From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller 'Cocaine Nights' comes an acclaimed backlist title -- in which suburban London is transformed into a...
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May 24, 2010
Ugh
rated it: 
I like a dash of the surreal every now and then. In works of fiction it can widen the potential enormously, opening up the piece to whatever otherwise-impossible turns of plot and outlandish settings and forms the artist can dream up. Sometimes surreal juxtapositions can reveal unexpected connections that might not otherwise have become apparent, and that can be a powerful and amazing trick that can elevate the work to a level beyond mere entertainment, really affecting the way that you think ab
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Nov 18, 2011
Jenny
rated it: 
I find it difficult to know how to talk about this book. I loved the vibrant writing and surreal story, but could not recommend this to 95% of the readers I know.
Why? Well, you see... Blake is a bit of a loser. He steals a plane and crashes it into the Thames at Shepperton, and that's when everything goes a bit strange. He develops strong desires for everyone and everything in the town (see 95% comment earlier). Just like in dreams, relationships have no consequences, people c More...
Why? Well, you see... Blake is a bit of a loser. He steals a plane and crashes it into the Thames at Shepperton, and that's when everything goes a bit strange. He develops strong desires for everyone and everything in the town (see 95% comment earlier). Just like in dreams, relationships have no consequences, people c More...
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Apr 15, 2010
Shane
rated it: 
in this edition there's an interview with Ballard at the back where he says that a 'professional' should write 1000+ words a day. Otherwise the writer will just 'end up with a bunch of empty wine bottles'.
From this book I learned a professional empties the bottles at night, then forces her/himself to write a chapter a day (every chapter is ~1000 words), most of which is a recap from the day before. It's taken me 4 months to read this 200 page book and not because I wanted to savo More...
From this book I learned a professional empties the bottles at night, then forces her/himself to write a chapter a day (every chapter is ~1000 words), most of which is a recap from the day before. It's taken me 4 months to read this 200 page book and not because I wanted to savo More...
Dec 13, 2009
Andrew
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Perhaps rather extraordinarily this is the first Ballard I've read. The prose is rich and semi-stream-of-consciousness in places, with an intriguing central idea developed to a logical conclusion. Ultimately, whilst I enjoyed reading it, and despite it's fluidity, in the end it is just what it is. It only occasionally informs on society as a whole, and - without wanting to spoil the ending - the final revelation (if it is that) is blindingly obvious. Having said that, I'm sure it isn't intended
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Mar 09, 2011
Maurizio
rated it:
Quando si inizia a leggere questo romanzo la prima domanda che ci si fa è "ma cosa si era fumato Ballard quando lo scrisse?", seguita subito dalla constatazione che è fin troppo ovvio che ai tempi nessuno pensò di prenderne i diritti per l'italiano. Blake, il protagonista, è un erotomane con tendenze omicide, oltre a una serie di altre turbe psichiche, il che significa che tutta la storia, visto che è narrata in prima persona, risulta schizofrenica e inabile per varie decine di pagine
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May 03, 2009
Robert
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 21, 2010
Chris
rated it:
Like the other Ballard novels that I've read so far, the characters are underdeveloped, the dialogue is forgettable and the prose is unimpressive, bar perhaps one paragraph out of every twenty five. However, this book has a fairly interesting plot and manages to provoke a little thought, enough to make up for his losses in other departments. At face value, it's pretty much fantasy writing with some literary qualities, and judged as a fantasy writer, Ballard is quite spectacular.
Nov 03, 2011
Luke
rated it: 
WOW
This is an amazing book. I think a lot of negative reviews people have given this novel may be due to people having read this book expecting a orthodox narrative or a twist ending etc.
If you've read the crystal world or concrete island and enjoyed them then this is for you. The use of language is Ballard at his best and none of the text feels conrived or forced. It is a really fun read - approach with a open mind and enjoy the ride!
This is an amazing book. I think a lot of negative reviews people have given this novel may be due to people having read this book expecting a orthodox narrative or a twist ending etc.
If you've read the crystal world or concrete island and enjoyed them then this is for you. The use of language is Ballard at his best and none of the text feels conrived or forced. It is a really fun read - approach with a open mind and enjoy the ride!
