Concrete Island (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Visionary of both style and substance . . . the literary equivalent of Salvador Dali or Max Ernst."--"The Washington Post Book World"
"Ballard's novels are complex, obsessive, frequently poetic, and always disquieting chronicles of nature rebelling against humans, of the survival of barbarism in a world of mechanical efficiency, of ethropy, anomie, breakdown, ruin . . . The blasted landscapes that his characters inhabit are both external settings and states of mind."--Luc Sante" "

Review

"Visionary of both style and substance . . . the literary equivalent of Salvador Dalí or Max Ernst."—The Washington Post Book World

"Ballard's novels are complex, obsessive, frequently poetic, and always disquieting chronicles of nature rebelling against humans, of the survival of barbarism in a world of mechanical efficiency, of ethropy, anomie, breakdown, ruin . . . The blasted landscapes that his characters inhabit are both external settings and states of mind."—Luc Sante

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Paperback: 176 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (April 1, 1994) Language: English ISBN-10: 0374524130 ISBN-13: 978-0374524135 Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches Shipping Weight: 7 ounces Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,562,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #51 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Ballard, J.G.

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Look Inside This Book

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover

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Citations (learn more)

43 books cite this book:

• The Angle Between Two Walls: The Fiction of J. G. Ballard by Roger Luckhurst on 10 pages
• Ultimate Island: On the Nature of British Science Fiction (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) by Nicholas Ruddick on 9 pages
• Out of the Night and Into the Dream: Thematic Study of the Fiction of J.G. Ballard (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) by Gregory Stephenson on 8 pages
• Crash (Bfi Modern Classics) by Iain Sinclair on 4 pages
• Literature, Technology, and Modernity, 1860-2000 by Nicholas Daly on page 123, and page 129

See all 43 books citing this book

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	65% buy the item featured on this page: Concrete Island 3.8 out of 5 stars (22)
	11% buy The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballard 4.3 out of 5 stars (7) $10.88
	9% buy The Atrocity Exhibition 4.1 out of 5 stars (29)
	8% buy High Rise (Flamingo modern classic) 3.6 out of 5 stars (11)

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews 5 star:  (7) 4 star:  (9) 3 star:  (3) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (2)           Average Customer Review 3.8 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 46 of 49 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant work but not for everyone., January 3, 2001 By  Tensegrity Dan "daredevil_30" (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews Gosh, I hate to see this great, little book slammed or passed over because people were unaware of what they were getting themselves into when they bought it. Some of the negative or lukewarm reviews are correct in that those readers obviously did not like certain elements of the book, notably the lack of logical narrative progression or fuller character development but they are mistaken to consider these peculiarities of style as deficiencies worthy of criticism. This book is not intended to be a straightforward adventure story or a character driven drama, or even a novel with some surrealistic elements. Concrete Island, like Ballard's most popular book Crash, is a novel length exploration of abstract concepts wrapped in a traditional narrative format. Consider Ballard's earlier, short science-fiction stories, where a characters' specifics are more or less incidental to the situations in which they are placed. Or his later short works where characters are no more than conceptual cyphers or sometimes just a specific instance of a notional character spanning across several stories. With that in mind, the events and settings are supposed to be surreal and incomplete. The characters are supposed to be unrealistic and uni-dimensional. You aren't supposed to identify with anyone or anything, at least not physically, and then only to the extent that you might become aware of forces acting in your own life or impulses in your own psyche which these fantastical situations and characters represent. So if you are familiar with Ballard's other work, or are interested in Ballard but want something a bit more approachable than, say, Crash or Atrocity Exhibition, then you will really enjoy Concrete Island - its relatively tight and fast moving, much more fleshed out than his shorter works with plenty for your brain to chew on for a while, but without frying your mind as much the Ronald Reagan-Liz Taylor psychosexual stuff. 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Descent To a Personal Hell, November 11, 1998 By  Bob Burton([e-mail]) (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews Our physical nightmares nowadays are usually imposed from the outside: terrorism, plagues, stray asteroids, footloose vampires, these are the agents of horror. Another literary thread--starting, I suppose, with Poe, continuing through Ambrose Pierce, and going on to William Golding--deals with the nightmares we can create for ourselves, in isolation or in small groups. With "Concrete Island," first published in 1973, J.G. Ballard carries forward this latter tradition, but in a postmodern environment of superhighways, abandoned outbuildings, and rippling plains of weeds. The book itself is as constricted and airless as the story it tells, and won't be to everyone's taste. But if your appetite is whetted, read "Concrete Island." Ballard is a master of his genre. 8 of 10 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars What Dreams are Made Of, June 29, 2000 By  Elisabeth (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews This book was very dream like ,I kept expecting the main character to wake up from his accident with a concussion...like Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz. Actually it was more like a nightmare. Imagine being trapped on a motorway island for weeks and not having the strength to get off of it. Try THIS one on that "Survivor" show! The characters in the story were not very complex but the story moved along and there was enough going on to compensate for that. It showed exactly to what lengths one would go if faced with being marooned on a concrete island. It was just under 200 pages and a short read by anyones standards....a good book to take on a vacation. That is as long as you don't plan to spend time on any deserted islands! The ending to the book was a bit of a letdown, but it leaves things open for a sequel, but how interesting would these characters be in NORMAL situations? If you enjoy reading the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, and Alex Garland...then you'll probably like this one enough to give it 4 stars also.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars An inventive modern allegory - lost in the middle of the city A Londoner who has spent his adult life trying to disconnect from those around him finds himself lost in the middle of the city. Read more Published 6 months ago by Nathan Andersen 4.0 out of 5 stars The Robinson Crusoe of the freeway... --Having learned of the recent death of J.G. Ballard, I decided to honor his memory by re-reading "Concrete Island," which I first read a lifetime ago. Read more Published 6 months ago by Mark Nadja 4.0 out of 5 stars Spend some time on this "Island" What do you get when you cross the premise of "Man vs. Wild" (a lost traveler struggling to survive unforgiving terrain and return to civilization) with "The Twilight Zone's"... Read more Published 14 months ago by Adam Richter 5.0 out of 5 stars A revelatory experience Like all of Ballard's writing Concrete Island is about a particular locution of the contemporary mind; it explores the kind of empty dread, the failure to connect that spells the... Read more Published 22 months ago by Chris W. Kientz 4.0 out of 5 stars islands of the mind a fascinating foray into the human mind from the perspective of being scarily trapped. I could not help but think that the creators of "Lost" owe much to the brilliance of... Read more Published on July 8, 2007 by Author Brian Wallace (Mind Tra... 5.0 out of 5 stars I am the island This modern 'Robinson Crusoe' tale tells the story of an architect trapped in a concrete traffic island after a car crash. Read more Published on July 22, 2006 by Luc REYNAERT 3.0 out of 5 stars More a Writing Exercise Than a Story This is a modernized update on the Robinson Crusoe story, which accomplishes next to nothing in theme or plot development. Read more Published on July 15, 2005 by doomsdayer520 1.0 out of 5 stars A spectacular disappointment Mr. Ballard's novel CONCRETE ISLAND starts out somewhat promising, with a successful English salaryman unintentionally finding himself trapped beneath a freeway overpass. Read more Published on August 30, 2004 by Jonathan E. Shapiro 4.0 out of 5 stars amazing allegory This book, like a lot of J.G. Ballard's work, cannot be enjoyed by everyone. It lacks the shock value of "Crash" and the intrigue of "The Atrocity Exhibition"... Read more Published on June 11, 2004 by writer and music junkie 5.0 out of 5 stars Ballard is a genius My first Ballard novel. I'm hooked. Brilliant reading. For young and old alike. "Ballard's novels are complex, obsessive, frequently poetic, and always disquieting... Read more Published on January 23, 2004 by Krista Barry Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374524130
• ISBN-13: 978-0374524135
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,562,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #51 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Ballard, J.G.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant work but not for everyone., January 3, 2001

