Millennium People (Hardcover)

Characters in Millennium People are far more sophisticated than a Ballard reader might expect. From the mysterious Richard Gould to the fiery Kay Churchill this improvement in characterisation helps convey the many messages in the story. What Messages? Well as usual, themes are around society, psychology, philosophy and politics, but instead of being deduced from the outcomes of the plot (as you might with say, High Rise), the morals come directly from the characters mouth and being the ever naive and passive David Markham, you get to hear everyone's side of the story.

The development around middle-class society, violence and even the meaning of life is very well handled and kept interesting and relevant with a twisting, mystery plot to which you're always trying to guess the ending whilst grappling with the challenging questions the characters ask of you and Markham.

To summarise, this is exciting, accesible, thoughful, sophisticated, interesting and enjoyable. It has the feel of an author reaching perfection with the complexity of The Atrocity Exhibition combined the atmosphere of High Rise...

...and to top all of that, this edition from the nice people at Harper-Perennial comes with a lovely jacket and an interview thingy at the end so read it and enjoy!

The intriguing feature of this novel though is that the uprising is by the comfortable middle classes who appear to have everything they need. And here is the rub - this security and comfort is possibly a fiction , an illusion to keep the status quo of a controlling society. The 'chains' here are not tied by others, the rules are not imposed from without; the imprisonment of the middle class is entirely of its own making. In 'Millenium People' it is never made entirely clear what is wanted to replace things after the revolution; we just have rebellion for its own sake. The middle classes have comforts in abundance so what is lacking? Are they being hoodwinked into conformity and passivity? Is their obsession with rules a symptom of masked fear and insecurity? Whatever, Ballard certainly invites the reader to ask these sort of questions and to take a look at current social phenomena from a different perspective. The writing here is disquieting - cosy views are being challenged.

In the novel, random and meaningless acts of violence can be interpreted as attempts to kick back against a stultifying and deterministic universe. Perhaps there is a deep resentment of too much safety, security and comfort. A sort of scaled down 'paradise syndrome' is afflicting the affluent society - maybe they need a good riot or two just to feel human again! The existential themes dealt with in this book have wider application, especially as what is now understood by 'middle class'(the term Ballard uses throughout the novel)has changed a good deal over recent decades and now includes much broader sectors of the population than in the past.

Humanity is biologically designed for fight and flight - testing boundaries is hardwired into our nervous systems. If the environment is not challenging enough we may make our own challenges; anything to avoid psychic atrophy. We need something to tussle with, to fight against in order to survive and evolve. The uprisings in 'Millenium People' could be a symptom of this yearning for a more dangerous and elemental life.

I see a warning in this book. The time is ripe for a charismatic leader to tap into the collective consciousness and stir up disaffected swathes of the populace. An all pervasive media and telecommunications network could fan the flames of a revolution far more rapidly than at any time in history. Maybe there is nothing like a good uprising to kill off boredom, lassitude and the dreary 'business as usual' predictability of modern life. In 'Millenium People' this is played out on a small scale but the novel unnervingly shows that the seeds of discontent are already in the ground and just waiting for the right moment to germinate.

The initial twist in 'Millennium People' is that the Heathrow bomb plunges Markham into a world of middle class revolutionaries and agitators who may or may not have planted the device. Markham allows himself to be sucked into the front line of all manner of protests as he seeks to penetrate this new class of anarchist, where a simple argument over double yellow lines in Chelsea is inflated into a man the barricades issue.

There were two moments of extreme bravery in the novel when Ballard touches upon the Hungerford massacre when a man named Michael Ryan went crazy in the town with an AK-47 and also the murder of tv presenter Jill Dando. When I read these sections of the book, everything seemed to be in slow motion, as if I was reliving the original news reports of those real-life tragedies. When a writer does that to you, the importance of the novel is beyond doubt.

If you like this book I would recommend any other Ballard novel - especially 'Super Cannes' and 'High Rise' which both demonstrate the collapse of middle-class loyalties to the establishment.