The Crystal World - J.G. Ballard Book Review

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"The Crystal World"
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Review Summaries

"Dr. Edward Sanders, a physician with a leper hospital in the Cameroon, is puzzled by letters from his recent lover Suzanne at the jungle clinic where she's gone with her husband. He makes his way upriver as the army is shutting down the area because of some sort of ecological anomaly: a virus or something that is turning everything -- plants, animals, the surface of the river, army vehicles, even humans -- into brilliant crystals. Sanders hooks up with a young French female journalist named Louise who is investigating the phenomenon as well. Among the increasingly-crazed locals Sanders encounters are a diamond mine magnate and an architect who are battling with firearms over a woman, and a priest who won't desert his mission. Suzanne seems entranced by the way the jungle is changing. This is the last of Ballard's four end-of-the-world ecological disaster novels from the early 1960s, and probably the most colorful. His descriptions of the creeping menace are achingly gorgeous -- you yearn to see them brought to life on film."
David Loftus, Resident J.G. Ballard Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - preventing an ecological disaster
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - natural phenomena
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.

Setting
Terrain - Jungle
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a moderate amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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