The Drowned World - J.G. Ballard Book Review

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"The Drowned World"
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Review Summaries

"In the second of Ballard's early end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novels, 60 or 70 years of increased radiation due to solar instability have driven up temperatures some 60 degrees in the equatorial zones and submerged much of the coasts and lowlands of the world, and the UN has supervised colonization of the Antarctic plateau and the northern borders of Russia and Canada. Robert Kerans, 40, works at a biological research station at some submerged European city, studying the profusion of ancient jungle plants and reptiles that are throwbacks to the Triassic and Cambrian. A small military detachment has been keeping the peace, but is ordered back to Camp Byrd in Greenland, leaving Kerans, his colleague Dr. Botkin, and the gorgeous, languid Beatrice Dahl at the lagoon. After the troops have left, a white scavenging pirate named Strangman shows up with a depot ship, some hydrofoils, heavy arms, a small army of natives, and a flotilla of giant alligators. An uneasy joviality develops as everyone waits to see what Strangman plans to do. Almost everyone has hard dreams of returning to their embryonic past. Like Ballard's other early novels, this 1962 evocation of an entirely different Earth environment is richly realized.

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. "
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 - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - surviving a post environmental/nuclear disaster - surviving natural elements on planet
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - scientist
Age: - 40's-50's
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - pirate
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an above average amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
Terrain - Water
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
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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