A review by annalouise
The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard

3.0

interesting to see the development of this into crash, but i think it reads more as notes towards that book rather than anything to its own. while fiction, the narrative is fragmented and features the same characters (archetypes is perhaps more applicable, as the characters go by various names while retaining their ascribed values) in varying situations - environments, times, relations. to treat the events of the novel as reality is to do so only as far as presenting the reality of its characters - which is to say, to view their psychological issues as creating a false reality, but the truth (if it exists) is never explored. there is no differentiation between dream, fabrication and reality, all are treated as real as the others. i think this is perhaps best looked at as a series of experiments in writing rather than as a story/book of its own, and to look at Ballard's later work in the context of this one.