Eden-Olympia is more than just a multinational business park, it is a virtual city-state in itself, built for the most elite high-tech industries....
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Jan 05, 2010
Andy
rated it: 
This book is a great place to start for people who want to get into Ballard without the scenes in Crash and the Atrocity Exhibition that may make some people squeamish. With that being said, this book is pure Ballard. All the familiar themes are there: Technology affecting people psychologically, video screens providing sexual gradification, and an inescapable sense that archetecture has replaced nature as a sprawling and all encompassing alternative.
One of the main ideas of the book are More...
One of the main ideas of the book are More...
Oct 27, 2009
Jack
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May 19, 2009
kt
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Aug 02, 2011
Arianna
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When reading this book I found myself quite sad over the twists of the story. It seems there is nothing joyful in the world depicted by the author and there are no values or moral that keep happiness together. A world that is crude, depraved, violent and psychotic, where stress is cured with pure insanity and where an fake facade is built to cover up all those stains.
One has the sensation that there is something quite wrong when seeing this Eden-Olympia with the eyes of the protagonist, Pau More...
One has the sensation that there is something quite wrong when seeing this Eden-Olympia with the eyes of the protagonist, Pau More...
Nov 28, 2011
Jeff
rated it: 
I must be reading too much lightly-structured, experimental stuff lately - as I was a ways into the book I was a bit uncomfortable with how conventional it felt - plot humming along, suspicious people making ominous statements, amateur gumshoe scrambling about for clues - for some reason (or maybe for no reason) this was not quite what I thought I was getting myself into. Felt a bit like a garden-variety mass market thriller or mystery.
I also know for a fact I read mostly older stuff a More...
I also know for a fact I read mostly older stuff a More...
Mar 26, 2011
MJ
rated it:
A business complex in Cannes is gradually overtaken by a psychopathic philosophy, threatening a Third World War. As in all JG Ballard novels, the narrator’s perversities are explored, the veneer of wealth and success is lifted, and an underworld of crime and sickness unleashed.
This is Ballard’s longest novel and doesn’t benefit from its chunkiness. In fact, the detective novel plot and overabundant description make this a less successful work from the master of short-form fiction. It More...
This is Ballard’s longest novel and doesn’t benefit from its chunkiness. In fact, the detective novel plot and overabundant description make this a less successful work from the master of short-form fiction. It More...
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Feb 08, 2009
F.R.
rated it:
I really enjoy Ballard's work, and this doesn't disappoint. A newly married couple move to live in a business park in France, where recently an acquantance has gone on a killing spree.
The set up does allow Ballard to indulge in all his favourite distancing techniques, all meshed into the thriller structure. It means that - even more than in more commonplace thrillers - the lead character has absolutely no idea what is going on.
It's a cracking read, although if it does hav More...
The set up does allow Ballard to indulge in all his favourite distancing techniques, all meshed into the thriller structure. It means that - even more than in more commonplace thrillers - the lead character has absolutely no idea what is going on.
It's a cracking read, although if it does hav More...
Dec 25, 2008
Bruce
rated it:
Another beautifully written but intentionally sterile dissection of the mad, taboo extremes to which bored inhabitants of high-tech wonderlands can be driven. The only appropriate description for this kind of thing is Ballardian, but going to the well too often plays up the hazard of becoming your own adjective. Beyond some gratingly overintellectualized anti-capitalist posturing, there's nothing here Ballard hasn't done far better and more disturbingly in High Rise or Running Wild, among othe
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Nov 15, 2010
Agent Zero
rated it:
Magnifico.
Qui c'è tutto il Ballard che conta, il più acuto indagatore delle nuove forme di mala-società (passatemi il termine). Ci si ritrovano le idee che hanno reso riconoscibile e unica la sua disturbante narrativa e, in nuce, quelle poi approfondite in Regno a venire, l'ultimo suo romanzo.
Il dottor Wilder Penrose è un personaggio memorabile. La sua idea di preservare la salute e l'efficienza lavorativa della élite neo-borghese di Super-Cannes attraverso trattamenti terapeutici basati su pro More...
Qui c'è tutto il Ballard che conta, il più acuto indagatore delle nuove forme di mala-società (passatemi il termine). Ci si ritrovano le idee che hanno reso riconoscibile e unica la sua disturbante narrativa e, in nuce, quelle poi approfondite in Regno a venire, l'ultimo suo romanzo.
