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A review by vortimer
Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard
3.0
Bleak, like a ground-level version of Hi-Rise. It is self consciously an update of Robinson Crusoe - the unlikeable main character, Robert Maitland, even makes the comparison himself. Like Robinson Crusoe, there is an allergy of colonialism and slavery at play here, as Maitland starts to try to dominate the damaged pair that make their home among the abandoned cellars and bomb shelters, which lend a post-apocalyptic flavour to the motorway island.
The cars and coaches that speed past speaks to the disconnecting nature of people in vehicles, carrying their own private world with them, and the themes of people's disconnection from family and human relationships that play a big part in a lot of Ballard's work are very apparent here.
The cars and coaches that speed past speaks to the disconnecting nature of people in vehicles, carrying their own private world with them, and the themes of people's disconnection from family and human relationships that play a big part in a lot of Ballard's work are very apparent here.