a welcome addition to the current available oeuvre of J G Ballard. Read more
Published on 15 July 2001 by Jason Parkes
Ballard, Moorcock, Harrison, Sinclair
They need to invent a new category. This isn't science fiction as we know it, Jim. There is a group of writers associated mostly with the magazine NEW WORLDS and which includes... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2001
Magical, haunting, evocative: his best novel yet?
This book still haunts my mind nearly fifteen years after I first read it. It is, quite simply, brilliant. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2000
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