Pedestrian. Lacking the sheer believability of Super-Cannes or the crawling vividness of Empire of the Sun. Ballard's works often/ordinarily trade on their plausibility to build their sense of terror, but the Markham character's motivations were slapdash and muddy, while Dr. Gould's and Kay Churchill's were nearly nonexistent. I'm willing to entertain the option that such is the point. Ballard is still a worthy modern philosopher, thus accounting for the paltry 2.5 stars, but this is one of his weakest. ( )

I love J.G. Ballard, but I really hope he isn't losing his touch. Sure, Millennium People was compelling enough to keep reading, but the usual Ballard magic wasn't there. The characters are hard to relate to and seem poorly fleshed-out at times, the situations a little too unbelievable, and the similes came so thick and fast it actually detracted from the storyline. The "bonus features" at the end (interviews, analysis, etc) seemed to suggest a great deal of humour was meant to be present - sure, it was kinda absurd at times, but maybe I missed the point because I couldn't really see it.

Sadly, this just felt like any other contemporary novel and lacked the disturbing, otherworldly impact that make Ballard's work so great. ( )

I read this in London a month after the July 2005 bombings by young English muslims, though Ballard is not interested in the kind of sociological and historical explanations that might account for those atrocities. His bombers are middle class professionals, and mostly white. Their anger is a kind of existential disease of affluence - an extension of road rage, tantrums in supermarket queues or assault of parking attendants. As the disruptions come 'home' to London (after the continental European locations of Super Cannes and Cocaine Nights), this book has more echoes of The Atrocity Exhibition near the start of Ballard's career. ( )

Très bobo
Les personnages sont très agaçants et je ne comprends pas où a voulu en venir l'auteur. ( )

A nifty idea, but it didn't really work for me. ( )