The Drowned World
J.G. Ballard
176, paperback
Alas, our second choice for 'book club,' this of course being February's selection and also just happens to be the book I selected for such. I wanted a quick easy read since we had just come off the heels of Blood Meridian.
The author, J.G. Ballard, has lived a very interesting life in my opinion. He was born and raised in Shanghai before the onset of World War 2 and lived in a Japanese internment camp throughout the onset of the war. During this period, Mr. Ballard lived in the confines of a two story residence that held forty families and was taught by other adults confined to the camp. Some have the hypothesis that his early exposure to war and disarray have allowed him to articulate such bleak and expanse less settings for much of his early dystopian works such as this. His most notable works have been Crash and Empire of the Sun and both were made into great movies. The Times list Ballard as one of the 50 greatest British Authors since 1945, a very notable accomplishment. Sadly, Ballard died of cancer in 2009.
The Drowned World is one of his early works, if not the first receiving mass publication. It was published in 1962 and is classified as Science Fiction, if not now reclassified into the emerging Post Apocalyptic Fiction genre. Originally published as a Novella before some expansion and publication in it's current form.
The Drowned World sees our sun let loose some rather fatal flares which burn away our ionosphere and allow temperatures to sky rocket, inevitably melting the caps, flooding cities, creating boiling equator seas, and the whole destruction of society as we would recognize it. It is widely speculated by the characters in the book, that they are returning to the Triassic period and once again, reptiles will be the alpha predator as they grow larger and continue to be exposed to the suns radiation. The cities once inhabited by men are now the perfect quagmire for silt to form and plants to perch, which gives way to great lagoons described in a beautiful jungle glamor. The main character, Kearns, is faced with returning to the poles and the rest of the remaining human population as the ecosystem continues to shift or stay and accept the end of his existence. Along with soaring temperatures, the crew of the expedition and Kearns himself are starting to be plagued by inexplicable dreams that are driving some mad. Once the team leaves, three remain, including Kearns and are visited by an eccentric fellow who's interactions with the people who remained becomes the focal point of the action and developing story.
It was a quick read, I myself enjoyed it for what it was. Several people even bothered to comment on it at work, which is a good sign for the author and I will even be letting someone from work borrow it. This is of course always good as I aim to encourage all reading.
-Potential Spoilers Below-
We had eight people complete, as far as Lucid Book Club goes, and the reception of the book was temperate at best, which is evident from the score below. Many of the people that I thought would enjoy the book and rate it highly and did not while the people that I thought would dis-like the book actually enjoyed it and rated it significantly higher. Without a doubt Mr. Strangman was the favorite character with Kearns and Riggs holding it from being completely unanimous.
Peoples favorite and memorable moments included (potential spoilers):
The Dinner Party and Strangman's collected Treasures
Kearns decent into the observatory
The failed attempt by Bodkin
The Church with Hardman
& The stringing up of Kearns
It should be noted that a few people really enjoyed the prose of the story, and I have to say I agree. It is easy to read and crisply cut. One of the readers was really endeared to the world the Mr. Ballard had created in this short.
Scoring from one to ten:
Hylen: 6
Dust: 4
Th3ee: 5
AndyCoug: 3
EvanL: 6
DaveK: 6
SS: 2
GeeFunkEra: 6
Average Lucid Book Club Rating: 4.75
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