By	Tensegrity Dan "daredevil_30" (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Gosh, I hate to see this great, little book slammed or passed over because people were unaware of what they were getting themselves into when they bought it.

Some of the negative or lukewarm reviews are correct in that those readers obviously did not like certain elements of the book, notably the lack of logical narrative progression or fuller character development but they are mistaken to consider these peculiarities of style as deficiencies worthy of criticism. This book is not intended to be a straightforward adventure story or a character driven drama, or even a novel with some surrealistic elements.

Concrete Island, like Ballard's most popular book Crash, is a novel length exploration of abstract concepts wrapped in a traditional narrative format. Consider Ballard's earlier, short science-fiction stories, where a characters' specifics are more or less incidental to the situations in which they are placed. Or his later short works where characters are no more than conceptual cyphers or sometimes just a specific instance of a notional character spanning across several stories.

With that in mind, the events and settings are supposed to be surreal and incomplete. The characters are supposed to be unrealistic and uni-dimensional. You aren't supposed to identify with anyone or anything, at least not physically, and then only to the extent that you might become aware of forces acting in your own life or impulses in your own psyche which these fantastical situations and characters represent.

So if you are familiar with Ballard's other work, or are interested in Ballard but want something a bit more approachable than, say, Crash or Atrocity Exhibition, then you will really enjoy Concrete Island - its relatively tight and fast moving, much more fleshed out than his shorter works with plenty for your brain to chew on for a while, but without frying your mind as much the Ronald Reagan-Liz Taylor psychosexual stuff.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Descent To a Personal Hell, November 11, 1998

By	Bob Burton([e-mail]) (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Our physical nightmares nowadays are usually imposed from the outside: terrorism, plagues, stray asteroids, footloose vampires, these are the agents of horror. Another literary thread--starting, I suppose, with Poe, continuing through Ambrose Pierce, and going on to William Golding--deals with the nightmares we can create for ourselves, in isolation or in small groups. With "Concrete Island," first published in 1973, J.G. Ballard carries forward this latter tradition, but in a postmodern environment of superhighways, abandoned outbuildings, and rippling plains of weeds. The book itself is as constricted and airless as the story it tells, and won't be to everyone's taste. But if your appetite is whetted, read "Concrete Island." Ballard is a master of his genre.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Dreams are Made Of, June 29, 2000

By	Elisabeth (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews

This book was very dream like ,I kept expecting the main character to wake up from his accident with a concussion...like Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz. Actually it was more like a nightmare. Imagine being trapped on a motorway island for weeks and not having the strength to get off of it. Try THIS one on that "Survivor" show! The characters in the story were not very complex but the story moved along and there was enough going on to compensate for that. It showed exactly to what lengths one would go if faced with being marooned on a concrete island. It was just under 200 pages and a short read by anyones standards....a good book to take on a vacation. That is as long as you don't plan to spend time on any deserted islands! The ending to the book was a bit of a letdown, but it leaves things open for a sequel, but how interesting would these characters be in NORMAL situations? If you enjoy reading the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, and Alex Garland...then you'll probably like this one enough to give it 4 stars also.