quigonchuy's review
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
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
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
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
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 against another edition
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.
thekarpuk's review against another edition
3.0
Something can only strive for a certain level of irony before I start feeling like I don't know how seriously to treat the subject matter.
Oddly, this feeling comes from the quality of J.G. Ballard's writing. It's very fluid and pulls you into the situation with ease. The trouble is the situation.
It all centers around a middle class rebellion that the narrator gets pulled into through a bomb at the Heathrow airport that kills his ex-wife. The middle class rebellion in question is over utterly petty concerns such as utility fees and so forth, and they express their anger by smoke bombing video stores and ruining movie theaters that show classic cinema.
It's a silly reason, one that I can't imagine any group of middle class citizens actually rallying around. Therefore I have to consider it an absurdist sort of statement. What creates a sort of dissonance is how deadly earnest the rest of the story is. There's not a lot of humor, or a suggestion that the whole story is one big ironic statement about the middle class or modern culture.
Maybe it's the narrator of my audiobook edition. Maybe his delivery just prevented me from seeing just how whimsical the whole thing is supposed to be.
Or maybe I just don't get middle class culture in England, which is apparently a lot more posh than its American equivalent.
Oddly, this feeling comes from the quality of J.G. Ballard's writing. It's very fluid and pulls you into the situation with ease. The trouble is the situation.
It all centers around a middle class rebellion that the narrator gets pulled into through a bomb at the Heathrow airport that kills his ex-wife. The middle class rebellion in question is over utterly petty concerns such as utility fees and so forth, and they express their anger by smoke bombing video stores and ruining movie theaters that show classic cinema.
It's a silly reason, one that I can't imagine any group of middle class citizens actually rallying around. Therefore I have to consider it an absurdist sort of statement. What creates a sort of dissonance is how deadly earnest the rest of the story is. There's not a lot of humor, or a suggestion that the whole story is one big ironic statement about the middle class or modern culture.
Maybe it's the narrator of my audiobook edition. Maybe his delivery just prevented me from seeing just how whimsical the whole thing is supposed to be.
Or maybe I just don't get middle class culture in England, which is apparently a lot more posh than its American equivalent.
clairesbeat's review against another edition
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? Yes
3.5