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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More of the same, but with less bite, 27 Jan 2005
This book is a typical Ballardian fable, depicting a community of radical conservationists descending into chaos. It's a little more heavy-handed than Ballard's usual output, and the story seems quite laboured at times, but it's still worth reading.The story concerns the attempts of a radical animal rights protestor, Barbara Rafferty, to establish a sanctuary for endangered albatross on a Pacific island that is being used by the French military. Rafferty is a typical Ballard character: a doctor with a shady past and a set of ambiguous values. Throughout the story, Ballard drives home the point that Dr Rafferty, despite her posturing over the albatross, actually has no real respect for life. Ballard goes on to use Rafferty and a set of other slightly grotesque characters to illustrate points about animal rights protestors and the struggle for survival between men and women. As usual, his cold, ironic authorial gaze observes his characters from a distance, like a scientist observing the behaviour of animals. The conclusion about human nature Ballard appears to reach in this book is, perhaps predictably, overwhelmingly pessimistic. There's less action here than in Ballard's other books, the plot is quite weak, and the characters are nothing more than a bunch of stereotypes. He labours over the whole book to make quite an obvious point about the hypocrisy of violent extremists; Bill Hicks managed the same thing with just one joke. It's one of his weakest books, but there's still probably just enough here to keep fans of the old master happy.
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by J.G. Ballard
by J.G. Ballard
by J.G. Ballard
by J.G. Ballard
by J.G. Ballard
