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Crash
  
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Crash (Paperback)

by J. G. Ballard (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 223 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Inc (P); 1 edition (Sep 1985)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0394741099
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394741093
  • Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.7 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,702,300 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From the Publisher

'Ballard is amongst our finest writers of fiction' Anthony Burgess --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, 'The Drowned World', in 1961. His 1984 bestseller 'Empire of the Sun' won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His most recent novel is 'Kingdom Come', published in 2006, his autobiogaphy 'Miracles of Life' was published in 2008 to much acclaim. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Postmodern Classic, 21 Feb 2003
By Ms. L. Thacker "loullabelle" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Crash (Paperback)
To say that J.G Ballard's classic postmodern novel is merely out for the 'shock value' it can extract from its reader is completely missing the point.

This isn't an erotic novel, the sexual content is handled in such a way to make it clinical, almost replulsive to the reader (sexual organs are described with as much enthusiasm as a steering wheel column). Sex becomes just another mechanical act, like driving a car, the repetition only serves to highlight that fact. The endless cycle and the numbing realisation that as a postmodern audience we become deadened to the horrors that surround us that are brought into our homes by the media is also central to understanding this text.

Ballard's novel brings to light the desensitised nature of human beings who watch mass murders on the nightly news with as much affect as the advertisement for soap powder which follows.

Ballard's novel is an implossion of fantasy and reality. Bringing together the society that thrives on spectacle to the point that watching a car crash has become prime time viewing. The death of affect - the fulfilment of human passions onto material technologies rather than people, resulting in a displacement of passion and an inability to connect is also central to this text.

After this read The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A caustic look at a 20th century sexual nightmare, 13 Mar 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Crash (Paperback)
Ballard yet again has explored parts of the human psyche that few dare to probe.He matches de Sade and Mirbeau in his illustration of new sexualities and sexual landscapes, caressing the lost edifices of a primitive erotic language, hidden in the modern technology that rules our everyday lives.Crash still remains one of the few novels that dares to explore the modern influence on sexuality, still as shocking and brilliant as it is beautiful.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Without precedent, 10 Mar 2001
This review is from: Crash (Paperback)
Ballard's tale is the only truly postmodern book I've read, and the apparent lack of depth is crucial to understanding the author's aims. His alloyage of human and mechanic affectation, of the miscegenation of image and reflection, of a sexuality without precendent or escape are the themes he explores through scalpel sharp and riveting prose. Buy it, shoplift it or whatever, just read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. L. R. Davies

1.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Faulkner

1.0 out of 5 stars Abysmal
This tedious little offering manages at the same time to be compelling (because it is so egregiously repulsive) and dull. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Oxford

1.0 out of 5 stars Crash
TRIED HARD TO GET INTO THIS BOOK, BUT FOUND IT DISAPPOINTING.FOR ME IT DID NOT LIVE UP TO ITS HYPE.
Published 10 months ago by Peter K. Mullins

3.0 out of 5 stars Burroughs without the balls
At the beginning of this novel I felt as if I was embarking upon a William Burroughs effort that had been filtered, edited and contrived; sadly that impression didn't change much... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Alexander Lindsay

5.0 out of 5 stars Sick and twisting tale
Anyone familiar with the work of J G Ballard will know Crash. Anyone familiar with the darker side of cinema will know Crash. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. Sa Bell

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining ride
I'd been wanting to read Ballard for ages but after begining a novel I would find his style over-done, amateurish. Read more
Published 12 months ago by pingpong

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant even though lots of people say so
Relentlessly aggressive and pornographic in a psycho-geographical kind of way. Brilliant even though lots of people say so. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Pablo K

4.0 out of 5 stars Morbid melding of man and machine
The concerns of this novel are even more immediate today than they were when it was written some thirty years ago. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2003 by Damian of Clitheroe

5.0 out of 5 stars A great modern classic
If you ever hear someone moan that "There are no classics anymore." or ask "Are there any great British writers still alive? Read more
Published on 12 May 2003 by theTramp

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