Il dottor Wilder Penrose è un personaggio memorabile. La sua idea di preservare la salute e l'efficienza lavorativa della élite neo-borghese di Super-Cannes attraverso trattamenti terapeutici basati su pro More...
May 17, 2008
Denali
rated it:
Excellent. Actively sought out bus trips to find reasons to not to anything else but read this book.
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Dec 09, 2010
Lawrence
rated it:
Great book, about the mystery behind a psychiatrist going on a rampage with an assault weapon in an industrial park in the South of France. Explores the dark notions, that J.G. Ballard examines in regards to the continuing darkening nature of people, and our primal instincts. Examines the theory of Rene Girard, who believed that violence was a necessary rite of passage for humanity, and looks at in regards to modernity, immigration and the noveau rich. Looks at how in the modern corporate era we
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Jul 04, 2009
Pax
rated it:
Relentless page-turning examination of the latent (or not-so-latent) psychopathology of corporate capitalism. Upper-echelon workaholics in Super-Cannes business park go on periodic fascist wilding sprees, controlled violence for prescribed therapeutic release, since milder recreations are ineffective. The prolonged passivity of the narrator seemed a tad contrived, to keep the novel going, but the harrowing Scorpionic undertow of our world's dark side, the Ballardian signature, is worth the More...
Mar 01, 2009
Chris
rated it:
This was my first Ballard book and I came to it with the understanding that he is a science fiction writer. Super-Cannes was also described as something akin to William Gibson. I guess it might be science fiction if the science in question is psychology. The book concerns the psychological deformation associated with living in a fully planned and controlled corporate park called Eden-Olympia in the hills above Cannes -- hence the title -- and the new "treatment" designed to correct
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Jan 06, 2012
Lisa
rated it:
Another enjoyable and yet unsettling look at ourselves from Ballard, that shares more than a few similarities with others of his that I've read - most particularly Kingdom Come and Millenium People.
Eden-Olympia is a corporate park in Cannes where the employees not only work but live. With work having overtaken leisure as the dominant force in many people's lives, there's a rise in the sorts of minor ailments that keep many from making it into work, or blunting their efficiency if the More...
Eden-Olympia is a corporate park in Cannes where the employees not only work but live. With work having overtaken leisure as the dominant force in many people's lives, there's a rise in the sorts of minor ailments that keep many from making it into work, or blunting their efficiency if the More...
Jun 30, 2009
Andrea
rated it:
I heard Ballard had died recently and decided it was time to pick up this book which had been sitting on my shelf for a few years. I had previously read Concrete Island, and was concerned that Super-Cannes would be, like that one, an example a clever idea played out in a somewhat unsatisfying way.
But not to worry... Super-Cannes is magnificent. The real meat here is the theme explored by Ballard, that we are moving into uncharted land in the 21st century- suburbia. The setting is Ede More...
But not to worry... Super-Cannes is magnificent. The real meat here is the theme explored by Ballard, that we are moving into uncharted land in the 21st century- suburbia. The setting is Ede More...
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Apr 03, 2008
Nancy
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brief plot summary
On the surface, you'd think you were reading a murder mystery. From beginning to end, Paul Sinclair tries to uncover the answers to why an acquaintance, Dr. David Greenwood, one day went crazy and shot several co-workers & then himself at a corporate business park called Eden-Olympia situated on the Cote d'Azur in France. But in reality, what is under that mystery is more disturbing. Sadly, I cannot reveal more because it would totally wreck the suspense & give away show. More...
On the surface, you'd think you were reading a murder mystery. From beginning to end, Paul Sinclair tries to uncover the answers to why an acquaintance, Dr. David Greenwood, one day went crazy and shot several co-workers & then himself at a corporate business park called Eden-Olympia situated on the Cote d'Azur in France. But in reality, what is under that mystery is more disturbing. Sadly, I cannot reveal more because it would totally wreck the suspense & give away show. More...
Nov 22, 2010
Delacey
rated it: 
Blah. Plodding and repetitive, this book felt more like a testosterone-fueled fantasy of Ballard's than a well-constructed novel. He easily could have shaved 100 pages, lost nothing, and made it a leaner, better-paced book. I appreciate the commentary he was trying to make about the dangers of the modern world, but he could have executed the message with much more grace. As it was, this novel felt like a lecture. William Gibson achieves similar aims with so much more style.
