Reviews

Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard

veerle's review against another edition

5.0

Robert Maitland, a 35-years old architect, crashes his Jaguar and ends up on a concrete island, trapped between highways. Injured, it is impossible to get off the island. Soon he finds out he is not the only one there. Proctor, a former trapeze artist, and Jane, a prostitute who escaped an unhappy marriage, try to keep him there. He taps into his best Robinson Crusoe skills to try to survive on the island and escape from it.

The story of Concrete Island seems a metaphor for feeling being trapped in life. Maitland has a succesful career, a wife, a kid, a mistress, basically everything society expects, yet he finds a certain satifaction on the concrete island he is missing in his life. Maybe Jane and Proctor are metaphors for surpressed parts of his mind, because Jane suggests at a certain point that she and Proctor think Maitland has been on the island before. I probably should reread it from this perspective to see if my assumption works.

Once more Ballard unveils the poetry in modern day structures. The wastelands hides so many interesting and beautiful things from the past: the basements of houses, an oldcinema, air-raid shelters from the Cold War era, a breaker's yard. His descriptons, his characters, it feels like a play where the concrete island serves a stage. Can't wait to read another Ballard, I'm am addicted :)

mescalero_at_bat's review against another edition

4.0

devoured CONCRETE ISLAND, a book that started out really good - fantastic in fact, but thinned out in the last lap. i would say the first 120 pages are just about perfect. CI is an ultra-tight nightmare where every word has depth and overtones, but the last 40 or so pages felt like the bubble had burst and he was prolonging the text; it didn't feel as vital or compelling as the opening. regardless, i would recommend it without much reservation, because, dang - the first three acts are really something. won't bother illustrating the plot - if someone explained it to me i don't know that i would have read it. it's deceptively simple and yet ...

bily92's review against another edition

4.0

O 5, non lo so. Assurdo ma decisamente un bel libro.

joshuaa_bowman's review against another edition

5.0

Unbelievably good. I am obsessed with this book.

kris_mccracken's review against another edition

4.0

Another one of those Ballard books that explores the thin line between civil society and descent into savagery. I quite like it, even if the premise – loner architect becomes trapped on a traffic island stuck between a web of highways – is a tad far fetched.

Dark.

wdbraam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

janwe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

dananaslibrary's review against another edition

2.0

Dreadful, offensive, but not the worst I've ever read. Some interesting themes of potential psychosis, but not implemented well. MC is scum to the core. I feel so sorry for Proctor.

foxbyrd's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

rgamblin's review against another edition

4.25

an excellent study of class and outsiderdom and the bystander effect. Truly jarring and emotionally devastating at times.