This little book is the perfect complement to Ballard's more infamous novel, 'Crash'. The difference here is that we get a look at the not so fun side of the car crash compared to the zany, sexually fetishized thing that 'Crash' had going for it. James Graham "J. G." Ballard (15 November 1930 – 19 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Ballard came to be associated with the New Wave of science fiction early in his career with apocalyptic (or post-apocalyptic) novels such as The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), and The Crystal World (1966). In the late 1960s and early 1970s Ballard focused on an eclectic variety of short stories (or "condensed novels") such as The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which drew closer comparison with the work of postmodernist writers such as William S. Burroughs. In 1973 the highly controversial novel Crash was published, a story about symphorophilia and car crash fetishism; the protagonist becomes sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car crashes. The story was later adapted into a film of the same name by Canadian director David Cronenberg. Aunque la lectura no se hace especialmente ágil o adictiva, cuando uno lo deja está deseando retomarlo para saber qué demonios pasa con Maitland. But is it a great book? Well, it wouldn't make it onto my Desert Island List, or my Traffic Island List either.

We follow Maitland in this struggle and watch as his desire to escape is tested, and his motivations in general come into question. He deliberately sought out the areas of deepest growth, as if he were most at home in the invisible corridors that he had tunnelled in his endless passages around the island” (127). Ballard tiene una facilidad sorprendente para gestionar estados de ánimos y razonamientos cambiantes en el protagonista sin que la credibilidad se resienta lo más mínimo. The comparison you'll often hear for J.G Ballard's Concrete Island is a modern living Robinson Crusoe. It's a little more complicated than that. Nothing in this novel can be taken at face value. Robert Maitland is alone, trying to signal help for half of Concrete Island a what's going inside his mind during that time is important. He is reminiscing of his wife Catherine and his kid David, but also of his mistress Helen Fox. Maitland had his accident while going home from Helen's to his wife and kid's. So, the superstructure that facilitated his dual existence took him out of the equation into a third plane of existence where he is forced to confront the desolate, jagged landscape he created for himself. The concrete island is more of a symbolic purgatory than a modern desert island if you will. So, Concrete Island is Robinson Crusoe meets Lost if you will. There is a desert island, but only for people who deserve to be there.The grass lashed at his feet, as if angry that Maitland still wished to leave its green embrace” (68). The Rhizolith Island consists of a mosaic of floating concrete structures with a “head” and a “fin” that functions as a seed carrier for mangroves. The head was crafted with a Cemex lightweight concrete – lighter than water, so it would float despite the holes that puncture the structure’s design. These holes effectively dissipate water force during storm surges, thereby countering coastal erosion. The fin, which was designed to function as a marine habitat, offering shelter for fish and surfaces for barnacles, was cast in a Cemex high-strength, ductile concrete. In this way, the Rhizolith Island offers a solution for mangrove restoration—helping to reduce erosion of shorelines and preventing flooding—and for the restoration of life vital to coastal ecosystems. In fact, the whole city was now asleep, part of an immense unconscious Europe, while he himself crawled about on a forgotten traffic island like the nightmare of this slumbering continent.

It’s very difficult to say more about the plot without giving away spoilers, so I’ll just say that the storyline held my interest all the way, and to the end I remained curious about Maitland’s eventual fate. I also thought the interaction between the characters was done very effectively. The reader can also make their own mind up about Maitland’s behaviour. Is he perhaps using his injuries as an excuse for not trying harder to escape, in a sense choosing to remain – a rejection of the outside world?

This gallery is from

Just like in The Drowned World, Ballard introduces more characters and action in the second half of the book, but I think it works better in Concrete Island than it did in The Drowned World. Jane and Proctor are also alienated individuals. Together the three characters reveal three different relationships to the island: Once he is stranded on the island, his inner isolation becomes something physical. He is alone. He is invisible. Even when he tries to summon help, no one stops. He can see his office building, but the people within cannot see him. He can see his wife’s car go by, but she cannot see him. No one is expecting him—neither wife nor mistress nor co-workers—so no one will notice that he is gone.

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and cinema-derived rhetoric up the ante continuously, and stunningly. One of the most impressive excursions into the supernatural in many a year. Günümüz dünyasındaki robotlaşan insanlara çok sert tokatlar atıyor Ballard bu eserinde. Çevirdiğimiz her sayfayla birlikte biraz daha gözlerimizin önüne seriliyor rezil hayatlarımız. Biraz daha ortaya dökülüyor kirli çamaşırlarımız. Ballard acımıyor bizlere, yerden yere vuruyor. Hemen hemen tüm eserlerinde insanın dönüşümünü odak noktasına oturtan, uzayı değil, insanları en ince ayrıntısına dek irdeleyen yazardan şaşırtmayan, güçlü bir eser.Concrete Island is the story of Robert Maitland (Ballard loved naming his protagonists "Robert" for some reason), a wealthy architect that crashes his car in the opening paragraph. His Jaguar goes flying over the guardrail of the high-speed highway he was driving on and crashes on the titular concrete island below. Caught between highway lanes, Robert gets injured trying to get help and becomes prisoner of his situation. He becomes trapped by a man-made superstructure where he is isolated by the breathless pace of modern living. There's constantly people driving by fast to keep the flow of traffic going. So fast they don't even look down to notice him. Soon, Robert realizes he is not alone on his concrete island, though. His fate might not have been a cruel twist of irony after all. As I read along, and as this poor man’s plight became more and more dire, I kept thinking: I know exactly how you feel, Mister. Maitland goes from trying to escape the island to trying to “dominate” the island. The island, of course, is himself.

A man driving a silver jaguar crashes his car and finds himself marooned and injured in a no-mans-patch-of-land in the middle of three highway overpasses. No one stops to help, or even notices he’s there.

Gallery

All this is pretty interesting, but you're probably wondering - is it a good read? The answer is: mostly. Like the protagonist in King's story Maitland is stranded. He has crashed his car off a freeway and down an embankment onto an overgrown patch of wasteland. After suffering an injury to his leg he cannot climb the steep slopes hemming him in and finds himself trapped (interestingly King's story sees his protagonist hobbled too, with a shattered ankle, although his injury leads him in a very different direction to Maitland). This is 1973, prior to the development of cellphones, so despite being in sight of a busy road he is marooned as effectively as Robinson Crusoe. We took inspiration from the rhizolith: a root system encased in mineral matter that is created through processes of erosion and cementation that protects and strengthens the natural composition of the earth,” said Syracuse Architecture professors Roger Hubeli and Julie Larsen, partners at APTUM. “So our proposal for Isla Rhizolith is a breakwater system comprised of ‘root-like’ concrete elements and planted mangroves that, when set floating upon the water, act as both an artificial and natural rhizolith,” they add. Jane comes and goes as she pleases, moving mysteriously between the outside world and her isolated island existence. Yet her dealings with the outside world only highlight her alienation. As a prostitute, she forms no real connections. This is her protection. Maitland can relate to this. A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large area of derelict land created by several intersecting motorways. Though surrounded by motorists and within sight of large buildings, Maitland is unable to escape the median strip and must struggle for survival. Along the way he encounters other inhabitants of the median strip, which he comes to call "The Island," including a teenaged sex worker who hides out in an abandoned air-raid bunker and an acrobat who became mentally disabled in an accident and now salvages car parts for bizarre shamanic rituals. He learns to survive by scavenging discarded food from littering motorists, and eventually comes to think of the island as his true home. Conflicts ensue with the other inhabitants and before long Maitland is struggling to determine whether he was truly meant to leave the island at all.