Recommend a first J.G. Ballard novel

Cafe Society
1

Briefly: I’m going on a short trip and want a new novel to read. I’d like to try something by J.G. Ballard, of whom (shocker!) I’ve never read.

What do you recommend?

Stranger

2

Tricky.

There are some people to whom I recommend “Empire of the Sun”. There are others to whom I’d recommmend “Crash”. I don’t know which one you are.

I will play it safe and recomend “Empire of the Sun”

3

Crash is great but be forewarned that it is difficult reading. It came from a period when Ballard was fostering an extreme change in his writing technique even though his ideas about alienation and internal/external struggles continued to remain roughly the same. High Rise is another great book which is also part of his urban trilogy along with Concrete Island.

I also recommend The Crystal World or The Burning World (AKA The Drought), which are both part of what is known as his apocalypse or elemental cycle (of four novels). These are a bit more sort of sci-fi and straightforward but still very complex.

You can always take a look around jgballard.com for an enormous wealth of more suggestions and information.

4

I really liked The Drowned World, but it would have to be a short trip, I think its only about 200 pages.

5

Warning - I only know Empire of the Sun but found that when I read it recently I was still seeing the actors’ faces from the film version even though I’ve not seen the film for years and I don’t think I’d ever seen the whole thing. Kinda spoiled it for me.

6

I know you said novel, but I would start with a collection of early short fiction. The stroies are better than the novels IMO, and give a good intro to the man’s obsessions. Try and find the collection “chronopolis.” here is a collection that is still in print.

After that try The drowned world, The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, and Empire of the Sun, preferably in that order.

(Hey, it’s my thousandth post! ::Passes out punch and pie:: )

7

I’d definitely recommend ‘High Rise’ - to me it has a good balance between humour and apocalyptic foreboding, which might be more enticing to a newcomer than some of his bleaker novels.