paulcowdell's review against another edition
4.0
Another 3.5, I think, as the later Ballard doesn't quite do it for me in the same way as that magnificent, crystalline early stuff. But this is something of a surprise even for that later oeuvre. At times it is almost (unBallardian concept in some ways) playful.
Satire's a complicated genre. It can be all too easy for the satirised to identify with their representation to such an extent that the author ends up bending and adapting to them. This being Ballard, of course, no such mimsy conciliation happens, you'll be satisfied to know, but he does seem to be responding to a readership that might not quite have got what was going on more generally. (The book had some rave reviews from possibly unlikely quarters, like the Telegraph stable of papers, for example). It feels like this was the trigger for some of the uncustomarily knockabout one-liners.
But because it still /is/ Ballard, the result feels somewhat uneven. He's still prying away at the latent violence, the alienation, the apocalyptic concrete vistas of Heathrow, after all, and the writing here is no less beautiful or stunning than before. Some moments just pull you up short with their incision. London, for example, is described as 'a vast and stationary carousel, forever boarded by millions of would-be passengers who took their seats, waited and then dismounted.'
Even here, Ballard is unflinching, probing away at bleakness and humanity without sentiment or flippancy. Even when it doesn't quite come off, Ballard is still your best companion in a an empty and violent world.
Satire's a complicated genre. It can be all too easy for the satirised to identify with their representation to such an extent that the author ends up bending and adapting to them. This being Ballard, of course, no such mimsy conciliation happens, you'll be satisfied to know, but he does seem to be responding to a readership that might not quite have got what was going on more generally. (The book had some rave reviews from possibly unlikely quarters, like the Telegraph stable of papers, for example). It feels like this was the trigger for some of the uncustomarily knockabout one-liners.
But because it still /is/ Ballard, the result feels somewhat uneven. He's still prying away at the latent violence, the alienation, the apocalyptic concrete vistas of Heathrow, after all, and the writing here is no less beautiful or stunning than before. Some moments just pull you up short with their incision. London, for example, is described as 'a vast and stationary carousel, forever boarded by millions of would-be passengers who took their seats, waited and then dismounted.'
Even here, Ballard is unflinching, probing away at bleakness and humanity without sentiment or flippancy. Even when it doesn't quite come off, Ballard is still your best companion in a an empty and violent world.
palliem's review against another edition
1.0
I don't know if I should consider this "read" since I gave up on the novel, but for lack of a better term, that's where it's going. It's been a long time since I gave up on a novel, but this was extremely slow moving and-after 130 pages (half the book!)--I realized I didn't care if all the characters died on the next page, I still wasn't going to want to read this. So back to the library this goes.
quigonchuy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
An interesting read. A London where middle class "normal" people become guerrilla fighters to change things up, so to speak. I don't recall exactly the why, and I'm not so sure that's clear in the book. I've really liked some of his other novels, this one wasn't bad, I just didn't connect with it as much.
bibliomaniac2021's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
nikkacont's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
ninamay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
heavenlypit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
robertrivasplata's review
4.0
Novel bringing all your favourite Ballardisms (mysterious quasi-cult led by diseased charismatic leader, automotive technological fetishism, all viewed through the eyes of a privileged unreliable narrator) into the world of early 2000s London. I remember Crash, Super Cannes, Hello America, & Drowned World taking a while for me to get through & digest, so I'm trying to decide if I zipped through Millennium People because it's one of Ballard's more readable Novels, or if I've just finally become versed in reading Ballard, or oddball literature in general. Millennium people is peppered with what feel like portents of our current world, but the brief discussions of how the more pointless a terrorist attack, the more potent it is seem the most prophetic today. This book is a good place to go looking for quoteable quotes about bourgeois foibles, pop culture, & our neoliberalist world.
komencanto's review against another edition
4.0
I originally picked this up as a consolation prize because I couldn't find a copy of Ballard's "Crash" at the public library. From my knowledge of that book, this features a similar structure of an outsider slowly being subsumed by a strange subculture he initially intends to investigate. The central "mystery" and general arc of the main character are apparent immediately, but the author seems to just use those as a structure to hang a handful of interesting characters and provocative set-pieces.