Feb 23, 2010
Mike
rated it:
J.G. Ballard is one wacky, pervy dude.
I liked the first quarter or so of this book - lots of craziness, potential craziness, and kick ass description. Then I got bored. And things started to feel like some stereotypical male Freudian fantasy - naked guy parading around suburbia, attaining some godlike status, having sex with everyone and everything, and everywhere he splatters his semen a jungle grows. Kind of disappointing.
I liked the first quarter or so of this book - lots of craziness, potential craziness, and kick ass description. Then I got bored. And things started to feel like some stereotypical male Freudian fantasy - naked guy parading around suburbia, attaining some godlike status, having sex with everyone and everything, and everywhere he splatters his semen a jungle grows. Kind of disappointing.
Jul 27, 2011
Pure surrealism. Ballard's vision of paradise. Very Blakean. A friend of mine made the point that once you've read one Ballard novel you've read them all, and that's true to some extent. They are all variations on a theme, like Woody Allen's films. I like Ballard, and he is very unique, but he is very samey.
Feb 11, 2010
Nadine
rated it:
This novel breaks all the rules. Pilot crashes, becomes a heroic figure after death, engages in all sorts of sex with the entire population, including plants and finally redeems every living organism. It's hilarious and profound in very odd ways. If you write, he will give you permission to try new things.
Jan 07, 2011
Tim
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This story of a would-be pilot crashlanding in Shepperton, only to become trapped by unknown forces, was a real surprise to me. I’ve not read any other Ballard, and was impressed/baffled by the levels of woozy sexual fantasy. Unlike anything I’ve ever read.
Jun 07, 2010
David
rated it:
Only have 30 pages left but one of Ballards' best books. Great flights of fancy, impeccable style and social commentary rolled into one great book. If you have never read Ballard start now. You will be set free to sore out of humdrum life on literate wings.
Nov 10, 2010
Charles Dee
rated it:
This book has more the quality of a psychedelic vision unfolding before the readers gaze than did the earlier Ballard novels I have recently read. Here there is no Conradian voyage upriver, as in The Crystal World or The Drought. (Of course the river is dry in the latter.) The theme is still one of transformation, of discovering one's true self in a changed world, although here the main character is mad or possibly dead. I also suspect that for British readers there is something intrinsically fu
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Sep 09, 2011
Tom
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Lyrical, surreal, exultant. Worth more than most writer's entire oevre. Taps into truth at the bottom layer.
Jul 31, 2008
Andrew
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Book 3 in my Ballard exercise. A loser becomes a dark messiah - a post surrealist exercise by Ballard that I'm sure he had fun writing, but I didn't need to finish. I was disciplined enough in this Ballard Exercise to ALMOST finish it and then I skipped ahead to see if I would miss anything . . . some good prose, a too too long long fantasy, but the story does mention that sperm makes tropical vegetation grow in Shepperton, England.
Apr 15, 2008
David
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I loved Unlimited Dream Company mainly for its dreamlike atmosphere and surreal imagery. The story's about a guy who "dies" crashing a stolen plane into the river then emerges from the wreckage to find himself transformed into some kind of highly lascivious pagan deity. I've enjoyed other books by Ballard but none have sucked me in as much as this one.
Oct 24, 2007
Chris
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Blech! I like some of Ballard's short fiction okay, but this is one of the most godawful things my mind had ever ingested. The worst kind of hippie crap. It's like he's trying to be Robert Heinlein or something. I mean, even Heinlein's not trying to be Heinlein - he was just born that way or something. Again, blech!
Jun 22, 2011
Alan
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wonderfully weird and full of life/energy even though the protagonist might be dead, or mad, or both. Howver after the initial jolt it does slow down considerably and by p150 its effects have worn off. Worth 4 stars though for the opening
Oct 02, 2008
Scot
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One of the most amazing books I have ever read. It is complex and surrealistic, dystopic, and hallucinatory. More later
Sep 09, 2009
R.
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The themes of Resurrection, Ascension and Rapture Considered as a Psychedelic Airshow Disaster.
Feb 12, 2012
Feb 11, 2012