Aug 01, 2009
Paul
rated it:
To my great shame and regret the first JG Ballard I've read since Crash which was over twenty years ago. Was it worth the wait? Probably. The scope, the range, the vision are all deeply engaging but I found the characterisation and the relationships disappointing: I didn't care enough for the players and failed to engage fully with their motivations. But still one of the great book titles of the 21st century.
Feb 09, 2009
Jeeyun
rated it:
Another masterful work by JG Ballard that captures the modern dystopia in all its shiny, sterile, frightening glory. It's incredible fun imagining this Corbusien business-park of sleek power as the breeding ground for self-induced psychopathologies. While it reads as a thriller noir chocked full of gorgeous femme fatales and unsettling villainy, it isn't as powerful as some of his other works as you pretty much know what's going on by the half-way mark. I had my worries as to how he was going
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Aug 26, 2009
Jaycruz
rated it:
Since this is the only J.G. Ballard novel I have read up till now, I don't have a reference point to compare it to his other works, but perhaps that's a good thing because I think it's a superb story. It's a thriller wrapped around speculative fiction about corporate culture. And if your like me and find the idea of "company culture" a little cultish and insane, you'll never look at companies like Google or Microsoft the same way.
May 25, 2010
Lyn
rated it:
I had read of J.G. Ballard's death, and wished to see what the fuss was about this author. Not sure that I will read more of his fiction, but this was a fascinating read......how Utopia may have many sinister sides to it and, as humans, we try to control nature (both that of the natural world, and that of humans).
May 17, 2010
Duyvken
rated it:
J.G. Ballard is my favourite dystopian and Super-Cannes doesn't disappoint. He's very critical of modern working life, the classes that form within bureaucratic structures, psychiatry and medicating our way through boredom. The hero becomes the very thing that he despises but, it is written so well, that the reader can almost condone his choice of action.
Dec 11, 2008
Carmine
rated it:
Really fascinating novel about a professional community of strivers, overachievers, etc, and the behavior (often violent) that a certain kind of workaholic life can induce. It's a lot more immediate than that description makes it sound. Highly recommended.
Apr 08, 2010
Jeremy
rated it:
Look, I could reread the Ballard novel about violence and sterility and murder and sex over and over again. And I have. Super-Cannes is pretty much like Cocaine Nights. If I had read them in reverse order, I might have liked it better. Still, I'm holding on to it.
Jun 13, 2010
Mike
rated it:
An amusingly dark satire of modern business-park culture and class warfare, although it shows its hand a little too soon and I quickly figured out where it was all going to go. Still a fun ride, though, and Ballard's dry wit sustains it.
Nov 02, 2011
Emma
rated it:
A novel full of dark, disturbing themes and ideas that is very well written. The only reason I gave it 1 star is because of the uncomfortable feeling reading this novel produced, a feeling that was clearly intended. Paul Sinclair and his wife move to the exclusive and luxurious executive business park Eden-Olympia so that his wife can become the new on-site doctor, her predecessor having killed ten other people with a shot gun before taking his own life. What would cause this upstanding man, liv
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Feb 23, 2011
Александър
rated it:
Преекспониран жанр (murder mystery), преекспонирана тема (духовното падение на юпитата), и едноизмерни персонажи. Чете се, все пак.
Nov 28, 2011
Eric
rated it:
An interesting tale of the secret fascist underbelly of the sterile, hyper-efficient, high-tech workplace/community, Super-Cannes starts out with great promise--a taut, gripping thriller for the first 275 pages or so. After that, its momentum fizzles and it drags on for another 100+ pages that a good editor could easily have condensed into 25.
Mar 08, 2010
Patrick
rated it:
Sleek and spooky, a ghost story told by a cheshire cat. Ballard always knows just what corner to peel back and reveal the disturbing undercurrents of modernity. Plus - what a fantastic cover!
Jun 27, 2011
James_orange
rated it:
Pretty ropey really, but in Ballard's hands it manages to retain some dignity. The last third is a mess and the ending is unsatisfying but for the most part it's an enjoyable read.
