The Atrocity Exhibition - J.G. Ballard BOOK REVIEW

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JG BALLARD DOC

SILENT SERVANT - SPEED AND VIOLENCE

INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood

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[nl]

A biographical detail not mentioned, Ballard also trained as a pilot for a year when he joined the RAF. He was stationed in Saskatchewan, Canada, where he discovered American sci-fi magazines (his first story was apparently written as a pastiche of those).

[timkjazz]

Read through Ballard when I was a teenager, very fond thoughts of his work, The Unlimited Dream Company is an absolute masterpiece.

[meesalikeu]

the 1990 RE/search publication is easily the definitive version of the atrocity exhibition. highly, highly recommended. 🎉

[jansGg]

Danny Brown had his album, Joy Division had theirs, but Ballard did it best beyond any doubt 🔥🖤 an incredible story collection of 'condensed novels' and unsettling SF imagery/speculation ...!

[synthzz]

RIP Silent Servant, loved that record with the Knife - saw him twice, in Milan and Berlin

[mtotheatothedoubled]

Someone I know who had a nervous breakdown told me this book felt exactly like that

[ludwig]

Visited J G's grave a few months ago. Went to pay respects and seek council. I said 'the project will continue' as I toil over my own work and hope it can carry on the madness.

[skoomaoverdose]

Incredible review and analysis. Subscribed 😊

[jackrimbaud]

Ive read a bunch of Ballard years back and as I reread some of his works, I realize how prophetic he has become

[farmerrlad]

god I love your intros LOL that is insane

[fiarandompenaltygeneratorm]

Oh, wow. I just literally bought this book. Look forward to reading and then hearing your thoughts.

[Tallis]

In my 40 plus years I’ve spent with this book (one of my top five favorites), I’ve never come across such an insightful analysis of it. My hat is off to you, sir!

[Hogie]

We need the heart is a lonely hunter soon.

[BryceCraig]

This was so well timed for me. I finished The Atrocity Exhibition last week and have been grappling with it. The reading experience was, as you also suggest, laborious for the most part. Distinct from conventional literary imagery, it felt more like a collection of images, rough sketches of half thoughts. Some of these were incredibly vivid and enjoyable, while others made me feel next to nothing. Reading this book was often a chore, but I’m glad I did so as its lingering place in my mind has been productive. Your review helped add context, so thank you

[pleasereadyourbook]

Great book, but I read it when I was too young and dumb to know what I was reading, it just moved up on my TBR.

[IndustrialBonecraft]

I love this book. The boredom is probably due to how clinically obsessive it is. There are God knows how many chunks that deal with the strange disconnected description of an obtuse angle and how it reminds him of someone's third toenail, or random circular musings on the alternate sex death of Rudyard Kipling etc. It can get a bit much.

[jasonmorgan]

Poetic, crisp, imaginative, sometimes laugh out loud funny, entropic, daring, boring, flat, inventive, sad and creepy.

[AlienBigCat]

Carnage in the car age from the Sage of Shepperton 👌

(Have you read
Plan for the Abduction of JG Ballard
by Audrey Szasz & Jeremy Reed?
(Infinity Land Press))

[MultiAmmar]

Would love to one day here your thoughts on Men in the Sun (Rijal Fi Al-Shams رجال في الشمس) by Ghassan Kanafani

[Remedy]

"I'm sweating like I'm in a rave, been in this room for three days. Think I'm hearing voices, paranoid and think I'm seeing ghost-es, oh shit!" -Downward Spiral by Danny Brown off of his album Atrocity Exhibition.